Drones on the trail

More than 2,000 people became lost while hiking in U.S. wilderness in 2009, according to medical news website Ivanhoe. That number is increasing each year, and the survival of lost hikers depends on rescue teams finding them quickly. Scientists in Switzerland believe swarms of trail-following drones could help.

A team of researchers at the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the University of Zurich has taught a small quadcopter drone to identify and follow forest trails autonomously.

The Swiss researchers spent hours hiking Alpine trails and taking more than 20,000 pictures with helmet-mounted cameras. They used the pictures to train the drone’s artificial “neural network” algorithm. When the neural network was tested on previously unseen trails, it found the correct path 85 percent of the time—compared with 82 percent for humans given the same task, according to a University of Zurich press release.

The research team said much work remains before fully autonomous fleets of drones swarm forests looking for lost hikers. But they are encouraged by their tests.

“One day robots will work side by side with human rescuers to make our lives safer,” said professor Davide Scaramuzza from the University of Zurich. “Now that our drones have learned to recognize and follow forest trails, we must teach them to recognize humans.”

Sonic escape

Imagine being able to filter your personal sonic environment, eliminating sounds you don’t like and enhancing those you do. The Here Active Listening System—a pair of wireless Bluetooth earbuds that work with a smartphone app—allows the user to adjust the volume on personal conversations, TV shows, or concerts. Eight different filters reduce noise in specific environments, such as in a subway, an office, or a plane. Testers found the app’s “city” filter useful for dampening noises in crowded urban settings, according to MIT Technology Review. Doppler Labs plans to sell the Here system later this year for between $199 and $299. —M.C.

Armed with Legos

Kids love Legos. Now, kids with missing hands and arms can be part of their own Lego designs: A new prosthetic allows them to attach Lego bricks directly to their arms, building creations such as a Lego backhoe that is controlled by the prosthetic and a remote.

The battery-powered prosthetic is designed to attach to the child’s arm using 3-D-printed sockets of various sizes that can be replaced as the child grows.

“[This can] help with the acceptance of difference rather than being a functional replacement hand,” Jo Dixon, national coordinator at the British children’s charity Reach, told the BBC. She said the Lego customized prosthetic could increase self-confidence in children.

Carlos Arturo Torres, a former intern at Lego’s Future Lab, invented the prosthetic—the IKO Creative Prosthetic System—and won the Grand Prix award at February’s European digital technology summit Netexplo. Torres hopes to raise investment funds this year to develop the device, which he estimates will sell for $5,000.

“As a Colombian, you grow up with the arms conflict, and we are so aware of people losing limbs or having difficulties because of war,” Torres told the BBC. He hopes children will work together to design their own attachments: “When I was at Lego, I realized how social toys can be.” —M.C.