Professional drone racing pilot Ken ‘FlyingBear’ Loo is used to racing the likes of Paul ‘Nurk’ Nurkala, Nick ‘Wild Willy’ Willard and Jordan ‘Jet’ Temkin through extravagant tracks in cool locations, later to be aired on ESPN. Racing a NASA-built autonomous drone? Not so much.
NASA-Built Drone Races FlyingBear, Loses
Key Takeaways:
- Professional drone pilot Ken 'FlyingBear' Loo raced a NASA-built autonomous drone on a complex track.
- Loo, despite experiencing fatigue and a "jerkier" flying style, learned the course and achieved significantly faster average lap times (11.1s) than the AI drone (13.9s).
- The autonomous drone flew smoothly and consistently without fatigue but more cautiously, occasionally losing track of its surroundings due to motion blur.
- Despite the human pilot's current speed advantage, NASA believes their autonomous drones have the potential to fly much faster and compete professionally in the future.
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