Hasta La Gadget!

CCP Co., Ltd., is releasing the world’s smallest helicopter – “NANO-FALCON” – on June 8. It is certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s smallest helicopter controlled by infrared light.

Parts used for small-sized precision machinery and devices such as smartphones are used for “NANO-FALCON”. The helicopter weighs only 11g and is 65mm long. Even though it’s a tiny helicopter, it’s able to fly stably because of a high performance gyrosensor and contra-rotating propellers. You can make the helicopter go up, go down, turn, circle, go forward and go backward.

Price: 4,704 yen (including tax)
Size: 65mm long, 11g
Controlling distance: 5m indoor
Battery for the helicopter: Rechargeable lithium ion polymer battery (built-in)
Battery for the controller: Alkaline size AA batteries x 4 (sold separately)
Continuous flying time: About 5 minutes
Charging time: 30 minutes
Includes: Helicopter, controller, spare tail propellers x 2, propeller remover

Remember back in the days when everyone on the street had at least one remote controlled toy, and you had to practically beg your parents to buy you one too this Christmas, so that you will not feel left out? Well, now that you are working, don’t you think that it is about time you treat yourself to the toys of your liking and interest? Case in point, the $169.99 R/C Wi-Spi Helicopter which is said to bring normal toys to the next level.

In a nutshell, you can deduce from the name of this particular toy alone that this will be a remote controlled helicopter that sports its very own integrated camera, and it is capable of transmitting live footage to a smartphone – regardless of whether it runs on the Android or iOS operating system, via an app. The R/C Wi-Spi Helicopter is also controlled using your smartphone or tablet of course, where you are able to save photos from the in-flight camera to your handset instantly, and follow that up with a quick share to a social network somewhere. I wonder whether kids who are curious to see their neighbors would use this to their advantage, and they might stumble upon some embarrassing scenes along the way, too.

[ R/C Wi-Spi Helicopter copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Drones have often been used in war theaters, but that doesn’t stop this little military drone from being pretty cute. It was deployed by the British Army in Afghanistan and it measures only four inches by two inches.

The PD-100 Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is small enough to fit in the palm of a child’s hand, and comes with a tiny camera that will allow soldiers to use it to surveil what happens on the ground before entering hostile areas.

It’s small enough that it can even peek around corners before turning. The drone has an autonomy of up to 30 minutes at a time, and has a range of about half a mile. Here’s some video of an earlier prototype of the PD-100 in action:

[via Animal NY]

San Francisco based Always Innovating  is in the process of creating MeCam, a camera that will fly and follow you wherever you want to go. The MeCam is a quadcopter is fitted with a tiny digital camera and as such, it is be capable of taking pictures and capturing stabilized video, thanks to three different video algortihms. It will also have the option to upload the footage to smartphones as well as directly to Facebook, twitter and more.  That sounds like a lot of functions for such a small device, but it is controlled by an Arm Cortex A9 CPU, which is quite popular as a CPU core for smartphones. (more…)

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I don’t know about you, but if you were to stake my life by getting me on board a one-man helicopter that runs on just battery power alone, I would think more than just twice. After all, electric power for helicopters is still in its infancy, and is anything goes awry, it would mean I would have regretted not taking flying lessons from the birds that regularly stop by my backyard. Being in an electric car is a whole lot safer – if the car loses power, at least I remain grounded. Well, Hirobo of Japan has far more faith in their electric powered one-man helicopter than I do, where the counter-rotating flying vehicle is remote operated or flown by a pilot, where it is capable of hitting a maximum speed of 62mph for up to half an hour.

Being remote controlled would also allow you to fly it in an emergency to the location of distress, picking up the person in need and bringing them back to base safely. Not only that, since it runs on electric power and does not have an engine, it will work far more silently than traditional helicopters, helping locate a person hypothetically crying out for help. Known as the Hirobo HX-1, it has already received $125 million in investment and research, hoping that it will be ready for a commercial 2021 debut.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Gamera human-powered helicopter can hover for almost a minute, poised to win Sikorsky Prize, Dead pet cat turned into flying helicopter,