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Added on the 26/04/2016 11:28:47 - Copyright : Reuters EN
This strange, alien-looking craft combines aircraft wings with drone rotors to form an entirely new class of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs. A tech company from Siberia called Optiplane Unmanned Systems started developing these hybrid drones, which they call convertiplanes, because they combine the best features of quadcopters and airplanes. The craft, which is called the Colibri S1, can take off and land vertically but has the ability to fly as far as an aircraft while also being able to hover over a target area.
NASA’s latest unmanned aircraft combines the maneuverability of a helicopter with the speed of a plane. The Greased Lighting, also called the GL-10, has eight electric motors on its wings and two electric motors on the tail. It has a 10-foot wingspan and weighs only 62 pounds.It takes off vertically like a helicopter and it switches to “wing-borne” mode while in mid flight to fly like a conventional airplane. To land, the rotors tilt vertically again.According to Popular Science, the drone was tested in the past for vertical takeoffs, but it wasn’t until this spring that it could manage to switch from vertical to horizontal wing orientation in mid flight.NASA plans to use the plane in future for small package delivery, surveillance in agriculture, mapping and other functions.A much larger version of the aircraft could also be used as a personal air vehicle for one to four people.
The Dubai police force teamed up with tech company HoverSurf to produce a new police drone-motorcycle hybrid designed for rapid deployment in emergency situations. Four propellers and can lift a driver up to 16 feet off the ground and travel nearly 4 miles for up to 25 minutes. The hoverbike has a max weight of 660 pounds and can rocket through the sky at 43 mph. The flying motorcycle can take pictures with eight cameras and transmit them directly to a police station.
An all-new hybrid 'universal transport' prototype was showcased at the MAKS airshow in Russia on Wednesday, called the BORTS Triton, a wheeled offroad vehicle which has also has hovercraft capabilities as well an aerochute, which means that this one of a kind auto can conquer the land, water, and skies. The two-seater SUV is adept on land as an electrical car, uses an aerochute when converted into a plane and becomes a hovercraft once on water all thanks to a low-noise, ten-blade propellor.
Residents of the Georgian city of Khashuri spotted what appeared to be a man kicking back in a drone-suspended hammock flying high above traffic. Eye witnesses said that despite the apparent peril of floating some 30 feet above the ground, the man seemed to be perfectly laid-back, supping from a beer as he soared through the skies. The stunt was actually a promo campaign for a local beer and the man inside hammock was only a mannequin.
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