New chip could help tiny robots traverse complex environments
A new chip developed by MIT researchers could help tiny, low-power UAVs avoid obstacles as they zip around tight corners inside an industrial HVAC system to check for gas leaks.
The chip allows small autonomous robots and other battery-limited devices to construct detailed 3D maps of their environments in real-time using only about as much power as a single LED. A robot could use such a map to plan a collision-free path to reach its goal.
Typically, generating such thorough maps requires power-hungry systems and a great deal of memory to build and store 3D representations of the obstacles in a robot’s environment.
The MIT researchers took a different approach by combining an extremely efficient mapping algorithm with specialized hardware designed to accelerate its workload, which minimizes memory and power consumption.
This system-on-a-chip consumes only about 6 milliwatts of power, a fraction of the power required by other systems.
This low-power operation could also make the chip well-suited for lightweight augmented reality headsets that can be worn for extended periods, for applications like educational medical simulation or detailed repair and assembly work.