AeroVironment NAV Flies Like A Hummingbird, Will Look Like One Too
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 2 of July , 2009 at 4:04 am
AeroVironment, makers of the Raven UAV and the Dragon Eye UAV (among other things), have been working for several years now on a DARPA funded program to develop micro nano air vehicles that use flapping wings as a lift and propulsion source. Now, we’ve seen a lot of robots that use flapping wings, but only one other robot that could use them to hover, like an insect or a hummingbird. The AeroVironment “Mercury” NAV isn’t as small as an insect, but it is about the size of a hummingbird, and surprise surprise, DARPA has asked AeroVironment to dress up the next prototype in a little costume:
Okay, so it’s a little hokey looking, but honestly, I bet it gets the job done: nobody who sees something that looks like that flying around on wings is very likely to think it’s a robot… Except for maybe you, right now, after reading this. Psst… They’re watching you.
From the look of things, this bot is just about ready to go: it has already demonstrated fully controllable untethered flight, so the next step is to get it carrying a payload and perhaps some autonomous capability. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of this thing in action, but probably the clearest indication of the success of this robot will be if the program suddenly ends, and we’re never told anything else about it ever again.
[ AeroVironment ]
Comments (6)
Category: Biorobotics,Military,Nano,Research,Security
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