Data on animal movements help Hungarian researchers create a swarm of autonomous drones

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Moving in a dense cloud, like throngs of people walking across a crowded public square, 100 drones maneuver through the night sky in Hungary's capital, the result of over a decade of research and experimentation that scientists believe could change the future of unmanned flight.

The behavior of the swarm, made up of autonomous drones that make their own real-time decisions on collision avoidance and trajectory planning without pre-programming or centralized control, is guided by research the Hungarian scientists performed on the collective movements of creatures from the natural world.

“It’s very rare that you see some technology and you say it’s beautiful,” said Boldizsár Balázs, one of the researchers working on the project. "In its theoretical core it resembles nature. That’s why the drones themselves don’t need to be pretty, but what they do is pretty because it resembles natural swarming behavior.”

Drones have in recent years become a common sight in our skies: Companies like Amazon and FedEx have launched drone delivery services, hobbyists use them for aerial photography and groups of over 1,000 drones have been pre-programmed to deliver large-scale light shows.

But the scientists at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest have developed new models based on animal behavior that allow a large number of drones to travel autonomously, reacting in real time to their environment and each other as they coordinate individual routes and tasks in dense aerial traffic.

“This is the level we call decentralization ... After the drones are told what to do, we can switch off the ground control station, we can burn it or whatever, throw it away,” said Gábor Vásárhelyi, a senior researcher at the university's Department of Biological Physics. “The drones will be able to do what they have to do just by communicating to each other.”

Using data they gathered by monitoring the behavior of pigeons in flight, the patterns of wild horses in the Great Hungarian Plain and other animal movements, they developed an algorithm that allows the drones to make on-board, autonomous decisions, safely mitigating conflicts and avoiding collisions.

While such technology has the potential to increase efficiency across many fields, some researchers have voiced concerns that certain applications of autonomous drones could pose significant dangers.

Anna Konert and Tomasz Balcerzak with the Faculty of Law and Administration at Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland, have researched such risks, and warn that military applications could escalate arms races or be misused or hacked by malign actors such as terrorist groups.

“When drones take over lethal actions, responsibility may shift from human operators to machines, leading to uncertainty about who should be held accountable if errors occur,” they wrote in an email. “This detachment could lower the psychological barriers to initiating force, potentially making war more frequent and brutal.”

They also write that autonomous drones reducing the human cost of military engagements could “encourage more frequent military actions, leading to faster conflict escalation since fewer immediate human consequences would weigh against the decision to engage militarily.”

But beyond military uses, the researchers in Hungary say their technology has the potential to improve people's lives through numerous other applications.

Their digital simulations in three dimensions have them convinced that their algorithm can be scaled up to support 5,000 drones flying together autonomously, which they say could have applications in meteorology, land surveying, goods deliveries and beyond.

The researchers are also working on rolling out an agricultural application that can be used for the precision spraying of crops, and believe the technology could also play a role in decentralizing air traffic control systems as more and more unmanned aircraft take to the skies.

This handout photo long exposure shot shows the flight of a flock of autonomous drones during an experiment near Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/HO/Eotvos Lorand University)

This handout photo taken with long exposure shows a researcher of the Eötvös Loránd University observing the flight of a flock of autonomous drones during an experiment near Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/HO/Eotvos Lorand University)

This handout photo taken with long exposure shows a researcher of the Eötvös Loránd University observing the flight of a flock of autonomous drones during an experiment near Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/HO/Eotvos Lorand University)

In this handout photo Gabor Vasarhelyi, physicist and researcher of the Department of Biological Physics at Eötvös Loránd University, is using his computer to set a swarm of 100 quadcopters to fly autonomously during an experiment near Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/HO/Eotvos Lorand University)

In this handout photo Gabor Vasarhelyi, physicist and researcher of the Department of Biological Physics at Eötvös Loránd University, is using his computer to set a swarm of 100 quadcopters to fly autonomously during an experiment near Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/HO/Eotvos Lorand University)

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The former schools police chief in Uvalde, Texas, who has asked a judge to throw out charges accusing him of failing to take action during the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, is expected back in court Thursday.

Pete Arredondo, 52, has pleaded not guilty to charges of child endangerment and abandonment. U.S. law enforcement officers rarely face a criminal trial over their actions during a school shooting.

The May 24, 2022, attack on Robb Elementary that killed 19 students and two teachers was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The law enforcement response, which included nearly 400 federal, state and local officers, has been widely condemned as a massive failure.

Arredondo’s attorneys argue he is being prosecuted for trying to save lives, including ordering the evacuation of other areas of the school. They argue the indictment would open many future law enforcement actions to similar charges.

“It cannot possibly be an offense that Mr. Arredondo evacuated some children before others could be saved,” his attorneys wrote in a court filing. “If the state is allowed to proceed in this manner, all Texas peace officers should be terrified.”

Uvalde County prosecutors have urged the judge to reject Arredondo's claim.

Another Uvalde schools officer who was on the scene that day, Adrian Gonzales, 51, was indicted on similar charges and has also pleaded not guilty. They are the only two officers facing charges over the police response. Gonzales is also expected to attend the hearing in Uvalde.

It is unclear if Judge Sid Harle will rule on Arredondo's request on Thursday or later. The hearing is also expected to cover defense requests for access to evidence and witnesses, and other pretrial matters.

While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. More than an hour later, a team breached the classroom and killed the gunman.

The indictment against Arredondo accuses the former chief of ignoring his active shooter training, and delaying the police response while the shooter was “hunting victims," despite being told that injured children were in the classrooms and that a teacher had been shot.

Instead of immediately confronting the 18-year-old gunman, Arredondo called for a SWAT team, ordered the initial responding officers to leave the building, and briefly attempted to negotiate with the shooter, the indictment said.

Once Arredondo knew of the shooter and the imminent danger to students in the classroom, "Texas law demands urgent intervention to remove the child from the danger,” prosecutors argued.

Gonzales faces similar charges in a 29-count, separate indictment that accuses him of failing to protect victims who were killed, as well as those who survived. Gonzales' legal team has not yet asked the court to throw out his charges, but could at a later date.

Each charge against the officers carries up to two years in jail. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Associated Press reporter Jim Vertuno contributed from Austin, Texas.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

FILE - This combo of booking images provided by Uvalde County, Texas, Sheriff's Office, shows Pete Arredondo, left, the former police chief for schools in Uvalde, Texas, and Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. (Uvalde County Sheriff's Office via AP, file)

FILE - A couple visits murals created to honor the victims of the shootings at Robb Elementary School, Aug. 25, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)