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Robotics Transportation Technology

Robot Pilot That Can Grab the Flight Controls Gets Its Plane Licence (newscientist.com) 30

Posted by msmash from the pushing-the-limits dept.
A robot pilot is learning to fly -- and it has just passed its pilot's test and flown its first plane. But it has also had its first mishap too. From a report: Unlike a traditional autopilot, the ROBOpilot Unmanned Aircraft Conversion System literally takes the controls, pressing on foot pedals and handling the yoke using robotic arms. It reads the dials and meters with a computer vision system. The robot can take off, follow a flight plan and land without human intervention. ROBOpilot is a drop-in system meaning that the pilot's seat is removed and replaced with the robot. ROBOpilot has passed the Federal Aviation Administration's Practical Test for piloting light aircraft and carried out its first flight on August 9 in Utah. A few weeks later it also had its first incident where the robot was damaged, although the extent of the damage is not known.
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Robot Pilot That Can Grab the Flight Controls Gets Its Plane Licence More

Robot Pilot That Can Grab the Flight Controls Gets Its Plane Licence

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  • Too much overhead. (Score:3)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Friday August 30, 2019 @12:45PM (#59141568)

    All that processing power used towards reading meters, and controlling a stick, could had probably been far more productive in towards a fly by wire box, that just takes interfaces from the aircraft and fed to it directly. You really remove error and complexity.

    If prosthesis get to a point where a someone could type naturally with such a device. I would hope you can get a USB plug on it, so you can actually type your data, without using up your battery for the motors to control the fingers.

    • and when it does an max 8 with one sensor?

    • All that processing power used towards reading meters

      A cell phone has enough processing power for basic computer vision.

      could had probably been far more productive in towards a fly by wire box

      The advantage of a robot is that it is a drop-in replacement for a pilot in any plane it is programmed to fly. So it can be moved between aircraft, and used where and when needed.

      Sometimes complex and flexible is better than simple and rigid.

    • You missed the point.

      Yes, if it could plug into the flight computer and have direct access to all the sensors and the fly-by-wire system then it would a much better plan to do that. In fact a lot of things already do that. That's not news.

      This is a drop in replacement for a pilot that can fly in any plane even if it's not fly-by-wire and even if it doesn't have a central computer to plug into. If it has instruments and flight-controls then the robot can fly it...not 'internal computer' or electronics

    • I mean, the aircraft manufacturer went through all the trouble to put controls in the cockpit. Any profit maximizing company would have simply installed more than a dozen passenger seats.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by janoc ( 699997 )

      You can't fit a "fly-by-wire" box into a plane that is flown using cables and pulleys, like those Cessna's that this robot is meant to fly.

      And even for a fly-by-wire planes adding a "box" would be extremely expensive due to the required certification and the mandatory installation by a certified company/mechanic. A robot that doesn't touch anything of the plane's equipment likely won't need that and will be installable "in the field".

      I.e. you have completely missed the point why this type of robot exists an

      • You can't fit a "fly-by-wire" box into a plane that is flown using cables and pulleys, like those Cessna's that this robot is meant to fly.

        And yet those Cessnas can have autopilot systems.

        And even for a fly-by-wire planes adding a "box" would be extremely expensive due to the required certification and the mandatory installation by a certified company/mechanic.

        You don't think there is an A&P involved in putting this thing into a cockpit, including the 337 for the modification?

        • I'm sure a Cessna autopilot can't handle the entire flght, takeoff through landing, all on it's own, it'll just keep it on a heading, altitude, and speed.

          • I'm sure a Cessna autopilot can't handle the entire flght, takeoff through landing, all on it's own,

            No autopilot can handle the "entire flight" unless it is CAT III certified. That applies to any aircraft, even those without "cables and pulleys".

            it'll just keep it on a heading, altitude, and speed.

            Cessna aircraft can have autopilots that will fly the entire route, including instrument approaches down to a non-zero minimum. That's a lot more than heading/alt/speed.

            The point was that "cable and pulley" is irrelevant.

            For other issues with this article, let's see. It's not "a plane license". There is no such thing. There is an aircraft registration and an

            • Also, it's not just pulling the pilot's seat. The picture with TFA shows both the pilot and front passenger seat removed.

              I assumed that the system in the picture was just a prototype
              for a much more compact unit to be developed in the future.

              People keep asking "What use is it?" In all likelyhood, none at all.
              It's just a technology demonstration.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by janoc ( 699997 )

          Autopilot in a Cessna is extremely primitive and can fly either a given heading, speed or maintain altitude and keep the wings level. If you have a fancy avionics pack (which isn't default!), it may be able to fly a route between pre-programmed waypoints. That's all.

          It can not take off, it can not land, it is unable to handle engine controls (throttle, mixture), has no control of flaps, lights or anything else, such as keeping lookout so that you don't crash into someone else (civil aviation planes don't ha

          • Autopilot in a Cessna is extremely primitive and can fly either a given heading, speed or maintain altitude and keep the wings level.

            you need to keep up with modern aircraft. the G1000 is extremely versatile. the point being, "cable and pulley" aircraft can have full featured autopilots and be controlled by electronic systems.

            not a replacement for a piece of meat

            I don't believe you are responding to me, because I never said it could.

            The robot may be able to use an autopilot

            And now you're ignoring the context of costs. Putting this robot in an aircraft isn't cheap, and it requires, as a piece of installed equipment, a 337 (IIRC that's the form) update for airworthiness and weight and balance. A&P costs. I sai

    • I don't think you understand that modifying the aircraft by attaching a totally separate system to it's avionics control bus (assuming it even has one) is a whole different level of certification than having something that attaches physically to existing controls. Something attached to the bus, if it malfunctioned, could do all sorts of totally unexpected things to parts of the aircraft it wasn't even intended to interface with. Physically attaching it to existing controls limits how much it can screw up.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kjella ( 173770 )

        Well it could go Germanwings [wikipedia.org] or 9/11 [wikipedia.org] so I really fail to see what those limits are in practice. Unless it'll play Celine Dion on the radio, then we're talking crimes against humanity.

        • What exactly are you talking about, anyway? Are you implying that there's Someone Inside That Box and it's going to go homicidal on us? Or are you trying to be funny? Excuse my confusion but there seem to be too many people who actually believe the so-called 'AI' we all hear about practically daily is like the fantasy 'AI' in movies and TV, fully conscious, cognization, and reasoning. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

          • Are you implying that there's Someone Inside That Box and it's going to go homicidal on us?

            I think he is suggesting that some bad guys may program
            the plane to do something dastardly,
            and it wouldn't have the ability to say
            "No, I won't do that. It's wrong".

            • Ah. That's not even a strictly 'AI' issue anyway, any automated system can be subjected to 'improper/unauthorized usage'.

  • We know (Score:3)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Friday August 30, 2019 @02:06PM (#59141860)

    The Boeing 737 max has one.

  • Can't wait to mod mine for a little improvement.

    Hot runway patch, illegal cargo drop and of course the voice mod which makes it sound like Murdock.

  • That will come in handy when the pilots both eat the fish..

    Auto will be really deflated when he hears about this.

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