Future Timeline

Airbus' VSR700 robotic helicopter has successfully completed sea tests under operational conditions, including fully autonomous take-offs and landings in strong gale force wind conditions, from a civilian ship's helicopter deck.

UAV helicopters may look like strange toys, but they play a very serious and increasingly important military role, especially at sea. While many fixed-wing drones can be launched from aircraft carrier decks or from catapults, smaller ships in rough seas don't have this option, though decades of experience have proven how rotorcraft can be a real force multiplier for frigates and similar vessels.

Perhaps you like the idea of using a drone to take aerial selfies, but you don't want to buy a big, expensive, complex quadcopter. That's where ZeroZero Robotics' Hover Camera drone comes in, and the latest version – the X1 – is claimed to be easier than ever to use.

Like its predecessors, namely the original Hover Camera and the Hover 2, the X1 features a hinged body that allows it to be folded down to a 125-g (4.4-oz) package measuring 127 by 86 by 31 mm (5 by 3.38 by 1.22 in) when not in use. Additionally, thanks to protective caging around the propellers, it's able to take off from the user's hand without any risk of injury.

The X1 can be remotely controlled or set to preprogrammed flight modes via an accompanying iOS/Android app. Setting it apart from the previous models, however, is the fact that it can also be used without a smartphone or a remote. Instead, by pushing a button on the drone itself, users can select one of five flight modes.

Emergency response agencies constantly seek ways to rescue survivors without putting more people in danger. To that end, we now use technology to help us find people under earthquake rubble and in deep water—why not in burning buildings? Engineers at Imperial College London and Empa (a materials science and technology research center in Switzerland) have developed a drone prototype that can withstand extreme heat, making it a potential life-saver for victims of structural fires.

The aptly-named FireDrone owes its heat resistance to two major components. The first is its insulation, part of which comes from the polyimide aerogel that makes up much of the drone’s body. Glass fiber studded with silica particles reinforces the aerogel, reducing any shrinkage that might occur in high temperatures. These two materials combine to create what’s referred to as a GFRPI (short for glass-fiber reinforced polyimide) protective shell, which houses the drone’s robotic bits. The arms contain an insulating foam, while an external aluminum coating helps reflect heat.

Vector wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 11:50 pm I wonder when will appear autonomy reusable drones with AI which can overcome jam systems