‘Robot falcons’ could swoop on drones smuggling drugs

PEREGRINE falcons could inspire scientists to develop robot interceptors to bring down rogue drones.

The natural agility and speed of the birds of prey mean they attack like guided missiles, researchers behind the Oxford University project said. This ability could help make machines to stop drones being used near airports or from dropping illegal goods such as drugs into jails.

GPS tracking devices were used to analyse flight patterns in eight birds who had tiny video cameras attached to their backs. They were also tested with dummy prey thrown into the air. Lead investigator Professor Graham Taylor said: ‘ Falcons are classic aerial predators. Our GPS tracks and videos show how peregrine falcons intercept moving targets that don’t want to be caught.

‘It turns out they do this in a similar way to most guided missiles. Our next step is to apply this to designing a visually guided drone able to remove rogue drones safely.’

The falcon’s ‘terminal attack’ trajectory followed a mathematical law used to steer homing missiles, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported.