Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MIT's Acrobatic Helicopter

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-a-bird-it's-a-plane dept.

YourHero writes: "MIT has a new toy, a remotely-piloted helicopter that's agile, stable, and in the current public mood, perfect for urban combat and reconnaisance and surveying disaster sites. Oh, and it's also good for aerial photography. It's so good that it even does 360-degree aileron rolls at the flick of a switch. The release gives some basics, videos and other juice are here. This cost $40k, excluding labor, because technically, student labor is "priceless" - so a nod to Kara Sprague, Alex Shterenberg, Ioannis Martinos, Bernard Mettler, and Vlad Gavrilets, who probably provided most of the labor. Stringfellow Hawk has not been reached for comment."

9 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. perfect for urban combat by pubjames · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ... and in the current public mood, perfect for urban combat ...

    you people are scary.

  2. Making movies is not cheap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And if they think that this thing will make it cheaper, they are in for a shock. Budgets on movies that can afford aerial shots are large enough that hiring professional cameramen and helicopter pilots is not an issue.

    The main usage of these is air shows. Even for the military, there isn't much need for a maneuverable drone. What they need are fast drones that are very expendable. These things are way too complicated to be useful in the near term.

    1. Re:Making movies is not cheap by JohnGalt42 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      And if they think that this thing will make it cheaper, they are in for a shock. Budgets on movies that can afford aerial shots are large enough that hiring professional cameramen and helicopter pilots is not an issue.

      Dude, that doesn't make any sense. Just because the studios can use a cheap drone helicopter doesn't mean they would have to give up professional cameramen. Furthermore, it brings all kinds of different cinematography to the table, without the need for CG.

      Even for the military, there isn't much need for a maneuverable drone.

      What are you basing this statement on? I would say it's very clear the military definitely has a need for small, cheap, maneuverable drones. Between combat and safety, I can think of a myriad of applications for these.

  3. "innovative control strategies" by nesneros · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This quote from the article is probably the most important piece of information. The last decade has seen so massive advancements in our understanding of nonlinear dynamics and how they can be applied to engineered systems. Problems with traditionaly engineering approaches are that we often have to assume nonlinear systems (i.e. everything in the real world) are "linear about a point". While this is fine for some problems, like automobile suspension systems, it's just not sufficient for tasks like control complex airflow, predicting weather patterns, or driving robots across uneven systems.

    As nonlinear analysis techniques become more and more prominent in engineering design, we'll start to see more and more of these technologies which can accomplish extremely difficult technical challenges.

    --
    Some men spend their entire lives trying to kill themselves for having been born. --Ross MacDonald
  4. Wow! by ReluctantBadger · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Slashdot, The Official MIT Newsletter. MIT Lab stuff, Get an MIT education, more MIT, and cripes, oh looky, a bit more MIT here too. In fact, why doesn't Slashdot just sponsor all of us to attend there, so we can all be included in a nice clicky in-group? Ah yes, that's right - It's for SPECIAL people only. And that is why it is continously mentioned! To make all the non-MIT people feel inferior. Nice one Slashdot!

  5. School kids way behind adults by utahjazz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    it could also give filmmakers a cheap, risk-free way to shoot aerial footage. Currently, says Gavrilets, "It costs $20,000 a day to rent a helicopter and a pilot for certain types of aerial shots."

    Grown ups in the commercial world already had this idea, and implemented it years ago:
    http://www.hicam.com.au/art_bw1.htm

  6. Awesome coding! by farrellj · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That is an increadable piece of coding..only 12,000 lines to do real-time control and the snazzy aerobatics! Kara Sprague deserves a programming medal! Way to go!

    ttyl
    Farrell

    --
    CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
  7. targeting by mikeee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It couldn't carry much firepower, but it could probably manage a targeting laser to paint a target for a long range missle or even shell that had terminal guidance by laser...

  8. Some cost considerations by patiwat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > This cost $40k, excluding labor

    1. This cost figure can not accurately represent the costs of redeveloping the SW and control systems for a military / highly-robust system. The SW development methodologies for an academic proof of concept and a military project differ substantially. Basically, instead of 1 grad student producing thousands of lines of code, you would have a large team of programmers, checkers, double checkers, certifiers, testers, and systems engineers developing the system. This adds substantially to the cost of development. Professional developers (not hackers), please comment.

    2. AFAIK, the $40k cost did not include the cost of the inertial navigation system. These are very expensive, but neccesary to complement the GPS system used. I think, although I might have misforgotten, that the Draper Lab donated the one used in the test units.

    patiwat@sloan.mit.edu