AUVSI: Point And Toss UAV Is As Simple As It Gets, Maybe Too Simple
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 18 of August , 2009 at 3:21 am
There’s a big potential market for small, simple, and cheap man-portable UAVs that individual soldiers can rely on for on-demand reconnaissance. The Point and Toss UAV is a little robotic plane which, while certainly small (at a pound and a half with a three foot wingspan) and cheap (“very” cheap, I was told), may very well be able to claim unambiguous victory in the simple category. The operation of the Point and Toss is literally that simple: you point it in the direction you want it to go, click a hand controller to lock the heading and start the engine, and then toss. The UAV automatically stabilizes itself, flies out for about half a mile at 250 feet taking pictures and video to an SD card, and then autonomously turns around and lands at your feet. All done.
While I love the simplicity of the Point and Toss, there’s a major trade-off in flexibility. The UAV doesn’t have a loiter capability, so if you’re in an evolving environment, you’re going to have to keep chucking the thing out to keep up to date on what’s going on. You’re also restricted to one direction at a time. And although it’s handy to have the UAV store data on an SD card, it’s handier to have one that sends information back realtime.
I guess the point, though, is that the Point and Toss is easy enough for anyone to operate with practically no training, cheap enough for everyone to have access to one, and small enough to make that not unrealistic.
Comments (4)
Category: Military
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg
Comment by Farle
Made Tuesday, 18 of August , 2009 at 9:53 am
Sounds useful, especially if you think you’re about to walk into an ambush and need to look ahead.
Although I would have thought it would be better to have 1 drone between 5 people and have it real-time loiter than 1 drone for 1 person. Still useful though.
Comment by Joe Deeley
Made Thursday, 20 of August , 2009 at 1:11 am
The return to start feature could be used by an opposing force as an indicator of where you are in relation to them. Concealed observers can watch the vehicle’s path and then get a fix on YOU! Perhaps a user variable pattern can be employed to have the UAV land nearby, but not exactly at the point of origin.
Comment by Farle
Made Thursday, 20 of August , 2009 at 4:34 pm
Good point Joe, but you could also use that against them by throwing it from the middle of a set-up ambush, they follow it back and get ready to ambush you. But you ambush them first.
Pow!
Comment by Ray
Made Monday, 9 of November , 2009 at 6:56 am
Make it cheap so I can buy it.