Tag Archives: helicopter

Airbus converts its successful H145 helicopter into a fully autonomous twin-engine aircraft

Posted on by

Along with the increase in demand for personal mobility aircrafts, there is a snowballing demand for autonomous flying crafts in military, surveillance, and transportation. Taking cues from the shifting focus in the aviation industry, Airbus has unveiled an unmanned variant of its rather popular H145 helicopter.

Renovated to fly completely without a pilot, the new U145 twin-engine helicopter will be transporting large and heavy payloads in and out of rural, inaccessible areas amid other tasks. It is based completely on the existing platform of the recognized H145 and is expected to make its first test flight (with a safety pilot onboard) later in 2026. The completely autonomous flights are expected to begin as early as 20230.

Designer: Airbus

As mentioned above, the idea of this helicopter with a human-less cockpit is based on Airbus’s H145 helicopter. “There are more than 1,800 H145 family helicopters in service for military, parapublic and civil missions, logging a total of more than 8.5 million flight hours,” Airbus notes. For the U145, Airbus has replaced the cockpit of its popular aircraft with a clamshell door, freeing up the human-occupied space for cargo. In addition to the integrated nose door to create additional space, the aircraft includes a foldable loading table and a dedicated cargo floor.

The autonomous aircraft will achieve full autonomy through the use of sensors and artificial intelligence. The sensors will rely on data to AI, allowing the U145 helicopter to fly autonomously on any kind of mission: commercial, military, or who knows even rescue someday. A full-scale mock-up of the new model was shown of at the recently concluded ILA Berlin airshow 2026.

Airbus is not new to converting a traditional crewed helicopter into an unmanned aircraft. The aviation expert first did this with the VSR700 based on the Cabri G2. Now, the Airbus H145 helicopter-based new autonomous aircraft is the second similar iteration. Interestingly, it remains pretty close to the basic structure of the original helicopter. It retains the same Safran Arriel 2E engines and fancies same performance as the H145, though it is now made fully unmanned and is digitally controlled, instead of being piloted by humans piloting it.

The autonomous flyer can still carry up to 3.8-tonne cargo transport, operates extremely quietly, and is environmentally friendly. It can be, Airbus states, used for armed scouting, surveillance, firefighting, and even as a drone mothership. Since there is still time before the aircraft can take off on its own, Airbus will, in the interim, work closely with specialist partners to improve U145’s autonomous capabilities before it can successfully launch.

The post Airbus converts its successful H145 helicopter into a fully autonomous twin-engine aircraft first appeared on Yanko Design.

HOVSTEP Helps ADHD Focus with Helicopter Missions That Actually End

Posted on by

Modern work and study days are chopped into tiny fragments, with multiple tabs, apps, and timers all competing for attention. Even well-intentioned plans fall apart because time feels abstract and slippery, especially if you lean toward ADHD or time-blindness. Checking the clock becomes another interruption instead of a guide. HOVSTEP is a concept that tries to make time feel like one clear mission instead of a background anxiety.

HOVSTEP treats each block of time like a helicopter mission. It is both a physical clock and an app-linked timer, inspired by how a mission helicopter takes off with one purpose, completes it, and returns. The idea is to help you see a study session, assignment, or break as a single mission you dispatch and then bring home, with a beginning, middle, and end that are all visible at once.

Designer: Ho joong Lee, Ho taek Lee

Opening the app in the morning, you drop studies, tasks, breaks, and games into short mission slots across the day. The app shows your routine by time zone, then switches to an analog view where each mission has a clear start, end, and remaining time. When a mission starts, a little helicopter icon descends, and the activity timer kicks in with an alarm, making the transition feel deliberate.

HOVSTEP shows time passing with a yellow hand that appears on the clock face when a mission begins, rotating once around the dial and showing how much of that block is left. It is framed as the helicopter being dispatched, flying its route, and returning when the hand lands back at 12. You are watching a mission unfold and trying to stay with it until the end.

The object itself is a small helicopter-shaped clock that can sit on a monitor or hang on a wall. A rotor on top acts as the analog hand, a digital display shows timer information, and side buttons let you adjust volume and timer details. A center button on top turns the clock on and starts missions manually, so you can run a quick focus block without opening the app.

The design is grounded in research about how people with ADHD often respond better to movement, change, and short time units than to static digits. By turning each activity into a dispatched mission with a visible arc and clear end, HOVSTEP reduces the need to constantly check the clock. You get a sense of flow, knowing that as long as the yellow hand is moving, you are still inside the mission.

The project’s line, “One mission completed, one step closer to focus,” captures the spirit. Instead of promising to fix attention with another app, HOVSTEP reframes time as a series of small, winnable missions. Sometimes the most helpful tools for focus are the ones that make progress visible and finite, one flight at a time, instead of asking you to manage an infinite stream of minutes.

The post HOVSTEP Helps ADHD Focus with Helicopter Missions That Actually End first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Helicopter Is So Easy To Control, A Toddler Could Probably Operate It

Posted on by

With just one joystick and two touchscreen panels, the Skyryse One is making helicopters more autonomous, intuitive, and safe.

Helicopters, like pretty much any airborne vehicle, are notoriously difficult to operate. You’ve got controls in front of you, beside you, sometimes even above you – it’s no wonder you need a license with hundreds of hours of training to be able to professionally pilot one. While understandably, you’d expect helicopter pilots to go through rigorous training before being certified to operate a hunk of metal through the sky, there’s really no need for control panels and dashboards to be as complicated as they are. Founded in 2016, Skyryse has been working to simplify how helicopters are operated. Distinct from traditional helicopters, the Skyryse One eschews conventional controls like the cyclic stick, collective lever, throttle, and anti-torque pedals for a simplified control scheme centered around a single stick and a touchscreen interface. This design philosophy is built around Skyryse’s proprietary SkyOS system, which aims to enhance safety by streamlining operations and automating critical functions such as takeoff, hovering, and in the event of system failures, autorotation and landing. The company’s first-ever helicopter, the Skyryse One, puts this new control panel front and center. In fact the company claims it’s so easy to learn, you need just 20 hours of practice before taking to the skies.

Designer: Skyryse

Eschewing the traditional, mechanically complex controls found in helicopters, Skyryse introduces a fly-by-wire system controlled by a single four-axis control stick and two touch screens. This system, powered by Skyryse’s proprietary SkyOS, brings an unprecedented level of simplicity and safety to aviation​​​. Fly-by-wire, a technology where electronic systems replace mechanical ones, is not new to aviation but applying it to helicopters in such a simplified manner certainly is. The SkyOS enhances this system by continuously analyzing pilot input, environmental conditions, aircraft status, and flight parameters, ensuring the aircraft remains within a safe flight envelope​​​.

One of the most groundbreaking features of the Skyryse One is its fully automated autorotation capability. In traditional helicopters, autorotation is a complex emergency maneuver required when the engine fails, demanding immediate and precise actions from the pilot. The Skyryse One, through SkyOS, automates this process, significantly reducing the pilot’s workload and making emergency landings safer​​​.

Moreover, features like auto-pickup and set-down, swipe-to-start, and hover assist simplify operations that previously required intricate control and coordination. The inherent stability feature of the Skyryse One means that at any point, the pilot can release the controls, with the aircraft immediately activating autonomous protocols to maintain safe flying parameters.

Skyryse is making the dream of piloting more accessible. Despite its advanced technology, flying the Skyryse One only requires a standard helicopter Private Pilot License. For those already licensed for airplanes, transitioning to the Skyryse One involves just an additional 20 hours of flight training. This approach could significantly expand the helicopter pilot community by lowering the entry barrier to flying​.

As revolutionary as it is, the Skyryse One comes with a hefty price tag of $1.8 million. However, for aviation enthusiasts and professionals looking for the cutting edge of safety and simplicity, the investment might well be worth it. The company has started accepting a $2,500 deposit for reservations, with deliveries expected to begin following airworthiness certification​​​.

The post This Helicopter Is So Easy To Control, A Toddler Could Probably Operate It first appeared on Yanko Design.