AI-Powered FPV Drone Outpaces Human Racers

The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is showcasing its prowess, with robots besting humans in increasingly complex tasks. A groundbreaking example emerged from the University of Zurich, where engineers unveiled an AI-driven drone, named “Swift“, that dominated human opponents in competitive drone racing.

Previously, human skills and intuition were unmatched in the exhilarating realm of drone races, which saw its inception back in 2011 at the hands of German hobbyists. The recent developments, however, signal a paradigm shift. Swift was meticulously crafted using deep reinforcement learning (DRL), a sophisticated AI technique.

Through a reward-based system—where the ‘reward’ is victory in the race—the AI learns optimal actions via repeated trials. Real-world data was incorporated into simulations, enabling Swift to replicate real-life racing scenarios.

Elia Kaufmann, the lead author and autonomy…