DailyDirt: Robot Helicopters
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Flying is a great mode of transportation. Technically, though, there are a few different kinds of flying. Gliding or soaring like a sparrow (African or European, it doesn’t matter) is fine, but the capabilities of a helicopter are sometimes much more useful. Hovering and vertical take-offs are really neat tricks. Maybe not as neat as a Firefly “Crazy Ivan” — but it’s a bit unfair to compare fictional flying maneuvers to actual aerial feats. Anyway, here are a few cool robotic helicopters.
- Autonomous helicopters from the University of Pennsylvania can work together in teams to build simple structures. It would have been a bit creepier if the video demonstrated a honeycomb structure being built. [url]
- Artificial “samaras” are little flying helicopters — modeled after the single-wing seeds that drop from maple trees. These robotic samaras can climb, hover and move in arbitrary flight paths — and if there’s a updraft, they can stay afloat while expending minimal energy. [url]
- Boeing’s unmanned A160T Hummingbird can deliver cargo without endangering a helicopter pilot. And Skynet is just about to become self-aware…. [url]
Filed Under: helicopters, samaras, skynet
Companies: boeing
Comments on “DailyDirt: Robot Helicopters”
Crazy Ivan...
…is a submarine maneuver IRL.
Sparrows?
The African or European joke should be swallows, not sparrows, IIRC.
Re: Sparrows?
Oops. got the bird wrong. my bad. it’s been a while since I’ve watched Monty Python….
That's pretty cool.
Yeah I saw this on Colbert, I’d like to see just exactly how planners/contractors/architects utilize this tech once it has matured, to the real world level.
It’s worth mentioning there are also open source auto pilots for both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Based on the arduino.
Re: Re:
Very active community here http://diydrones.com/
For the DIY crowd here are some links:
– The Helipov a RC helicopter that has some display capabilities, why didn’t the marketeers think of that?
– The Grab Lab helicopter may have been the prototype for the Army one.
– The Flexicopter is a glove controler for remote control.
– Helivid puts a camera on a homemade build RC helicopter, he was so suscessful that he build a company, this link shows you that.
– n900copter, the power of your cellphone.
– Vicacopter basic UAV.