A.I. Helicopter?

CowboyRobot writes "Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization just launched the Mantis, a 'low-cost, intelligent small helicopter'. SMH reports that 'Within a decade armies of tiny helicopter drones will monitor traffic, inspect buildings for maintenance problems, map bushfires, look for faults in powerlines, and join search-and-rescue missions.' This is much larger than the Seiko flying robot reported last month, but the Mantis should be truly autonomous."

Comments

Commercial UAVs are already available

[tramm]

I've been working on building a Linux based UAV and have GPLed the software for it. We're also selling turnkey helicopter UAVs that look very much like the Mantis in the article through my company, Rotomotion.

There is no AI onboard, so you don't have to worry about it becoming self aware and joining Skynet. We have a few more years before the machines take over.

Re:Hardly covert

[NanoGator]

"With a UKP500 digital camera at its fastest shutter speed, all I got were some vague blurs"

There is already a means to fix this problem. It involes using a powered gyroscope to stabilize the camera. That's how helicopters get clean footage for movies.