MIT can be the toughest campus to get around, or "one of mankind's most difficult and disorientating labyrinths" as students refer to it. But the SENSEable City Lab Team has created a new technological device for the MIT campus called Skycall. Skycall is a drone quad copter that is designed to receive assistance from students, locate the students, and guide those students to their desired location.
The students can contact Skycall from their smartphones using the Skycall app. In which, you submit a alphanumeric code that corresponds to their location and another code for their desired location. The Skycall drone is equipped with onboard autopilot, camera, WiFi, GPS navigation system, sensors to fly and determine it's location and a sonar system to avoid obstacles.
As Christopher Green mentions, one of the researchers on the project, the drone is "quite raw." I think that this type of technology is very unique. If you think about it, college campus's can be wide ranging, and can be complicating based on reading a campus map. I can imagine the Skycall drone being a very successful and convenient tool for students to navigate around campus. I'm not saying that it should be used at all college campus's, but for the bigger college's, it may help reduce confusion for new students and help the transition feel more comforting. In my opinion, this new advance in technology is only the beginning of what's to come in our future.
This is the website where you can see some interesting pictures, and a video of the Skycall.
http://bit.ly/1fKbOOEresting
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