Ultralightweight sonar plus AI lets tiny drones navigate like bats

Inspired by bats, a new ultra-low-power sensing system enables tiny drones to navigate through darkness, smoke and dust, where cameras and other light-based sensors fail.

By: Nitin Sanket, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: March 27, 2026

Words: 722

Last Updated: 4 months ago

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By Nitin Sanket, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

To help small aerial robots navigate in the dark and other low-visibility environments, my colleagues and I developed an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation.

Current robots rely heavily on cameras or light detection and ranging, known as lidar, or both. But these sensors fail in visually challenging conditions, such as smoke, fog, dust, snow or complete darkness.

I’m a scientific engineer who develops bio-inspired …

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