FlyingMachine
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'Snowstorm' personal flying machine lifts off in Singapore
What you're looking at above is Snowstorm, a personal flying machine. This electric-powered aircraft, designed and built by a group of students from the National University of Singapore, can be controlled by a human pilot and is capable of a vertical takeoff and landing. Snowstorm was created as part of an engineering project called FW Air: Electric Aviation, which aims to turn the fantasy of flying cars into reality.
Quadrocopters can balance, juggle poles in mid-air now (video)
Play-time at quadrocopter boot camp.
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.
Quadrocopters don creepy eyes, build synthetic Christmas tree of envy (video)
First we let them play music, then they started juggling. Now quadrocopters are feeling emotions as well; namely, jealousy. One of Flying Machine Arena's dainty quadrocopters, nicknamed Juliet, was compelled to build its own synthetic Christmas tree after spying an authentic fir through a glass window. Sure, stacked bricks of festive foam seem innocent enough, but look into those ping-pong ball eyes and tell us you aren't a little worried that next year's "war on Christmas" will be the machine's war on humans. Fly past the break to see Juliet's envious construction project for yourself.
Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already
It seems like the folks over at the Flying Machine Arena are finally starting to catch on -- those quadrocopters are going to kill us all. Thankfully, after teaching them to juggle and tap out some tunes, the researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash. Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master's amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don't give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise. On further consideration, maybe we haven't been creating our own murderers, but a new man's best friend -- after all, they don't eat much and can't chew up your remotes. Check out the video after the break.
Six-rotor drone counts trees, not kills
Relax everybody, unlike its antonymous quadrocopter cousins, this six-rotor drone isn't here to kill, only to count plants. Researchers from Oregon State University are hanging cameras from reasonably-priced RC aircraft to help nurseries track inventory -- a task often performed by workers wandering the orchards and keeping tally by hand. Image analysis software automates the process and, with the addition of other sensors (such as infrared), it could one day be used to spot irrigation problems, identify diseased trees, and estimate crop yield. The machines themselves can climb to over 80 feet and stay aloft for up to 40 minutes while hauling 5-pounds of photo gear. At around $10,000 it's a safe bet that no one will be shooting bottle rockets at balloons with this thing, but it should be well within the reach of farmers who spend that much in money and manpower to track their trees anyway. Two more photos after the break.
Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)
You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?
Quadrocopter plays the piano, wishes us a happy and complacent holiday (video)
Our worst frienemies, the quadrocopters, have decided to act cute for the holidays and play us a merry little jingle. Yes, the guys and gals behind the Flying Machine Arena have put together an airborne robot sophisticated enough to lay down a few seasonal notes on a Yamaha electronic keyboard. And we're still sitting around debating inconsequential topics like net neutrality -- all of human civilization is at stake here, people! Be a good citizen and watch the video after the break to scout out any weak points to this most imminent threat to humanity's survival.
Whirligig: the generation, jury rigging, and joys of the gyrocopter
...And associated technologyOr:"IT'S WHISPER QUIET!"Since the very dawn of sentience, since the first daring Gnome looked skyward and said "Hey what's up there," since the first drink addled Goblin fell back near-insensate and said that those birds weren't so great, anyone could fly if they had a mind to, before falling into a Dark Iron Ale-induced coma, it has been our dream.Since the first parachute cloak failed to deploy (Engineer 2nd Class Amplebottom regrets packing her bloomers in that pack, and points out respectfully that the quantity of cloth involved did slow Engineer 1st Class Plummetorque's descent somewhat), we have held out hope.Since the first Engineer took flight in Outland, we have dreamed, demanded, planned, protested, and raised our voices (amplified or otherwise) as one, crying out to the great Engineers, the Blue Gears of the World, for succor. Let us, we have cried out, slip off at last the line and mooring, the chain and the anchor. Let us, we called from Shattrath and Stormspire alike, cast off into the air, in machines we have made ourselves, and trusting only our craft and our skill, reach out to touch the skies themselves!Ahem.Many of us, however, died in the process. Turns out our craft and our skill are not always the most trustworthy of companions, much less copilots, much less sole source of support between our posteriors and the unforgiving, unresilient ground below. However, after much research on both flight and gravitational acceleration, Engineers have at their disposal two crafts for aerial flight. Herein we discuss the components required for each model of the Engineers' Flying Machines, and possible advantages therefrom derived.
Vertipod aims to be "Segway of the sky"
This one's been making the rounds lately, but we'd be remiss if we didn't take a moment to acknowledge any invention that boasts to be the "Segway of the sky," which is just what upstart Air Buoyant claims its so-called "Vertipod" could one day be. According to Danger Room, this flying machine employs a gasoline or ethanol powered 440-cubic-centimeter engine to propel one brave along individual at speeds up to 40 miles per hour while hovering 15 feet off the ground, with a propeller, naturally, spinning perilously close to your feet. What's more, Air Buoyant's Pete Bitar says the contraption could even have consumer appeal, with a $10,000 kit planned that "can be assembled in a weekend."[Via Tech Digest]
OpenSky 2.0 anime-inspired flying machine
While the pic above may slightly exaggerate the OpenSky 2.0 project's currently flying capabilities, the craft itself appears to be quite legit, with a complete but earthbound model of the contraption now on display at an NTT ICC exhibition in Japan. Those able to check out the exhibit will apparently still be able to get a taste of the craft's potential flying abilities, however, with a full-fledged flight simulator set up to let you take it for a spin (check it out after the break) -- which, given the seeming likelihood of a catastrophic crash, is probably the only way we'd fly it. Hayao Miyazaki fans will no doubt be quick to spot the inspiration for the craft's design, although we don't remember the ones in Nausicaa being pulled by ropes. [Via Akihabara News]
The Skyacht "practical" personal blimp
While we're still waiting for our jet pack and saving up for our Moller Skycar, it looks like we may soon have another flying machine at our disposal once the Skyacht personal blimp hits the market. The blimp's been in development since 2002 (including some makeshift wind tunnel testing) but just recently underwent its first tethered test flights and is set to make its first untethered flight later this month. Unlike traditional blimps, the Skyacht simply uses hot air instead of helium, and employs a "virtually silent" motor for propulsion. The use of hot air makes the Skyacht cheaper to operate than other blimps but, as you can see, also requires a much bigger balloon. Rest assured though, it is the world's first "practical" personal blimp.[Via MAKE: Blog]
