quadrocopter
Latest
Criminals used a drone swarm to disrupt an FBI hostage rescue
Drones are what you make of them. One person's wedding videographer is another person's drug mule. And while hobbyist drones were first used for simple jobs like sneaking contraband into prisons, over the years they've become the criminal's Swiss Army knife of gizmos. The FBI's Joe Mazel told a crowd at the AUVSI Xponential conference this week about a particularly organized gang that used drones to interfere with a hostage situation last winter. As Defense One reports, a swarm of small drones descended on an FBI hostage team, performing "high-speed low passes" in an effort "to flush them" from their position. "We were then blind," Mazel added.
Parrot brings fancy follow-me features to its Bebop 2 drone
With a price tag of $550/£440, Parrot's Bebop 2 drone is aimed at budding pilots who want more than a toy, but can't justify spending four figures and up on a flying camera. The problem with getting something in between, though, is you can't expect all the features of more expensive drones. There are a couple of third-party mobile apps floating about that add auto-follow features to the Bebop 2, but today Parrot is updating its official FreeFlight Pro app with what it claims is the "most accurate and reliable" implementation around.
Watch these drones build a rope bridge
One of the big selling points of drones is that they can get to areas that aren't exactly safe or accessible by humans. That's why watching quadrocopters assembling a rope bridge that's sturdy enough for a person to walk across is so damned awesome -- it immediately calls to mind a real-world use scenario that probably all of us can relate to. The video below was filmed at RTH Zurich Flying Machine Arena in Switzerland, and, according to the YouTube description, aside from the scaffolding on either side of the bridge, the structure is "entirely realized by flying machines." Every knot and braid in the 7.4 meter (just over 24 feet) bridge was tied by the UAVs using Dyneema rope. As Robohub tells it, the material has a low weight-to-strength ratio that makes it pretty great for aerial construction uses.
This is what happens when a drone interrupts your Christmas date
You're on a date at TGI Friday's, casually sipping your discount cocktail, trying to ignore the disappointed look on your partner's face as they attempt to cut into their overcooked steak. As if this situation wasn't awkward enough, the smooth sounds of the Billboard 100 playlist are interrupted by a high-pitched whining. A lone quadrocopter hovers above, dangling a collection of stale mistletoe leaves. Looking to make the best of a bad situation, you lean in for a kiss. Before you know it, it's profiteroles for one.
Cirque du Soleil turns drones into dancing lampshades
Before quadrocopters become the four-winged horsemen of the robopocalypse, we're quite happy making 'em dance for our entertainment. A new artistic collaboration between the ETH Zurich university and Cirque du Soleil isn't your standard swarm show, though, imagining a more intimate relationship between man and machine. "Sparked" is the short film born out of this partnership, featuring the talents of several pre-programmed quadrocopters, one human performer and zero special effects. Rather than a technical demonstration, it's a story of a lonely lamp-maker and the (seemingly) inanimate creations that fill his workshop. We won't spoil any more of it for you, so head past the break for the full film, as well as an explanation from the creative and technical minds behind the project about how it came to pass.
This concept car uses its own reconnaissance drone to spot traffic jams
The idea of receiving traffic updates on your sat nav may suddenly seem tawdry next to this more futuristic alternative dreamed up by Renault: If you're driving along in its "KWID" concept car and you're worried about jams up ahead, you simply launch a quadrocopter drone from the car's roof, send it skyward using a control app on your tablet and then survey the road through its camera. Would it be distracting, trying to perceive two views at once without the multitasking skills of an Apache pilot? Whose insurer would pay out if your drone pranged someone else's? Fortunately, these questions need not concern us, as Renault readily admits that the KWID will probably never see the light of an assembly plant. And in any case, if the technology does come about one day, the parallel advent of semi-autonomous cars and mind-controlled drones would surely make it practical.
Quadrocopter drone recovers from failures without skipping a beat (video)
Quadrocopter drones are capable of some incredible acrobatics, but they seldom handle failure all that gracefully. ETH Zurich's Mark Mueller is tackling this problem through a new failsafe algorithm that gives these flying robots a better chance of survival. As you'll see in a video demo after the break, the software automatically compensates for rotor failures, bringing a drone back to its original position before giving the owner an opportunity to land the craft. Mueller's routine works even when there's just one propeller left, and it could eventually avoid dangerous objects on the way down. While there's no mention of when the algorithm will reach copters outside of the lab, there's a patent on the way -- we'd expect it to reach production drones at some point in the future.
3D Robotics launches Iris quadcopter, for pre-assembled drone action
3D Robotics has made it pretty clearly that it's all about the maker community. But what about those who can't tell their Arduino from a Raspberry Pi? The Chris Anderson-run company today announced the release of Iris, an out-of-the-box, user-friendly quadcopter experience. The drone can be controlled with an Android device (iOS coming soon), including single button takeoffs and landings. There's an ARM Cortex-M4 processor and a built-in data radio on-board, the latter of which will help you check out flight paths in real-time. There's also a spot for a GoPro Hero3, though that, naturally, will cost you ($400) extra. The configurable copter starts at $730. It's set to ship on September 16th.
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Power Edition stays in the air longer, lands in the US this month
We'll say this about the AR.Drone's battery life up to now: it always seemed perfectly suited to our short attention spans. For those able to focus on flying objects a bit longer, however, there's the AR.Drone 2.0 Power Edition. The quadricopter's already gotten some love abroad and is set to hit our shores this month, priced at $370 over at that fine purveyor of massage chairs, Brookstone. This time out, the limited edition phone-controlled device brings 36 minutes of flight time (not the first boost we've seen from the company), thanks to two 1,500mAh lithium-polymers. Also new are sets of color blades (including black for when you're feeling a bit stealthier).
TRAQ quadricopter locates and hones in on radio signal sources (video)
Move over, Parrot AR.Drone; there's a new (prototype) quadrocopter in town. For their senior project, electrical engineering students at Northeastern University developed TRAQ, an autonomous aircraft that tracks down the sources of radio transmissions. That functionality comes thanks to a four-element antenna array, and the team envisions such a device being used in disaster, rescue and surveillance situations, where drones could prove faster to respond than us earthbound humans. The next step would be getting multiple aircraft to work together to improve location accuracy. Who doesn't love an imposing swarm of quadrocopters, after all?
Researchers flaunt flying bike, no mention of alien-caching basket (video)
Researchers from several Czech companies have managed to make a bicycle soar with the aid of six electric motor-driven propellers. Looking like an over-sized quadrocopter drone, the bike was actually guided in a similar RC manner by scientists on the ground while a dummy rode in the pilot's seat. The range of the contraption was severely limited by the small batteries needed to keep the already-chunky 220 pound weight down, and the device would obviously be difficult to operate on a bike path due to its ungainly size. Still, the developers said the project was more about the fulfillment of childhood dreams than any commercial aim -- though we're not sure even our wildest ET fantasies would compel us to make the leap. [Image credit: Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images]
University of Minnesota researchers demo AR.Drone controlled by thought (video)
Researchers from the University of Minnesota seem hellbent on turning us all into X-Men. Why's that, you ask? Well, back in 2011, the team devised a method, using non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG), to allow test subjects to steer computer generated aircraft. Fast forward to today and that very same team has managed to translate their virtual work into real-world mind control over a quadrocopter. Using the same brain-computer interface technique, the team was able to successfully demonstrate full 3D control over an AR.Drone 1.0, using a video feed from its front-facing camera as a guide. But it's not quite as simple as it sounds. Before mind-handling the drone, subjects underwent a training period that lasted about three months on average and utilized a bevy of virtual simulators to let them get acquainted with the nuances of mental navigation. If you're wondering just how exactly these human guinea pigs were able to fly a drone using thought alone, just imagine clenching your fists. That particular mental image was responsible for upward acceleration. Now imagine your left hand clenched alone... that'd cause it to move to the left; the same goes for using only the right. Get it? Good. Now, while we wait for this U. of Minnesota team to perfect its project (and make it more commercial), perhaps this faux-telekinetic toy can occupy your fancy.
Quadrocopter fleet stuns Londoners with giant hovering Star Trek logo (video)
Before quadrocopters become Skynet's roaming recon fleet, they'll begrudgingly entertain us, and in a recent promotional enterprise, a swarm braved the London "spring" to remind us of the imminent launch of Star Trek: Into Darkness. Over the weekend, drone masters Ars Electronica Futurelab sent a party of 30 LED-tagged AscTec Hummingbirds halfway to Hoth, and used the relative darkness of Earth Hour to set an approximately 300-foot high Star Trek logo twinkling over Tower Bridge. A video of the event can be found below, complete with epic music and movie cut-scenes sure to send even the most Vulcan of trekkers to sickbay with hysteria. If anyone behind the promotion is reading -- please, whatever you do, just don't give them phasers.
UPenn robots spring into action, save wooden hero (video)
Like you, we assumed that the University of Pennsylvania robotics team wouldn't be able to top the wow factor of that amazing video of Quadrocopters playing the James Bond theme, but if this doesn't best it, it sure comes close. Marvel as a quadrocopter, RC truck and a team of scale shipping-containers-turned-autonomous-robotic-boats band together to aid a wood artist's model. It's quite the site to behold, and according to the University, all the researchers have to do is tell the boats the final shape -- in this case a curved, floating bridge. Video's after the break.
Quadrocopters can balance, juggle poles in mid-air now (video)
Play-time at quadrocopter boot camp.
Secom offers a private security drone, serves as our eyes when we're away
Modern security cameras are rather limited: if an incident doesn't happen within a pre-defined field of vision, a company won't know what's happening until it's too late. Secom is giving anxious offices a rare solution in what's supposedly the first airborne drone for private security. Its customized Ascending Technologies quadrotor can take to the air if there's a break-in and record what's happening, even in areas that would normally represent blind spots. The automaton can also track moving subjects with a laser sensor and knows enough to keep its distance. Japanese firms wanting Secom's robot sentry will have to wait until after April 2014, when they can rent one at about ¥5,000 ($58) per month; the investment could be worthwhile just to freak out a few would-be burglars.
HyTAQ hybrid quadrotor robot travels by air and land, leaves us no place to hide (video)
Few robots can travel gracefully through more than one medium; more often than not, they're either strictly airborne or tied to the ground. The Illinois Institute of Technology's HyTAQ quadrotor doesn't abide by these arbitrary limits. The hybrid machine, designed by Arash Kalantari and Matthew Spenko, uses the same actuators to drive both its flight as well as a surrounding cage for rolling along on the ground, quickly switching between the two methods. It's clearly adaptable, but using the one system also provides large power advantages over a traditional quadrotor, Spenko tells us. While HyTAQ's battery lasts only for 5 minutes and 1,969 feet of pure flight, that jumps to 27 minutes and 7,874 feet when the robot can use a smooth floor instead -- and of course, it can hop over ground obstacles altogether instead of making a detour. The range of the robot and its pilot are the main limiting factors, but the patent process is already underway with hopes of winning commercial deals. We're both excited and worried as a result; as wonderfully flexible as HyTAQ is, widescale adoption could lead to especially relentless robots during the inevitable takeover.
Alcatel-Lucent flies Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 over 3,280 feet using LTE: reach out and buzz someone (video)
The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is many good things, but "long-ranged" isn't what comes to mind with a 165-foot maximum distance between pilot and quadrocopter. Not to be daunted, Alcatel-Lucent has conducted a test with an ad hoc LTE network, a USB modem and a smartphone to see just how far the remote-controlled aircraft could go on 4G. In practice, quite far: thanks in part to the inherently wide coverage of the 800MHz band in France, the team flew the AR.Drone more than 3,280 feet (one kilometer), all while streaming 720p video of the farmland below. Besides giving us ideas for a North by Northwest remake, the flight emphasized the possibilities that come when we have access to a long-distance wireless link with high bandwidth, such as monitoring crops or some very literal field journalism. The challenge will be convincing Alcatel-Lucent to share its trick and let us pester our not-so-next-door neighbors. [Thanks, Vincent]
50 quadrocopters take to Austria's skies for synchronized swarm (video)
If AscTec's Hummingbird quadrocopters continue to fly around in your nightmares, you might not want to watch their latest video -- even if they resemble hypnotic robot fireworks. Ars Electronica Futurelab and Ascending Technologies teamed up for this latest show, programming 50 LED-equipped quadrocopters to frolic over the Danube last week. Watch them dance after the break.
Gamera II hits new high with unofficial human-powered helicopter altitude record (video)
The University of Maryland team responsible for the Gamera II human-powered helicopter NAA flight time record may be on its way to bagging another one -- this time for altitude. With new freshman pilot Henry Enerson spinning the cranks, the gigantic four-rotor design ascended to eight feet, an unexpectedly lofty level, according to the team. The well-controlled 25 second flight was far less than the record 49.9 seconds Gamera achieved earlier, but the new altitude bodes well for its upcoming Sikorsky Prize attempt. That $250,000 award, unclaimed since 1980, requires a 10-foot altitude to be maintained for one minute, and now looks to be distinctly in the UMD group's sights. Check the video after the break, and marvel at the ungainly quadrocopter's latest aerial exploit.
