Hasta La Gadget!

There’s hardly a shortage of animal inspired robots, but few are as tiny as Harvard’s autonomous RoboBee. The robotic insect has been around for a while, but researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering only recently managed a minor breakthrough: controlled flight. Using new manufacturing and design processes, the team has managed to keep the coin-sized bug aloft by independently manipulating the robot’s wings with piezoelectric actuators and a delicate control system.

“This is what I have been trying to do for literally the last 12 years,” explains Professor Robert J Wood, Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Now that we’ve got this unique platform, there are dozens of tests that we’re starting to do, including more aggressive control maneuvers and landing.” There’s more to be done, however. The tiny machine still requires a tether for power and control, and researchers are still studying nature to suss out how insects cope with flying through wind and the elements. Eventually, the team hopes to outfit the RoboBee with lightweight batteries, an internal control system and a lighter chassis. For now, however, they’re just happy to learned to steer. Check out the insect in action after the break.

Filed under: Robots

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Source: Harvard

Watch remote-controlled jet planes is cool. Watching this LED covered R/C jet plane fly at night is a really beautiful thing. I don’t remember seeing any planes in the TRON movies, but I imagine a TRON plane would look something like this.

This ‘R/C JET CARF Eurosport Night flight’ by Rusjet is amazing to watch as it soars through the night skies of Russia in bright red and green LEDs. If we outfitted real planes like this, us folks below would spend hours just watching the night skies.

The pilot has some great piloting skills too. Just switch to full screen HD, sit back, relax and enjoy the video. It’s the prettiest thing you will see today.

[via Obvious Winner]

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Where do you like sitting on an airplane? At the very front or the very back? At a window or an aisle? According to research by British Airways, the most popular seats on a Boeing 747 are 51B/51C, 52B/52C, 51H/51J and 52 H/52J. That’s all the way in the back of the plane. More »

Texting while driving may be two activities that we all can agree shouldn’t mix, especially if you’re driving a school bus or if you’re double-texting with a baby and drugs in your vehicle. But we think texting while flying is probably even more dangerous, especially now that such a case is being linked to a fatal crash.

Back in 2011, an emergency medical helicopter flying over Missouri was found to be sending and receiving several text messages before it crashed in a field after running out of fuel, killing four people including the on-board patient. This is the first time such a deadly case of texting while flying has been documented, which we’re hoping for the sake of people on the ground, doesn’t become a regular thing. (more…)

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