BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia Tech's new drone cage is taking shape on the north side of campus, promising students and researchers a place to go when they want to push the boundaries on new technologies outside of what is allowed in public airspace.

Imagine, for instance, a drone that flies completely autonomously. Mark Blanks, director of Virginia Tech's Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, said it could theoretically take off each day, accomplish some kind of task and then land itself on a charging dock to get ready for next flight without any human involvement.

The experiments required to...