Automation company Festo loves showing off its technologies and expertise by creating robot versions of animals. We’ve featured the company’s SmartBird before, and you may have also seen its AirPenguin in action. Now the company has released information about its latest pet project, the BionicOpter.
With the BionicOpter, Festo set out to replicate the flying capabilities of the dragonfly. The company says the insect is unique in that it can move in all directions, glide, hover, turn and accelerate quickly and even fly backwards. By replicating how dragonflies use their wings, the BionicOpter ends up being more versatile than a plane, helicopter or glider.
The robot has an aluminum body and carbon fiber wings. It has one external brushless motor and eight motors that handle the movement of its wings. Speaking of which, the robot can orient its wings vertically or horizontally as needed, just like the real deal. The BionicOpter can fly on its own but it can also be controlled remotely. All of that in a machine that weighs only 175g (approx. 0.39lbs.).
If you ask me the best feature of the BionicOpter is that it has a gracefulness to it that I previously thought could only be exhibited by a living creature. Check out Festo’s report (pdf file) if you want to learn more about the robot.
[via Slash Gear]
Festo isn't quite the household name that Boston Dynamics is. (And, really, we're not entirely sure Big Dog is a regular topic of conversation at dinner tables yet.) But, it certainly deserves just as much attention for the work they're doing with robotics. After crafting a machine last year that soared around like a herring gull, now the company has created BionicOpter. The 17.3-inch long dragonfly drone can flutter through the air in any direction, and even hover, just like its biological inspiration. Its four carbon fiber and foil wings beat up to 20 times per-second, propelling it through the air as if it were swimming rather than flying. Actually piloting the robo-bug is achieved through a smartphone app, but an on-board ARM-based microcontroller makes small adjustments to ensure stability during flight. There are a few important pieces of information we don't have just yet. For one, it's not clear how long the two-cell lithium ion battery will last, and pricing or availability are missing from the brochure (at the source link). Chances are though, you'll never be able to afford one any way. Thankfully you can at least see this marvel of engineering in action after the break.
Filed under: Robots
Via: Design Engineering, The Verge
Source: Festo 1 (PDF), 2
While I’m already pretty happy with my AR.Drone 2.0, there’s no question it’s a pretty big and noisy flying machine. But if you’d rather have a tiny and quiet R/C flyer, then you might want to invest in the Robot Dragonfly.
This amazing little UAV is modeled after a dragonfly, using a set of four articulated wings to carry itself through the air. The 25 gram flyer can not only hover like a helicopter, but fly like an airplane too. TechJect, the team behind the Robot Dragonfly has also figured out a way to fly without the noise found in other flying drones. This thing is truly capable of performing espionage and surveillance.
The palm-sized flying drones are designed to be modular, and offer upgradeable parts and bodies. For launch, the Robot Dragonfly will be available in four different models, ranging from a basic flyer called the Alpha – with an on-board flight computer and solenoid actuators, to the Delta which upgrades the mechanism to a continuously-variable transmission, while the Gamma and Omega models which have more sophisticated computers on board, as well as Wi-Fi and a video camera. In fact, the Omega bundle comes with two cameras.
While there were some deeply discounted prices that have already sold out to the earliest contributors to the project, you can get your hands on an Alpha Dragonfly over on Indiegogo for as little as $149(USD), while the Delta is going for $249, the Gamma for $399 and the Omega for $599. All models are expected to ship between July and September 2013, and the project wraps up funding on Monday December 31st.
US intelligence agencies were just as obsessed with drone spying 40 years ago as they are nowadays -- only then, it was pipe-smoking entomologists and watchmakers who were in charge of building prototypes. Back in the '70s, the CIA needed some kind of miniature flyer to deliver an audio bug, and after considering (and rejecting) a faux bumblebee, decided that a robotic dragonfly would be the best option. The wee UAV used a "miniature fluidic oscillator" as a motor and was propelled by a small amount of gas. It was somehow guided by a laser beam, which served double-duty as the "datalink for the audio sensor payload," according to the CIA Museum. Unfortunately, the insect-based mech proved too difficult to control, especially with any degree of wind, and was eventually scuppered -- all that's left of the now-declassified project is in the video after the break.
Continue reading CIA dragonfly drone almost beat modern UAVs by 40 years, was swatted (video)
CIA dragonfly drone almost beat modern UAVs by 40 years, was swatted (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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