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MIT's Acrobatic Helicopter
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."
Oh, and it's also good for aerial photography.
... anywhere (bow chika bow wow!))
How long until someone starts selling these with some stupid pop-up ad campagin, a la X-10 cams.
(Works
They should take this concept vehicle and do a demo for the DOD. The military has been experimenting for a good while on unmanned spy vehicles (some really far out stuff, if anyone saw the TLC show on it) and a vehicle like this that is so lightweight and agile as well as being able to take nifty pictures would be a real bonus to them.
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Yet despite all of the physics and scientific perfection...
;)
...there is still no Helicopter Ejection Seat
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Now I can easily move my storm troopers and GI Joe's into battle without risk of a human pilot falling into harms way!
Stringfellow Hawk has not been reached for comment
untill this thing can go mach one and lift ernest borgnine, i really doubt stringfellow hawk will need to comment...
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I don't know if it has ever been done on a helicopter per sae, but there have been ejection seats that went out the _bottom_ of the aircraft.
:)
I think the F102 (or one of the other supersonic, large-single-vertical-fin fighters) had one of these.
Just don't pull the handle during taxi.
DG
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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.
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They expect that military-capable versions will be producible for about 1/4 the price tag of the Predator. Thus, these are arguably far more expendable, as opposed to "way more complicated".
Further, while professional cameramen and helo pilots may be affordable to big movies, they simply aren't capable of some of the maneuvers these little things can make. They're not a cheaper replacement for a professional cameraman and pilot, they're a better replacement (which may be cheaper too).
Now that would be a cool thing to hack!
I'm a concientious
Check out the IARC competition website. There are teams' webpages linked from there, too. My school (UT Austin) is planning its first ever entry for the 2002 competition. .60 Gas Graphite by Miniature Aircraft USA).
The task this year is to fly 3 kilometers along 4 waypoints, identify a building and an open entrance on the building, deploy a subvehicle (not necessary, but practically necessary) through the entrance, and have the subvehicle return reconaissance to the judges 3km away.
Many people opt to use R/C helicopters and modify them (we are using an XCell
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.
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As stated above, its been done and for a LOT cheaper. Yes I read the information and its a little different, but not really... Most modern advanced radio controlled heli's (just like this one) are simple enough to fly with some practice and are all computer controlled already. I can make my helicopter do a loop and a roll without me doing anything but flicking a switch. Its very simple with the computer radios and some simple commands input into the radio. Yes, its stable and I have used my heli to take pictures too. Total cost to me so far ~$2500.
An optimist believes we live in the best world possible; a pessimist fears this is true.
You can buy an X-cell 60 Chopper, build it, and fly it without the aid of MIT researchers for less than $2k., including aerobatics.
I just thought I would add that bit of information since landing and takeoff of radio controller helicopters are arguably the most difficult thing to learn to do.
Also, companies have produced camera/camcorder mounts for these types of helicopters too.
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Imagine this: The Pentagon offers to transport, arm, and fuel home-built drone aircraft to fly against Al Qaeda. Your aircraft must meet the following requirements:
- On-board GPS
- On-board video capability
- Must be controlled via a soon-to-be-built wireless IP network in (let's say Somalia)
- 500-pound payload
From the comfort of your home, you can patrol your Pentagon-assigned territory, and engage targets as designated by the JSTARS targeting system.I figure the Pentagon can probably turn a profit by charging fees as they provide what is essentially the world's most realistic flight simulator. As an added bonus, they could sell the TV rights to the on-board video. Wouldn't it be fun to watch "The World's Most Terrified Terrorists"? Imagine what the MIT folks could build for this mission!
I think the most ironic part of the whole idea is that it turns the tables on the bad guys. Under this scenario, their most terrfying time of day would be when school gets out in the US. "Oh no! Schools out! Everyone head for the caves!"
What a neat application for embedded Linux.
Unlike the academic projects, you can download our code and contribute!
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The link to MIT quite explicitly states, over and over, that this craft does aileron rolls. I'm not completely familiar with helicopter flight dynamics terminology, but it seems strange to me that a vehicle with no ailerons could do aileron rolls...
Anyone able to shed some light on this? Creative terminology, or something more interesting?
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The Comanche costs (will cost? may cost? link is from 1997) $26M each. Even at the current cost that means approximately 650 of these helecopters for the cost of one Comanche. They are (were?) taking about buying 1600 Comanche helicopters. That works out to 1,040,000 drones for the same cost.
Imagine you add a saturday night special to the helicopter and you send a million of these things sweeping into Iraq. Now the only problem is finding enough trained pilots.
Wait. Scratch that thought. I just had a vision of a million, unsupervised 14 year old boys in control of armed, remote control helicopters.
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There are a lot of places in filmmaking where remote-control helicopters are useful.
For instance, all the aerial shots in 'Walking with Beasts' were done with a RC Helicopter - it is substantially cheaper, especially if you need film somewhere remote.
This thing seems way too small to fit some kind of weapon. For this to be useful in combat, it'd have to carry a machinegun or maybe a small rocket launcher. A machinegun with 1000 rounds would weigh, say, 15-20 kg, and the recoil would probably be too big for this chopper.
The recoil of a rocket launcher, on the other hand, would be minimal. Problem is to aim the pod, since you can not adjust fire during firing in the same way - since you would carry only, say, 10 rockets. The aiming problem would mean you'd probably have to include hydraulics for tilting and rotating the pod, wich means more weight.
'course, you could just pack the thing with 15 kgs of plastic explosive, fly it into a building full of your opponents of choice, and set it off.
The Hellfire missile used on the Predator UAV, for example, weighs 45 kgs. Obviously, this is too much for this litte chopper.
I wonder how this extra weight affects flight performance. Does anyone have any more info on this?
Score:-1, Wrong
"Wait. Scratch that thought. I just had a vision of a million, unsupervised 14 year old boys in control of armed, remote control helicopters."
Did you ever watch the Robin Williams movie _Toys_? They were basically doing this. The movie, while not being *good* per se, is a pretty interesting watch, if just for the visuals.
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This looks like a great and low-cost way for radio stations to do away with sending reporters up in helicopters to cover traffic. Back in 1993 WNBC listeners throughout New York City were listening to one such broadcast and heard the copter crash, killing the reporter and pilot. Many other such crashes have occurred over the years. With luck, this MIT copter could make it obsolete to send traffic reporters in the air.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
(Old US Army Aviator speaking here)
.5G
Every effort at creating an ejection system for US rotary wing aircraft has been met with irristable resistance by the Aviators.
One methid, firing the seat through the floor. That is fine if you are an airforce guy at FL 2 zillion, but for us the ground is about 10 to 50 feet below the aircraft when we are most likely to need an ejection seat.
Second, not many of us like having explosives strapped around the rotor head at any time.
Third, most of us are not all that confidant that the firing sequence would work every time, i.e., not trusting the explosives in the head to blow early enough for the blades to clear the path of the seat flying up through the plane of the rotor disk.
One glairing item from this story:
HELICOPTERS HAVE NO AILERONS! They might mean a "snap roll" or a 360 degree z axis roll, but there are no ailerons on a helicopter.
This is nothing new anyway, any fully articulated rotor system OR rigid rotor system, with a powertrain posessing enough power, can safely do rolls, loops, etc. Don't try this at homw with your UH-1 or OH-58/Jetranger or Longranger, they have semi-rigid rotor systems that will break if you try to maneuver at less than
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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
According to Dictionary.com an aileron is:
"Either of two movable flaps on the wings of an airplane that can be used to control the plane's rolling and banking movements."
Since a helicopter doesn't have ailerons, only a control rotor, this isn't, strictly speaking, an aileron roll; its more of a control rotor roll.
Every Saturday I go out to Palomar Flyers's Johnson Field and fly my Kalt 30 Baron r/c helicopter. I'm still a newbie, but there are always plenty of people doing things there beyond even what this MIT bird is capable of, and I put a wireless video camera on mine, and it was pretty easy, so... whats so special about this mit thing? :)
HELICOPTERS HAVE NO AILERONS!
I noticed that as well, odd they have it on the main site page too. Helicopters move the blade angles to achieve the same result. In case anyone is wondering Aileron 's are the little flaps* on the wing that move up or down to tilt the plane to make it bank or roll.
*They are not the FLAPS mind you, these are only used to provide more lift to the aircraft at slower speads.
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The article compares this to a predator UAV, and implies that if scaled up, it could replace the predator. But, basically, the $500k pricetag is a number pulled out of nowhere. The Navy is already working on an unmanned helicopter, the firescout, and it would provide a much better idea of how much an unmanned helicopter would be costed. Just for fun, though, let's look at how far the xcell has to go to be more useful to the military... XCell .60 Pro Graphite 2K (top of line) vs predator UAV:
Predator: range 400 miles/40 hours, altitude 25,000 feet, cruise speed 70 knots.
XL: Total weight 11 pounds. Total run time 5 minutes.
Predator: Payload > 450 pounds. Accessories: helfire missles, high resolution optical and infrared zoom (19-560mm) cameras (I actually used the a Wescam in development, it was sweet!), synthetic aperture radar (resolution 1 foot) for all-weather surveillance, a laser designator and rangefinder, electronic support and countermeasures and a moving target indicator (MTI). Automated gunfire detection.
XL: Total weight, ~11 pounds. Payload: A small video camera.
Predator: UHF and VHF radio relay links, a C-band line-of-sight data link (range 150 NM) and UHF and Ku-band satellite data links.
XL: A 49 MHz hobby RC link
Predator: fixed-wing design, which is generally lower maintainence.
XL: rotary wing, which generally has higher maintainence.
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I think that this could probably be turned into a tool for war, and that the automated flying (like what is built into the Predator) being developed for helicopters by this project would be useful to that end, but it's just one aspect of the total system... to accurately cost a production system, you'd have to have a much better idea of the entire system's design requirements.
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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!
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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...
and in the current public mood, perfect for urban combat
... ever, perhaps. The main march had, by NYPD estimates, over 14,000 participants -CNN said "hundreds"... sheesh. I was there, it was thousands. In several situations, the NYPD broke up peaceful gatherings and rallies, clubbed participants, and took them off in ambulances and paddywagons. Check out the coverage on http://www.indymedia.org.)
How would these helicopters help in such situations? They could be used to douse protesters with pepper spray and tear gas directly from above -no need to send police into a crowd anymore! How to distinguish those pesky so-called "free-speech" protesters from window-smashing anarchists? Just equip the copters with face recognition software! Officers can put their time to better use photographing crowd members' faces to feed back into the system!
Have an rowdy situation unfolding? Simply arm these copters with fletchers full of sleeping potion, and you can rest assured they'll be hauled off to the slam, where they belong!
(In New York City, this past Saturday we saw one of the largest turnouts for a global trade-related protest in
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The main site is posted here. But basicly CMU is also doing this, and has gotten very far. It can track a person running around a field with a life-vest. It can also lower some object into a person's hand. This might seem easly, but this is still all autonomous. One of the big projects this is for is the Coast Guard wants these to quickly find and possibly help people in the oceans. Teams of these things can scan the ocean for people while the choper with people are just loading up. Check out the videos on the site, very cool stuff.
And I had a Vision of a million burning RC/HC as unsupervised 14 year olds shoot at each other! ;)
I would wager that maintain on a million of thes would make up for any cost savings. remember , they would need to be prepared to fly at the same time, and shipped, and the mantainers wuld need to eat, and sleep, etc, etc.... conservitaive estimate you would need about 500000 to 750000 total personal to do this. Unless you can plan for it 5 years in advance(as opposed to 3 months), then you would probably only involve 50,000 people(but the same man hours)
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More in line with treaties that ban the above, it could dispense an explosive vapor that it could light from a distance with an incindiary device (e.g. phosphorous) for concusive explosions, spray glue or release metal streamers to short out power transmission systems.
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Al Queda could do the same thing to us from the comfort of an operator's La-Z-Boy.
Careful what we wish for...
Anyone could build and use a GPS-guided weapon against us, but Al Qaeda has a supply of low-tech disposable martyrs that is just as effective, not to mention easier on their payroll department. As for their use of a remote-control system like the one I described, that would expose their command and control to all kinds of high-tech countermeasures. If nothing else worked, we could spam them to death.
My suggestion was jokingly intended to even the playing field -- we match our disposable planes against their disposable people.
If we can get Al Qaeda to base their entire weapons program on "Microsoft Martyr XP", it will surely GPF or BSOD before anything dangerous happens! You ask for a creative weapon, I give you the prepaid M$ Enterprise Agreement. We send it via Fed Ex to Al Jazeera; they'll find a way to deliver it. If they somehow manage to make something that works, we hit them with the "ground zero" virus that sends their missiles back to 127.0.0.1.
Therefore, the Israelis will do it instead, using mostly U.S. and Japanese technology, along with tons of parts from Tower Hobbies and Home Depot.
> 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
Cobras have ejectable canopies, thus the "eject" handle at both crew stations. All it does is blow the plexiglass out.
;-)
Sikorsky? Arent those the guys that destroyed a prototype Apache on a familiarization ride with a mechanic in the front seat that cut all power to the aircraft by hitting the "chop" on the collective when I was in flight school
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Had you read the article, you would know that this helicopter can execute such rolls autonomously, without constant control inputs from the pilot. Essentially, it's a full-up autonomous fly-by-wire model helicopter. Not a trivial achievement.
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Somewhere out there is footage of a CH-53 doing a longitudinal roll. I don't remember what TV show I saw it in, but I cringed. Things like that simply weren't meant to be.
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
I spent 6 years fixing F111 electronics, so I sincerely hope you don't have to fix the buggers.
If our little group of volunteer pilots had the same political clout as the entertainment industry, we would simply write the letter of marque ourselves and get Congress to rubber-stamp it. At that point, we would have unrestricted rights to attack just about anything, anywhere, using weapons of our own choosing, without any liability for whatever might go wrong. Any would-be competitors like "Bombster" would be sued out of existance, using the "Destructive Media Entertainment Act" (DMEA).
Now that I think of it, what prevents a private company from offering my humorous-but-technically-plausible concept in a place like Somalia? The lack of authoritative government is precisely what attracts the terrorists. It also sets the stage for a capitalist entrepreneur to turn the whole country into an amusement park for destructive toys. Actually, the terrorists have done that already, we're just Americanizing the concept.
Is this idea too crazy for anyone to try? It's not any crazier than building Euro-Disney or putting an NHL team in North Carolina.