"SkySpecs has done a number of indoor tests with its obstacle avoidance technology. It even invited three children to its warehouse, asking them to try crashing a drone into a series of poles. All three failed. [...] SkySpecs has a six-month, $150,000 Small Business and Innovative Research grant from the National Science Foundation, which will help it continue its work on both collision avoidance and a complete sense-and-avoid system for drones. Currently, the technology allows SkySpecs’ drones to avoid stationary objects from up to 30 meters away, at test speeds of 20 mph, though Ellis said its design allows for speeds of up to 35 mph."

The above headline is from here, "Inspecting Gadgets May Make Wind Energy Industry Safer, More Efficient."

I think of Sean Nienow and his pis ripping through half a million dollars of SBA loan money on a super-flakey summer camp screening absuridity, never to be paid back, and these folks doing more making actual sense on less federal dollars; the difference being they are not politicians from Bachmannistan, and likely they are smart.