Japanese Military Invents Tumbling, Flying Sphere 156
thebchuckster writes "A Japanese developer has released a cool, new sphere that is billed as being able to go where humans can't. The sphere is 17-inches, features eight movable rudders, and can hover in the air for at least eight minutes. While reaching speeds of up to 37 miles per hour, the sphere deftly moves through the air without much effort. It doesn't take much to get it up in the air and moving, and it will be adept at going into tight areas."
One man, consumer parts (Score:5, Interesting)
TFA sounds like this is one guy working with consumer parts. I wonder what an American military subcontractor would want to develop this.
I saw this thing and immediately thought... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, let's see... A quadrotor requires four motors to fly.. The chances failure of any one of them is far higher, and will ruin your whole day. The props are exposed. That's obviously a problem. On the other hand, with this you can lose a few, or even most of the rudder servos and keep on going. All the works, especially the props are protectively caged from foreign objects. The center of gravity makes it more stable, A sphere is nice, but a cube would work well also. Either way, this design looks to be the simplest, most reliable you will find. Don't knock it.