These drones don’t need runways. They can fly over, deliver their packages and return home. Amazon’s vision of the future vis-à-vis package delivery made a giant leap towards reality.

Looks like the robots aren’t just happy taking away our jobs, they are after birds too.

Researchers from the University of Bristol in Britain and from BMT Defence Services (BMT) have built a fixed-wing UAV that can take to the ground just like birds.

Although BMT’s contribution to the project is part of a wider defense program nicknamed Autonomous Systems Underpinning Research, its researchers believe the drone that they co-created could one day be used to deliver packages, including putting out fires.

If you have noticed, when birds land, they tend to swoop in low, angle their wings upwards, all of which amounts to performing a “deep stall” before their touch ground.

The drone created by the researchers mimick this behaviour and thanks to its morphing wing, the drone can swing backwards, forwards and even twist and roll like an aircraft.

With such improved manoeuvrability, researchers envisage a future wherein drones can fly through an urban environment, dodge power lines and lampposts and deliver their packages.

The technology for this deep-stall capability is not just in the wings, the researchers have created an algorithm that allows the drone to compensate for changes in wind speed, angle and position of the wings.

To do this, they used a technique known as “Q-learning,”, wherein the AI learns to optimally change its course by raising its satisfaction level, or “Q,”.

Just like a kid in an arcade game, the algorithm keeps trying to beat the high score, until he figures it out.

BMT’s researchers say, the drone managed to pull off a soft landing without using a runway after 5,000 tries.