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Submission + - Canadian Police drone finds missing man (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: A Saskatchewan man, lost and alone, was found by an RCMP remote controlled helicopter that spotted him from the sky.

The 25-year-old had wandered away from where his car rolled on Highway 5 near St. Denis, about 40 kilometres east of Saskatoon, early Thursday morning.

RCMP arrived at the accident scene after midnight, but couldn’t find the driver.

“He had suffered a head injury in the crash and became disorientated and wandered off,” said RCMP corporal Doug Green.

Submission + - Robotic insect: World's smallest flying robot takes off (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: Scientists in the US have created a robot the size of a fly that is able to perform the agile manoeuvres of the ubiquitous insects.

This “robo-fly”, built from carbon fibre, weighs a fraction of a gram and has super-fast electronic “muscles” to power its wings.

Its Harvard University developers say tiny robots like theirs may eventually be used in rescue operations.

Submission + - Drone Helicopter Gets Lodged In Statue Atop Courthouse (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: MARION, Ohio — A 7-pound remote control helicopter got stuck in the arms of a statue atop of the Marion County Courthouse.

The Marion Star reported that Terry Cline, an independent visual communications producer, director and writer, was flying the camera-equipped drone to take pictures of the Marion County Courthouse for a special project.

He told the paper that the drone caught a breeze and lost control.

“I’m amazed it ended up where it is,” he told the Marion Star.

Marion officials said they were leaving it up to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as to how to get the drone down.

Submission + - Laser over fibre powers tethered drone (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: InvisiTower, the world’s first tethered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft system powered by laser over optical fiber. The new, portable system can power any multi-rotor helicopter indefinitely using laser power sent via fiber optic cable, enabling aircraft to stay in the air as long as power is available on the ground.

Submission + - Helicopter rescues drone from Swiss mountain top. (suasnews.com) 2

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: Some impressive mountain flying skills from this helicopter pilot who for $800 drops off an FPV pilot to pick up his $2500 model aircraft. All in postcard pretty Swiss scenery. First person view flying is one of the fastest growing areas of model aircraft flight.

The airframe has a camera attached and the video feed is relayed to either a monitor or goggles. On screen displays (OSD) overlay information on that display tell the pilot how far, high and how much power he has remaining. To a degree it mimics flying a real aircraft. One proponent even getting out as far as 100km a 200km round trip! A flight just shy of 5 hours in length all for a motor run of a minute. If nothing else it demonstrates the untapped potential of soaring UA. Something sUAS News hall of fame personality Dan Strider knows all about.

Submission + - Everybody say ahhh now... drone delivers engagement ring. (suasnews.com) 1

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: Jason proposes to his girlfriend Christina at Alamo Square park in San Francisco on April 7th 2013. Jason told Christina that he wanted to take some photos of her in the park. During the photo session the engagement ring flies in on top of a small GPS equipped multirotor and he proposes to her on the spot.

Submission + - Hyundai's flying car (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: Not many garages would work with Hyundai’s hexadecagon. Showcasing at the 2013 IDEAs festival, the manned 16 rotored multirotor looks rather dodgy! Well done to them though for making it fly.

Submission + - Fighting Walrus iPhone drone (suasnews.com) 3

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: From the, these flying robots are getting everywhere department.

We are excited to announce the Fighting Walrus fully-integrated RTF airframe! This ready-to-fly airframe incorporates the features what our customers wanted most:

1. Streaming 1080p video

2. Manual control with the iOS device

3. Low cost Ready-To-Fly kits

The RTF Airframe will integrate with the Fighting Walrus Radio to enable an unparalleled ground station experience. Video streams from the drone are geo-encoded and embedded into the iOS application, allowing users to monitor drone orientation and position while watching the video stream.

The Fighting Walrus Radio integration will also bring Assisted GPS capability using eRide GPS. Using Assisted GPS enables fast first position fixes, spoofing protection, and maximum performance in difficult GPS environments.

Submission + - X Factor Drone crashes during filming, Thames London (suasnews.com) 3

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: A scuba diver has told how he recovered vital footage of the new series of The X Factor after answering an SOS call from producers to retrieve a video camera from the Thames.

John Forbath was called in after a remote-controlled helicam malfunctioned as it filmed hopefuls queuing to audition for the hit ITV talent show at the ExCeL centre in Docklands. The helicam was deliberately crashed into the water to avoid injuring those in the queue.

Submission + - London: X Factor drone crashes into Thames (suasnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A scuba diver has told how he recovered vital footage of the new series of The X Factor after answering an SOS call from producers to retrieve a video camera from the Thames.

John Forbath was called in after a remote-controlled helicam malfunctioned as it filmed hopefuls queuing to audition for the hit ITV talent show at the ExCeL centre in Docklands. The helicam was deliberately crashed into the water to avoid injuring those in the queue.

Submission + - Dehogiflier, pig hunting drone (suasnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Another use the FAA did not see coming.

Local engineers’ drone declares WAR on troubling wild hogs in Louisiana
Kris Wartelle

WHITEVILLE — It is well past 8 p.m. on a Thursday, and engineers James Palmer and Cy Brown are a long way from their day jobs at Raven Research and Development in Lafayette.

Palmer and Brown are in the middle of an expansive rice field in rural St. Landry Parish. It is pitch dark and mostly quiet.

They are on a mission.

“We do this every weekend,” said Brown, who is the team’s computer operator. “We will be out here all night.”

Armed with state-of-the-art gear, computers, infrared cameras and thermal imaging scopes, they are hunting.

Their target is a herd of wild hogs that has been devastating a local farmer’s rice and soybean crops.

Enter the “Dehogiflier,” the name Palmer and Brown have given their invention.

It is a domestic drone that can fly above dense, grassy fields and see into the night. The drone is almost silent and deadly accurate.

Submission + - New bird shaped drone (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: Is this the sort of thing Eric Schmidt is worried about I wonder.

SHEPHERD-MIL, a UAV which looks like a native bird with the same flight performance, will be featured. This UAV is characterized by the glide-ratio and noiseless motor that make it invisible, silent and unobtrusive in sensitive missions

Submission + - Google chief urges action to regulate mini-drones (suasnews.com)

Submitted by garymortimer
garymortimer writes: One wonders what Eric Schmidt’s opinion is of the Google staff that we know using the technology. Perhaps the technology is just dandy in their hands? The issue of regulation does need to be addressed in the USA. As ever though the shuffling of chairs and meetings to organize meetings seem to top of the agenda for the FAA.

The influential head of Google, Eric Schmidt, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns. Cheap miniature versions of the unmanned aircraft used by militaries could fall into the wrong hands, he told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

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It's a naive, domestic operating system without any breeding, but I think you'll be amused by its presumption.

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