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Another Look at 1930's Cyclogyro Plane Design

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the crashlo-burno dept.

trogador writes to mention that a group of researchers is taking another swing at the idea of a cyclogyro design for a UAV. Even though the cyclogyro design was invented in the 1930's there are no records of a successful flight. "Cyclogyros have the potential to be highly maneuverable flying robots due to their method of operation, making them potentially more suitable for complex tasks than helicopters and other micro air vehicles (MAVs) with less maneuverability. The biggest challenge in designing the cyclogyros is varying the angle of attack of the rotating wings. This ability would enable the plan to change altitude, hover, and fly in reverse. To achieve this quick angle variation, the researchers introduced an eccentric (rotational) point in addition to a rotational point connected to a motor."

6 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. This is all very nice by Mr.Fork · · Score: 4, Funny

    But will it cut my lawn? Without supervision? Can I set it to keep the neighbours dog out? Lasers? Can it have lasers? Lasers would be nice.

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    Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
    1. Re:This is all very nice by JK_the_Slacker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Lasers? Can it have lasers? Lasers would be nice.

      You must be new here. Lasers go on SHARKS. Robots with lasers are SO 1980s.

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      I'm waiting for a "-1 somepeoplejustshouldn'tgetmodprivileges" meta-moderation.
  2. Re:Seeing as the link to TFA is dead ... by fewnorms · · Score: 4, Informative

    Dammit, posting the actual link would have helped here. Anyways, for the rebound:

    http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/TRANSPORT/cyclogyro/cyclogyro.htm

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    Veni, Vidi, Velcro!
  3. Re:Like a helicopter? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, helicopters do it too. The advancing blade meets the air at aircraft velocity PLUS velocity due to the spinning of the blades. The retreating blade meets the air at rotational velocity Minus aircraft forward speed. Thus to produce the same lift, it has to have a higher angle of attack. This is done by the cyclic pitch control. Depending on the total lift needed the angle of attack has to be increased for all the blades by equal amount. That is called the total pitch. It does make the hub mechanism of the helicopter blades very complex.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. Re:Same fuel consumption as helicopters by pittance · · Score: 4, Funny

    Commercial jets are at lift/drag of around 18-20 now
    As an engineer working with fixed wings it is my firm belief that helicopters fly because they are so ugly that the ground repels them - on that basis this thing is getting to the moon.

  5. A different link with Video! by Xoltri · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/cyclocopter/

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    -Xoltri