Autonomous X-47B Flies In Formation With Fighter Aircraft If the latest tests are any indication humans and robots will soon fight alongside one another against other humans and maybe other robots. Yesterday the U.S. Navy announced the first successful manned & unmanned aircraft flight operations of its experimental X-47B drone. The tests were performed �aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. �The exercise was operationally simple: the unmanned X-47B took off from the carrier's deck followed by a manned �F/A-18 Hornet. Then the X-47B landed on the deck folded up its wings and an operator on the deck steered the drone aside while �the Hornet landed on the same deck. It might be a simple concept but successfully integrating both manned and unmanned aircraft into the same flight patterns especially on the confined space of an aircraft carrier is essential for future operations. It's �similar �to �the �challenge �of �making sure �driverless cars can safely avoid cars with human drivers but doing so at high speeds in three dimensions on a rocking platform in the middle of the ocean with airplanes worth millions of dollars.The X-47B �has earned a pair of nicknames: �Dorito from its wedge-shaped body and Cylon from its incredibly sophisticated robotic brain. Unlike most drones which have a pilot dictating their every move �by remote control the X-47B is largely autonomous calculating its flight paths. Last summer the X-47B �successfully landed on an aircraft carrier �twice. (It aborted a �third landing but it did so to avoid crashing into the aircraft carrier and safely landed on an airstrip elsewhere.)Here's a short video from the Department of Defense showing some of the X-47B's latest flights: