There are plenty of mini-copters out there people have made but I have yet to see anything that has any sort of stability control like this.

To stay pointed in one direction, the Picoflyer, like many real whirlybirds, uses two sets of counter-rotating rotors, which offset the opposing forces that occur when an engine drives a propeller in flight. (If the rotors are driven one way, the engine and fuselage spin in the opposite direction.) But to keep from pitching or rolling out of control, the Picoflyer relies on a passive- stability system that adds no extra parts or weight. If the helo starts to tilt or lean one way, the ringed rotors naturally tilt equally in the other direction, bringing the bird back to level. Continuous little adjustments help it maintain a stable hover.

The Norwegian engineer that invented this is getting attention from the U.S. government for surveillance, universities for “flying swarm” studies, but most interested are toy and hobby manufacturers.

POWER: The Picoflyer is powered by three electric motors and a magnetically attached battery, commanded by a handheld dual-joystick transmitter.
CONTROL: Spinning both rotors faster causes the helo to lift upward; adjusting the speed of only one makes it rotate left or right. Engaging the rear prop drives it forward or backward.
STABILITY: The rings surrounding the blades aid stability by keeping the rotors spinning in a fixed plane.

The Bladerunner RC copter was already inspired by this invention.

via Popular Science

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Bucho, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.