MicroAirVehicle
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Small winged bot flies autonomously for nine minutes, still can't find a mate
Many robots can fly, but only a few forsake rotors for more natural, if inefficient means of propulsion. These flapping bots have interested folks at the Delft University of Technology for many years, and their latest dragonfly-like effort has achieved what they're calling a first among winged machines: Autonomy. The DelFly Explorer is larger than creations past, but still weighs only 20g (0.7 oz), or the equivalent of roughly four paper airplanes. To flutter freely without human aid, the Explorer marries a barometer and gyroscope with two cameras for eyes, and a microcontroller for a brain. Mix that with some clever coding, and the automaton can take off and navigate its surroundings unassisted until its nine minutes of battery life are up. The DelFly crew imagine their bots could have both fun and functional uses in the future, but for now are busy adding multi-room navigation. At which point, DelFlies will be the perfect scouts for Google's terrifying robot army.
FlyNano proto takes to the air, final model will soar mainly with electrons (video)
Last time we saw the FlyNano amphibious ultralight plane, we weren't sure if it would be gas or electric, and we wondered who'd be brave enough to fly the tiny thing -- if it flew at all. That's all been answered, because the sub-154 pound carbon fibre vehicle completed its first flight, taking a brief skip above a Finnish lake with pilot Pekka Kauppinen at the helm. The short trip showed promise, and the company affirmed it would continue development and airborne tests with the aim of delivering to customers in late 2013. According to the maker, recent technology gains mean that electric motors will now be the main power option. No change to the $27k base price tag was announced, so if you've got the nerve to strap one on -- and a lake to launch from -- click the source or watch the video after the break.
AirBurr micro air vehicle can self-right, take off again (video)
EPFL's been tweaking its eerily floating AirBurr since 2009, and its latest iteration adds four carbon-fiber legs, hopefully ensuring you'll never have to chase after and recover it after a crash. When the seemingly clunky frame crashes, it's that same intentional design that will ensure gravity rolls the device towards its side, allowing the legs to extend out and let the MAV relaunch itself -- even off gravel. Hit up the source link to see how the design has evolved over the years, but before that, see it crash and burn return right after the break.
Laser-toting MAV can find its way in tight spaces, might eventually hunt you down (video)
A perpetual weakness of MAVs (micro air vehicles) is their frequent need for hand-holding in anything other than a wide-open or very controlled space. If they're not using GPS or motion sensors to find their locations, they can't turn on a dime the way a human pilot would. Adam Bry, Abraham Bachrash and Nicholas Roy from MIT's CSAIL group haven't overcome every problem just yet, but they may have taken combat drones and other pilotless aircraft a big step forward by giving them the tools needed to fly quickly when positioning isn't an option. Uniting a laser rangefinder with an existing 3D map of the environment -- still 'cheating,' but less dependent -- lets the prototype flyer find the distance to nearby obstacles and steer clear even at speeds that would scare any mere mortal MAV. Ideally, future designs that can create their own maps will be completely independent of humans, making us think that MIT's references to "aggressive" autonomous flight are really cues to start hiding under the bed.
DARPA harvests energy from cyborg beetles to keep them brainwashed
Beetles packing cybernetic implants that control their brains make a cheaper and more useful micro-air-vehicle than a fully robotic one -- but due to the weight of the battery packs required, development has been slow. Now a DARPA-funded team at the University of Michigan thinks it's eliminated that problem. By attaching piezoelectric generators to each wing, the researchers can harvest the energy generated in flight and use it to juice the mind-control circuits. At present, the system generates about half the energy the team thinks it can produce, as innovations in ceramic production of the miniature devices should solve that. An experimental robotics project in competition with a cyborg one? This all feels a bit too RoboCop for us.
FlyNano plane is super-light, pretty cheap, a little scary
Since the dawn of time, man has dreamed of soaring through the clouds, without invasive TSA security checks and having the guy next to him fall asleep on his shoulder, drooling. FlyNano debuted three new planes at last week's Aero 2011 show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, which it hopes will deliver that very dream. Thanks to a composite carbon fiber bodies and a sub-44 pound drive trains, each weighs less than 154 pounds, hitting the FAA definition for an ultralight vehicle and forgoing the need for a pilot's license. But, while the company is pitching these electric-powered propeller vehicles as flyable straight out of the box, the things are still subject to FAA regulations, so don't expect to go joyriding near a major airport anytime soon -- and then there's the "theoretical operational distance" of 40 miles to contend with. Pricing ranges from €25,000 to €27,000 ($36,380 to $39,290) and the company claims that they'll start shipping in three months, plenty of time to get your life insurance premiums paid up. [Thanks, Jani]
PARITy differential keeps your MAV flying level even if you clip its wings
Ever wonder how the single driveshaft in your car manages to power two (or more) wheels simultaneously? The answer is the differential, a device capable of splitting torque dynamically. There are a variety of different types of diffs, from fully unlocked to more pricey limited-slip models, but none are quite like the one created by Harvard graduate student Pratheev S. Sreetharan and professor Robert J. Wood. Dubbed the PARITy (Passive Aeromechanical Regulation of Imbalanced Torques), it's only five millimeters long and, while such a tiny thing would evaporate if mounted between the rear wheels on a Mustang GT, it's destined for rather smaller applications: tiny, winged micro air vehicles. The scientists proved its effectiveness by clipping one wing on a PARITy-equipped drone and, despite the imbalance in lift surface, the robo-bee maintained level flight -- differential automatically flapping the tinier wing more quickly to compensate. You know what that means: keeping our robot overlord's spies grounded just got a little bit harder. %Gallery-101468%
ExoFly: Mars' first tourguide
You know those insect-like micro air vehicles (MAV) we've been seeing? Well, the ExoFly aerobot is based on that camera-equipped DelFly design, only this time it's gearing up for a trip to Mars -- maybe even Titan or Venus. Turns out flapping-wing flight is perfect for the low-density Martian atmosphere. The current prototype -- weighing 17g with a wingspan of 350mm and flight time of twelve minutes -- is being tweaked for use in future missions to Mars. The folks at Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University, who've teamed up with Ursa Minor Space & Navigation, plan on increasing the weight to 20g and adding an on-board solar cell, which they reckon should extend the flight distance to 15km. There's also talk of using the digital terrain and image data gathered to simulate a 3D immersive environment for detailed analysis of extraterrestrial destinations -- hopefully viewable by those of us who don't have the billions to drop on a flight to Mars.[Via New Scientist Space]
