Robot sphere flies to the rescue

2011-07-14 19:40

The radio-controlled sphere, roughly the size of a basketball, was built for search and rescue operations: To fly in and out of buildings weakened by earthquakes or other natural disasters, using its onboard camera to transmit live images of whatever it sees.

The black, open-work ball looks like a futuristic work of art, but it can hover for up to eight minutes and fly at 60km/h - although it does slow down for open windows.

Fumiyuki Sato, at the Japanese Defence Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute, invented and built the vehicle for roughly ¥110 000 ($1 390) with parts purchased off the shelf at consumer electronics stores.




Measuring 42cm, it boasts eight manoeuvrable rudders, 16 spoilers and three gyro sensors to keep it upright and is made of lightweight carbon fibre and styrene components for a total weight of 340g.

If its lithium batteries lose power, it's been designed simply to roll to a stop to minimise the chance of damage.



Read more on:    robotics

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2015-04-22 07:36


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