FixedWing
Latest
Lilium's latest flying taxi prototype can at least hover
There are a number of flying taxi startups out there, but Lilium has stood out with its unique airplane-like design and serious aeronautical cred. Now, the company has unveiled an all-new prototype and flaunted the first successful tests with the craft. In a video, it shows the craft taking off vertically, hovering just above the ground and then landing, complete with the de rigueur employee cheering and hollering.
Fixed-wing drone lands on vertical surfaces like a bug
Scientists have borrowed a few tricks from Mother Nature in order to create a drone capable of landing flush against a wall. The Multimodal Autonomous Drone (S-MAD) looks like a small airplane and flies like a glider, but on approaching a flat surface is able to change configuration to make a smooth, ricochet-free vertical landing -- much like a graceful bird or a large, unpleasant insect, depending on how this unsettling robotic behavior makes you feel.
