New open-air facility will be testing ground for autonomous drones, vehicles and robots

LLNL’s new OS-150 Robotics Laboratory is an outdoor, 8,000 square-foot enclosure that will serve as a proving ground for the autonomous drones, vehicles and robots of the future. Informally known as the "drone pen," the 50-foot-tall rectangular enclosure, located directly across from one of the Lab’s main engineering buildings, is allowing operators to pilot their drones safely and autonomously using GPS coordinates, saving the researchers time, money and effort by bypassing certain Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and permits required for piloting drones in open air, easing their prep work and reducing the amount of observers that need to be on-site for a test. Read more at LLNL News.