

Japanese engineers develop flying robotic orb - ilamont
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/10/japan-flying-sphere.html

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algoshift
Not that impressive if you are familiar with the technology.

As someone mentioned, this is, at its simplest, an RC helicopter inside a
sphere.

RC helicopters have had off-the-shelf 3 axis gyros and 3 axis accelerometers
available for quite some time. There are probably well over a dozen such
systems in the market today.

As far as cost is concerned, the numbers are on par with what was mentioned.
My smallest helicopter system probably runs about $2,000 or so ready to fly.
This includes carbon fiber rotors, skeleton, 3-axis stabilization system,
radio, etc.

If you dared get close to an RC heli with a stabilization system and push it
you'd see exactly what you saw in this video: The heli would recover to its
prior attitude. In real life wind gusts do this all the time.

No doubt they are writing additional code to take advantage of the spherical
platform.

If you are interested in seeing what a modern high-performance RC heli can do
today check out this seven year old kid flying one:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJs1gBLiuQ>

Here's another example of what these machines can do today:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgbXcb1P6eU>

Yes, they are dangerous. Power systems can exceed 10KW on the high performance
helis.

Here's one of the many commercially available 3-axis flight stabilization
systems in the market:

<http://www.digitalflybar.com/products/sk720.html>

Time to take apart one of the helis and build a sphere around it!

~~~
lloeki
The difference here is not so much that it hovers and stabilises position, but
that it has two modes of flying: when it hovers, it works like a helicopter
(the propeller provides support), but when it goes forward, it works like a
plane (the wings provide support while the propeller only provides forward
movement).

~~~
speleding
In addition to the two flying modes it can roll on the ground to get to hard
to reach places. I've not seen a helicopter do that before.

~~~
algoshift
OK, build a sphere around the $200 VTOL plane I linked to above and you have
that too.

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borism
making that sphere not interfere with airflow from the rotors is not trivial.

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morrow
Anyone else immediately think of those floating orbs from half-life 2? I'm
imagining the U.S. military will be developing something similar if it hasn't
already - the use cases just seem too extensive. I mean, something like that
could float along in front of a unit/convoy deployed in hostile areas and
scan/sense for IEDs, or you could have a distributed swarm of these patrolling
streets at night with IR cameras, reporting any trouble. They'd be able to see
under canopies, inside alleyways, even enter enclosures and buildings
(physically if not legally). The fact that it's blades are some-what enclosed
also makes it safer for close quarters operations without getting thwacked or
cut up by a helicopter blade as well.

Another orwellian thought with a mixture of huxley - what if the future
doesn't begin with these types of surveillance tech imposed on us by our
government, patrolling our streets with cameras and other sensors, but rather
with a slick company manufacturing and marketing it as a guardian-angel
device?

Afraid of a family member being unsupervised? Call in the UAV to keep tabs on
them from your smartphone. Want to go for a jog, but it's getting dark out?
Bring along the Orb with flash-light, GPS, ability to call for help, etc. If
you think it would be too ridiculous to happen, and that people wouldn't want
to look ridiculous to these things hovering over them at all times, just wait
until they get smaller...

~~~
VladRussian
>I'm imagining the U.S. military will be developing something similar if it
hasn't already

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeywell_RQ-16_T-Hawk>

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burke
I went into that video thinking "Big deal; it's a helicopter inside a ball",
but the way it moved in the air was actually very impressive -- especially the
way it responded to being pushed by the demonstrator about a minute in.

~~~
6ren
Old ideas put together in a new way (literally: off-the-shelf components).
It's convenient how everything - rotor, control surfaces - is tucked away. And
it can execute a rolling landing.

They say they had a hover/fly plane, but take-off and landings were difficult,
and the spherical design was an attempt to solve it
([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF0uLnMoQZA&t=1m40s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF0uLnMoQZA&t=1m40s)
(1:40)). Although... perhaps the impressive aspects come from the R&D in the
antecedent aircraft.

Hobbyists have long showed-off hovering remote-controlled model planes; the
automatic control is what's really impressive, encapsulating that skill.

~~~
wlievens
> Old ideas put together in a new way

AKA innovation

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Andrenid
That's freaky as hell.

I've spent the last few months designing a spherical drone with counter-
rotating props and Arduino controlled ailerons to direct the airflow... that
looks nearly EXACTLY like the one in that video.

I still have the Sketchup files somewhere.

Now I have to go find something else that hasn't been done.

~~~
ibisum
Finish the plans, put them on Thingiverse.com or something. Someone will build
it and you'll be most satisfied to see it out there, I'm sure.

~~~
calebmpeterson
Yes, please do!

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commieneko
Put a pistol on it, or an explosive charge and you've got something the
military would probably be interested in.

There's no denying this is cool, but there's also no denying that this type of
technology could be used for very evil stuff. Launch one of these with a GPS a
mile or so from a target and you've got an automated nasty.

Not to hard to think of counter measures. I suspect some kind of silly string
ack ack could probably do bad things to those rotors. Mini "Barrage Balloons"
with Monofilament lines and netting might come into vogue in certain
circles...

~~~
arohner
The cheaper your weapon, the more effective the countermeasures have to be.

These things could just as easily carry a grenade (or several), and a dead
man's switch. When it can't fly anymore, self-destruct.

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jerf
The video makes a big deal about how the parts are off-the-shelf; how off-the-
shelf is the software?

Also, as of this writing, latimes.com claims the thing costs $140,000, but the
video says $1,400 at 2:30.

~~~
shoma
I read this news in Japanese media, it describes material cost of this object
is about 110,000 JPY ($1,446).

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jeffool
Sering this, I think the same thing I did when I first saw quadrotors on
Youtube: So, when do things like this replace cameras and helicopters as high
tech policing tools?

Just place charging stations around the city that they can land in (in this
car, or affix to in the case of quadrotors,) and you've got an extra pair of
eyes on the street able to cover far more ground than a patrolman. (Though,
you'd stol need someone to pilot them. For now.)

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noonespecial
Yes but can it get the princess to tell you where the rebel base is?

[http://www.originalprop.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2008/06/...](http://www.originalprop.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2008/06/where-science-meets-imagination-interrogation-
droid-x2000.jpg)

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willpower101
Ah! It's a probe droid! :D

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atomicdog
Finally, Anti-escape Orbs are a possibility.

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jamesrom
THE MANHACKS ARE COMING!

