HOW TO TEACH A ROBOT TO IMPROVISE. “Self-piloted drones have become sophisticated enough to land on moving aircraft carriers, but put a single unexpected tree in the way, and they will crash. Now a five-university group that includes specialists in biology, computer vision and robotics is trying to teach drones to dodge obstacles on the fly. Working with $7.5 million from the Office of Naval Research, the scientists aim to build an autonomous, fixed-wing surveillance drone that can navigate through an unfamiliar city or forest at 35 miles an hour.”

If there’s a tree in your way while you attempt a carrier landing, I think being taken aback is entirely understandable.

UPDATE: Broken link now fixed.