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Quadrocopters learn to build things, when will humans learn to fear them? (video)
The GRASP Lab quadrocopters were impressive enough by themselves, all slashing and swooping through the air with unerring precision, but then their makers had to go and give them the intelligence to work in groups and today the inevitable has happened: they've learned how to construct things! Sure, the structures are rudimentary, but we can recognize the beginnings of human containment cells when we see them. Skip past the break for the bone-chilling, teamwork-infused video.
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.
Quadrocopters enter the Flying Machine Arena, must bounce a ping-pong ball to survive (video)
We don't need another hero. We don't need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond the Flying Machine Arena, a test ground at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) where quadrocopters can learn new abilities and stretch their fan blades without injuring too many scientists. One such new ability is juggling balls -- well, one ball, anyway. This particular quadrocopter has learned to identify a ping-pong ball and is quite adept at keeping it in the air while the robot itself stays flying. Interestingly the last project we heard about from ETH also involved table tennis, so hopefully the next one involves a full-scale humanoid player that won't stop hunting until it has crushed every opponent.
Kinect turned into a quadrocopter radar (video)
Every night we go to bed thinking that we've finally seen the best Kinect hack done and every morning we wake up to see something even crazier concocted with Microsoft's motion controller. Today, it's been mounted atop a quadrocopter -- yes, man's future worst enemy -- and utilized essentially as a 3D radar, facilitating the bot's autonomous maneuvering around a predetermined track. The random introduction of obstacles is also handled in stride, leaving us equal parts impressed, apprehensive, and eager for more. See the video after the break. [Thanks, Glen]
Flying turkey quadrocopter celebrates Thanksgiving by dropping pies
It looks like the folks from Utah Aerials just can't let a holiday pass without taking to the skies. Following their flying ghost for Halloween, the team have now transformed an ordinary quadrocopter into a remarkably lifelike turkey capable of carrying and dropping pumpkin pies. Makes sense to us. Head on past the break for all the remote-controlled shenanigans, and happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
LaserMotive's unnamed quadrocopter hovers for 12 solid hours using lasers alone
Protip: $900,000 goes a long way, particularly when you're dumping practically all of it into a single investment (Hello Kitty lap warmers notwithstanding). LaserMotive, the company lauded for bringing home nearly a million bucks in the 2009 NASA-sponsored Space Elevator Games, has just broken an endurance record for laser-powered hovering with its unnamed Pelican. This here quadrocopter is designed to get energized by converting beams into power via a set of photovoltaic panels on its underside, and in a recent test, lasers were able to keep it afloat for over 12 hours. It never hovered much higher than 30 feet, and it barely moved from left to right while in the air, but we're guessing it was marginally more interesting than watching paint dry. All jesting aside, the milestone makes it a lot more feasible for the company to get this technology into UAVs used in the military -- "for example, laser-powered copters could perform on-the-road reconnaissance missions when convoys travel through a combat zone." And if you're looking to take home something similar on a far smaller scale, there's always the AR.Drone.
Man celebrates Halloween with flying ghost helicopter (video)
Some people buy a costume for Halloween. Others piece one together from scratch. Michael Colton makes six-foot-tall flying ghost helicopters that chase children down the street. He pieced this one together from some off-the-shelf R/C quadrocopter parts mounted to a simple aluminum frame, all held together with zip-ties and covered with an old bedsheet. He calls it Mr. T, and we pity the fool who doesn't watch it in action after the break, staged as the performance might be.
Wooden DIY quadrocopter gets no respect from Minnesota State Fair
The Parrot AR.Drone may be the hot quadrocopter of the moment, but not everyone has $299 to add one to their scale-sized hangar. We're not sure if it was financial reasons or a simple desire to get creative that drove Greg "Grease" Lehman of St. Paul, Minnesota to build his own, but build it he did, and out of wood. Using plans for a kit called the Roswell Quadrocopter, Greg hewed this from ash, oak, walnut, and paduak via CNC and a Sherline Mini mill. Thanks to its MikroKopter electronics the thing can hover and automatically fly to coordinates via GPS, or you can switch to a first-person view and do it your way. Most importantly you can build it your way using the instructions at the source link, and then enter it into your own local state fair. Greg entered his into the Minnesota State Fair's "airplane flying model, scratch built" class and came in second. Yes, second. Sadly the Fair's results sheet doesn't describe what came in first, but it damn well better have had lasers and some degree of sentience to have beaten this.
Quadrocopters can now fly through thrown hoops, the end really is nigh (video)
The future of humanity is assured. Assuredly doomed, that is. That blur you see up above is one of our familiar foes, the GRASP Lab's autonomous quadrocopter, flying through a thrown hoop without the assistance of a human director. Yes, it's downright insane that we're allowing this so-called research to continue our descent toward the robot uprising -- where's the FBI, the CIA, hell, why is DARPA sleeping on this thing? The lethal precision of these quadrotor helis doesn't end there, however, as they've now been enhanced with the ability to recover from "extreme" starting conditions. In simpler terms that just means you can toss one up into the air and it'll right itself into a steady hovering position. From where it can strike upon the unsuspecting and complacent humanoid populace.
Revenge of the quadrocopters: now they move in packs (video)
In case you didn't find the original quadrocopter chilling enough, the GRASP Lab out of the University of Pennsylvania has gone and added a bit of cooperative logic to the recipe so that now multiple little drones can work together. Also upgraded with a "claw-like" gripper that allows it to pick up and transport objects, the newer quadrocopter can team up on its prey payload with its buddies, all while maintaining its exquisite balance and agility. Skip past the break to see it on video.
Autonomous quadrocopter flies through windows, straight into our hearts (video)
We don't know whether we should be terrified or overjoyed. We've just come across a video demo from the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab that shows an autonomous quadrotor helicopter performing "precise aggressive maneuvers." And trust us when we say, nothing in the foregoing sentence is an overstatement -- the thing moves with the speed and grace of an angry bee, while accompanied by the perfectly menacing whine of its little engine. See this work of scientific art in motion after the break. [Thanks, William]
Quadrocopter project takes aerial photography open source
While there's already at least one relatively-inexpensive device out there to let you partake in some aerial photography, those not satisfied with ready-made solutions may want to give the OpenSourceQuadroCopter project a look, which (as its name suggests) takes a decidedly more hands-on route. Apparently the result of some 75 developers from around the world, the system is supposedly easy to assemble and, from the looks of it, can be attached to a variety of remote-controlled helicopters. What's more, the system can also be outfitted with a range of add-ons, including a GPS module and a parachute that can be automatically-triggered when the copter runs into danger. While you'll obviously have to supply some of the components yourself, you can order a kit with some of the key parts for just 25 €, or about $34.[Via MAKE:blog]
