Is A Ball-Dropping Ability Enough To Make This RC Heli-Drone Stand Out?

It looks like over the last couple of years the technology for self-stabilizing RC helicopters has reached a point of maturity. Or at the very least, a cost that makes it so that it starts appearing everywhere. The latest entrant in this field is hoping to stand out from the others by including the ability to drop a payload on your enemies. The iOS-controlled coaxial-rotor helicopter iStrike Shuttle features a compartment in its base that is able to lift a ping-pong ball and drop it at the touch of a button. Included gyro stabilizers mean that you should be able to bring it over a co-worker’s head fairly easily and “attack” them when the most suspect it (they’d have to be deaf not to hear the thing coming, after all…). Flight time is around 8 minutes on one charge and a little bit more if you remove the landing stabilizer and ping pong ball. Of course if you do that, you’re left with yet another RC heli drone.

At $85, is it worth it? We’re not sure, though it could make an interesting Holiday present. It’s on Kickstarter now, so it’s not even sure to take off, but if it does, delivery would be in December of this year.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Geeky Gadgets ]


Man Turns Dead Stuffed Cat Into a Helicopter (WTF?)

cat helicopter1 Man Turns Dead Stuffed Cat Into a Helicopter (WTF?)
In today’s WTF news, a Dutch artist name Bart Jansen has turned his deceased kitty into a flying cat helicopter. The cat, named Orville after the pioneering aviator Orville Wright has become a pioneering aviator cat in his own right. He spread-eagled the taxidermied cat, attached landing skids to it’s belly and a rotor to each of his four paws. I assure you that the Orvillecopter is real and that photo above is not ‘shopped. The proof is right here in this video of the cat copter taking flight:

Now he can fly with the birds. Too bad he’s dead. How about a goldfish? For you R/C nerds this kitty is equipped with a Lotus 580 engine, TURNIGY Plush 30amp Speed Controllers,HobbyKing Multi-Rotor Control Board V3.0 and 4s LiPo. (via the daily news)

Man Turns Dead Stuffed Cat Into a Helicopter (WTF?)


Tacocopter, Flying Taco Delivery Drone

tacocopter Tacocopter, Flying Taco Delivery Drone
Tacos, so delicious yet so far away. And taco delivery? So inefficient when it’s bound by things like roads, sidewalks and the ground. Well where this taco is going, we don’t need roads. Because the Tacocopter has achieved liftoff. Sure unmanned airborne drones are not currently allowed by the FAA even for such awesome uses as delivering a taco, but that just seems like a minor hurdle to overcome. Watch the taco take flight for the first time in this video:

Ok, that was what- 1 second? 2 seconds? of actual taco flying time. So maybe FAA approval isn’t the biggest hurdle. Back to the drawing board Tacocopter. On the plus side, that sour cream cannon at the beginning of the video shows a lot of promise. (via huffpo)

Tacocopter, Flying Taco Delivery Drone


Navy awards Aerovel Flexrotor contract to develop marine surveillance tech

Navy awards Aerovel Flexrotor contract to develop marine surveillance tech

The high seas and UAVs go together like -- well, they go together really well. The Navy's cooking up 3D laser imaging technology for spotting pirates and the like, but it will need some aircraft for the task. Right on cue, a helicopter / airplane hybrid for maritime surveillance is inching toward reality. Aerovel's Flexrotor, an ultra-compact craft with a wing span of three meters (9.8 feet) and a weight of just 19.2 kg (42.3 lb), has already been demonstrated to switch between horizontal and vertical flight, but the next step is enhancing its propulsion system to improve its performance for longer distances and in windier conditions. Today the Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded the company a contract for developing that tech. For now, you can check out a video of the Flexrotor's first test flight, which demoes the UAV transitioning from vertical and horizontal orientation and back again.

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Navy awards Aerovel Flexrotor contract to develop marine surveillance tech originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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