October 2005

The Robo-Copters

These high-tech machines are no toys.

By David Talbot

Favorite

E-mail

Autonomous planes are nice, but if you need low-altitude agility and hovering, especially in urban areas, nothing beats a robo-chopper. Several groups are developing them, but the Aerobot Project at the University of California, Berkeley, is a leader in key areas like autonomous obstacle-avoidance and coordination between helicopters. Although the group has made strides in computer vision and other forms of sensing, and in navigation and control software, practical machines are still several years away.

[For images and captions, click here.]

Would you like to read more articles from the October 2005 issue?

This article is from the October 2005 Issue of Technology Review. To read other articles from this issue simply register for My.TechnologyReview.com. It's free.

Subscribe today and save up to 41% »

Comments

	Article on Robo-copters, new Technology Review site Guest (CMW) on 11/05/2005 at 12:29 PM
Posts: 1	pixytures dont load when you click &quotClick here to see the images&quot (three tries). Bottom right indicates this is page one (a five-line paragraph by David Talbot) but theres nothing else. New site does not impress. Rate this comment: (Reply)

Robo-copters
Guest (marvin kaplan) on 12/06/2005 at 9:45 AM

Posts:
1
Please send me the article. My issue was lost. Thank you
Rate this comment:

(Reply)
Robo-copters
Guest (marvin kaplan) on 12/06/2005 at 9:45 AM

Posts:
1
Please send me the article. My issue was lost. Thank you
Rate this comment:

(Reply)

	problems regarding the robochoppers Guest (gomatam sreekar) on 11/15/2005 at 8:54 AM
Posts: 1	though,the practical robo-choppers are some year consuming to attain their practical form!!But what about the future air traffic????It wont remain the same.So it is quite important to consider the fast moving nano sized moving vehicles of the future to construct a robo-chopper in practical. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Article on Robo-copters, new Technology Review site Guest (CMW) on 11/05/2005 at 12:29 PM
Posts: 1	pixytures dont load when you click &quotClick here to see the images&quot (three tries). Bottom right indicates this is page one (a five-line paragraph by David Talbot) but theres nothing else. New site does not impress. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	problems regarding the robochoppers Guest (gomatam sreekar) on 11/15/2005 at 8:54 AM
Posts: 1	though,the practical robo-choppers are some year consuming to attain their practical form!!But what about the future air traffic????It wont remain the same.So it is quite important to consider the fast moving nano sized moving vehicles of the future to construct a robo-chopper in practical. Rate this comment: (Reply)