The maple seed device seen next to actual samara seeds.
(Credit: Eric Schurr/A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland)Remember as a kid being entertained by how maple tree seeds (or samara fruit) would spin like helicopters as they fell around you in the fall? I do, and that's why I love this prototype rotorcraft by graduate students at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering.
It's a remote-controlled monocopter with a design based heavily on the aerodynamic and geometric properties of maple seeds. Researchers have tried for years to create an unmanned aerial vehicle that could mimic maple seeds' spiraling fall. The results out of Maryland are awesome.
As you can see in the video after the jump, the patent-pending device uses just one blade to take off, as well as a stabilizer to keep it steady. It looks weird, but it works. This is a great example of nature influencing science.
The students say they've created he world's smallest controllable single-winged rotorcraft, with the most minuscule having a maximum dimension of about 3.7 inches and a wing equal in size to a natural samara. Graduate student Evan Ulrich says he thinks the 'copter could be mass produced as a toy for less than $100, which even sounds high to us given that one of the parts experimented with is a vibrating motor from a pager.
There could also be military or rescue applications: a flyer fitted with a small camera could easily be sent across an area looking for survivors--or targets.
But no matter what the flyer ends up being used for, one thing is sure: I want one badly.
... Read moreThere's a new video out for the Seattle-based Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band song "Albatross, Albatross, Albatross." I know, Crave isn't a music blog, but I figured you guys who are really into gear would appreciate the behind-the-scenes video--not because this stuff is normally interesting, but this particular video features some really awesome gear.
You'll immediately notice a duo of Red One cameras being used. For those not in the know, Red's flagship camera shoots ultra-high-def video that rivals film in most ways. You can't buy a TV to play back its video in its full size yet. But that's not the really cool part.
The real fun comes in around the 49-second mark, when you get a shot of the AerialPan remote control camera mount. The custom-made helicopter does something new: it makes HD cameras fly. If you're a film geek, you're already drooling. I can't imagine there was any boring downtime on this shoot.
This post was updated at 2:45 p.m. PDT to clarify the type of camera mounted on the helicopter.
Southwark. Spit. I was still only in Southwark. The ceiling fan's remorseless pulse blurs into the sound of helicopter blades, and for a moment, we're back in the war... well, actually, just watching video from a tiny remote-control helicopter. It's the PD-100 Black Hornet, the smallest video camera-equipped helicopter in the world.
Weighing just 15 grams, the minuscule chopper has rotor blades that measure a tiddly 10 centimeters. It will hit 20 mph in silence, however, plus it can hover and is piloted from the ground with a controller including an LCD screen. As well as displaying, recording and playing back images from its cameras, the screen can show flight-status data and maps for mission planning.
Manufacturer Proxdynamics reckons you can carry it in your back pocket--obviously haven't seen how snug our jeans are--and can be in the air in less than a minute. It's designed for reconnoitering hostile or contaminated areas by soldiers or rescue services.
The package, available in 2010, will contain no less than three Black Hornets, a controller, and a transport box with a charger. Sadly, you won't be able to buy one, as it won't be available to the public. You'll just have to make do with one of the mini-helicopters available from Firebox, such as the Black Ghost or super-cool Airwolf replica, with a mini camcorder taped to the bottom. Playing "Ride of the Valkyries" really quietly is optional.
(Via Crave UK)
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EPISODE 107 |
Pottery Barn makes 'Star Wars' bedsheets cool again--kind of
Moldy bag prevents your lunch from being stolen
Vacumm in style with the Issey Miyake + Dyson Limited Edition (thx Richard)
Hello Kitty Watch
Hello Kitty robot coming to clean you with cuteness (thx Sheala and Gregory!)
FUG!
Ferrari station wagon is a crime against cars
Kill me.
PMS Buddy isn’t at all offensive to women. Oh, wait…
What a concept
AI helicopters. Awesome.
Pink Watch
Memorex miniMove boombox
Stanford scientists gloat over their incredible accomplishment and how insignificant my own have been...maybe.
(Credit: Stanford News Service)On Monday, a 4-foot-long helicopter equipped with an artificial-intelligence system developed by computer scientists at Stanford University flew over the campus, according to Reuters. The helicopter had taught itself to fly by watching the aerobatics of a radio-controlled helicopter flown by a human. Also on Monday, I got my Warlock to level 66 in World of Warcraft. Yeah, I think I need to reevaluate my priorities.
The self-controlled mini-hopper performed flips, rolls, pirouettes, stall-turns, knife-edges, and an inverted hover over a field. Adam Coates, a Ph.D. student who worked on the project, said the machines can fly maneuvers at the edge of what real helicopters are capable of.
Each helicopter costs about $4,000 to build. A number of companies that are hoping to use the A.I. for surveillance and mapping applications have contacted the research group.
Check out a couple of videos here.
(Credit:
Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana)
With $4 gas prices looking like a permanent fact of life, consumer interest in jetpacks and other forms of personal air transport might soon go from whimsy to reality. That seems to be driving the engineers at Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, whose latest project is the "Libelula Rocket Helicopter."
Don't laugh. This may look like something from a '50s sci-fi movie, but its creators have already produced a "Rocket Belt" built to custom specifications. The personal chopper could be also be more reliable than its full-size counterparts because, Dvice says, "by using tiny rocket motors at the tips of the rotor blades, the Libelula eliminates the torque which makes a tail rotor necessary in a conventional helicopter."
There are other potential advantages over the jetpacks we've seen, including price. We assume that the Libelula will be at least a tad cheaper than the Rocket Belt, which goes for $250,000--that's crazy money to pay for anything, let alone something that can fly for only 30 seconds at a time. Then again, the way prices at the pump are going, it might be worth another look.
(Credit:
Firebox)
What could possibly be more annoying than buzzing your friends and co-workers with a "PicoZ Micro Helicopter"? Try the new "PicoZ MX-1 Extreme," which makes the bold claim of being "the world's smallest remote control chopper."
The difference might seem minuscule to the untrained eye--4.6 inches vs. the original's 5.3 inches--but if you're of Lilliputian origins, the discrepancy is massive. Other than that, Coolest-Gadgets says the quarter-ounce copter has many of the same features as its older and larger sibling, including twin channels, a built-in lithium battery, adjustable trim control, and up to 10 minutes of flight time on a charge of 20 to 25 minutes.
The mini-chopper is described as "only slightly longer than a credit card," but U.K.-based Firebox, which is selling the MX-1, describes it best: "So small even Tom Thumb (or Cruise) would have trouble climbing aboard."
With its X2 design, Sikorsky is betting that a helicopter can fly faster with coaxial main rotors and an unusual "propulsor" tail rotor.
(Credit: Sikorsky Aircraft)How fast can a helicopter go? If Sikorsky Aircraft's plans work out, the answer could be: a lot faster than is possible right now.
For several years, Sikorsky has been working on what it calls X2 technology, a suite of systems that it says could let a helicopter "cruise comfortably" at 250 knots. That would be a far zippier pace than most current rotary wing aircraft can handle. The UH-60L variant of Sikorsky's Blackhawk, for instance, can fly at about 150 knots.
The tilt-wing MV-22 Osprey, meanwhile, can hit speeds upward of 240 knots, but it's a hybrid--half helicopter and half airplane. It can hover when its propellers are turned upward, but to go fast, it needs to fly like a plane. Sikorsky clearly has the controversial Osprey in its sights. The small chart here from Sikorsky suggests how an X2 aircraft could match the Osprey for speed while beating it at feats such as hovering. (The plane at lower right in the chart represents vertical-take-off jets like the Harrier.)
(Credit:
Sikorsky Aircraft)
On Sunday, Sikorsky showed off its X2 Technology Demonstrator suite at Heli-Expo 2008 in Houston. A first test flight, however, remains some unspecified distance off in the future, with the research project having spent 2007 in build and subsystem test phase.
The most striking thing about the X2 design is that it makes use of coaxial main rotors, in contrast with the single main rotor that's been characteristic of mainstream helicopters since--well, since Igor Sikorsky himself helped popularize that arrangement in the 1940s. The coaxial rotor system has largely been the lonely province of helicopter makers like Russia's Kamov. (Tandem-rotor designs like the Chinook, meanwhile, have two large rotors fore and aft.)
The other notable aspect of the X2 is the rear-facing tail rotor. Helicopters like the Blackhawk with a single main rotor invariably have a tail rotor that faces the side, a necessity to counter the torque from the main rotor that would otherwise spin the fuselage like a top. The X2's coaxial setup would eliminate the torque, allowing the tail rotor to propel the helicopter forward much like the propeller on a ship.
Internally, an X2-based aircraft would have fly-by-wire (that is, electronic) flight controls, as opposed to traditional mechanical or hydraulic controls. Sikorsky says the eventual aircraft would serve as a "flying wind tunnel" to measure the performance of the rigid main rotors and their relationship to the rest of the aircraft's aerodynamics. No, nobody said that being a test pilot is easy.
At the Heli-Expo, a Sikorsky VP told Aviation Week that the company was gathering feedback from industry reps to help determine the initial commercial X2 product.
(Credit:
IWantOneOfThose.com)
All good things must come to an end. Eventually, your co-workers will become immune to your flying toy antics, and you'll need to come up with some other way to irritate them. So here's the answer you've been looking for: the black helicopter.
This way, not only can you buzz them at will, but you can also prey on their paranoid tendencies at the same time--the best of all conspiratorial worlds. The "Black Ghost," as first seen on Coolest-Gadgets, has "full altitude and directional control," which is a good thing because it'll need it when the other cubicle dwellers come after it to retaliate.
Before there was the A160T Hummingbird, there was the A160, a piston-driven UAV on which the turbine-powered A160T is based. This A160 flight was in early 2005.
(Credit: Boeing)Like its diminutive avian namesake, Boeing's A160T Hummingbird is a whiz at hovering. And it turns out the prototype aircraft can also hoist a hefty load.
The unmanned helicopter this week flew for eight hours--its longest flight to date--and as high as 5,000 feet while burdened with a 1,000-pound payload. The test flight goes a long way toward proving the Hummingbird fit for use in military operations, where it could ferry supplies, sensors or weapons to the battlefield, perform surveillance and target acquisition, or even rescue pilots who've been shot down.
Over time, Boeing wants to see the 35-foot Hummingbird fly longer, but with a lower weight: 18 consecutive hours with a 300-pound payload.
The A160T Hummingbird flew for the first time in June, and has flown several times since then. It's a turbine-powered version of the earlier piston-powered A160, which dates back to 2002, and the second of a planned 11 A160Ts that Boeing is building for DARPA.
Eventually, Boeing sees the Hummingbird flying for up to 20 hours at speeds above 140 knots and at altitudes reaching 25,000 to 30,000 feet (but hovering below 15,000 feet). A notable element in the design of this unmanned aerial vehicle is the variable speed of its 36-foot rotor; the UAV operator can adjust the rotors' RPMs at different altitudes and cruise speeds to improve flight efficiency.
