Quadrocopter drone recovers from failures without skipping a beat

Quadrocopter drones are capable of some incredible acrobatics, but they seldom handle failure all that gracefully. ETH Zurich’s Mark Mueller is tackling this problem through a new failsafe algorithm that gives these flying robots a better chance of survival.

It will be years before Amazon’s dream of same day package deliveries via drone will ever become a reality. But you can forget about trying to shoot one down for some free electronics thanks to new software that allows a quadcopter to stay aloft — and on course — even after losing one or more of its propellers.