US scientists are building a $12 million 'digital brain' for drones inspired by insects

At Penn State, a research team is pioneering advanced drone decision-making systems modeled after insect neural mechanisms. Utilizing analogue computing alongside graphene materials, this initiative focuses on onboard data processing that replicates the natural filtering and coincidence detection seen in biology. With annual demonstrations of evolving prototypes, the goal is to enable fully autonomous drone swarms independent of external support.