Ultra-Light Micro Air Vehicles 143
Roland Piquepaille writes "Dutch engineers have built the third generation of the DelFly autonomous air vehicle. The DelFly Micro made its first public flight earlier today in Delft. This micro air vehicle weighs only 3 grams and has a wingspan of 10 centimeters. This very small remote-controlled aircraft carries a 0.4 gram camera. The DelFly Micro, which looks like a dragonfly, can fly for 3 minutes at a maximum speed of 5 meters/second. It could be used for observation flights in difficult-to-reach or dangerous areas."
Video link: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Video link: (Score:5, Informative)
There is an assortment of additional video links on this page
http://www.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=1468ded9-96cb-47dd-aed3-da0a70a34813&lang=en [tudelft.nl]
Its like they are catering for everyone, because each link has a different format.
Re:Hello Gentle Denizens of Slashdot (Score:5, Informative)
"Roland" is the submission whore that "blogs" (copies) stuff from all over, links to it, adds a simplistic comment then somehow gets that submitted to Slashdot.
He does it for ad revenue. Quite effective at it, and quite annoying for those great unwashed that don't suck Slashdot dick to get stories submitted.
Re:Why a dragonfly? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What happens... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Video link: (Score:3, Informative)
the offical site is http://www.delfly.nl/ [delfly.nl]
Re:What happens... (Score:3, Informative)
This old chestnut has been around for years. The way I first heard it (at least 15 years ago) was that the Chicken Gun was Canadian and the FAA had to have the concept of a thawed fowl gently explained to them.
I have no doubt every country has a different idiot/victim, depending on who your most popular "moron nation" happens to be at the moment.
Re:One for the Christmas List (Score:2, Informative)
I've got three, and one is faulty (it still flies but the motor or something is not smooth- blades stop spinning nearly immediately when you cut the throttle).
That sure sounds like hair either wrapped around the rotor spindle or pressing between the spindle and the motor to me. Even one hair can slow down the blades and make the thing unflyable. I use a big magnifying glass and an X-Acto knife blade to clear any foreign matter out of this area.