Launching a glider from space

launching-a-glider-from-space

We get a ton of tips about weather balloon launches taking hobby electronics into space. But every once in a while one of them stands out from the rest. This project does send an electronic payload into space, but it also lets [David] fly his hardware back from near-space using an RC airplane. The return vehicle is unpowered, but that shouldn't be a problem as launching from a weather balloon … [Read more...]

Nook Simple Touch as a glider computer

xcsoar-glide-computer-on-nook-simple-touch

Look at the beautiful screen on that Nook Simple Touch. It has a lot of advantages over other hardware when used as a glider computer running the open source XCSoar software. The contrast of the display is excellent when compared to an LCD or AOMLED. That's quite important as gliding through the wild blue yonder often includes intense sunlight. The display is also larger than many of the Android … [Read more...]

Water glider prototype

water-glider-prototype

[Byrel Mitchell] wrote in to share some details on this water glider which he has been working on with his classmates at the Nonlinear Autonomous Systems lab of Michigan Technological University. As its name implies, it glides through the water rather than using propulsion systems typically found on underwater ROVs. The wings on either side of the body are fixed in place, converting changes … [Read more...]

Hackaday Links: July 25, 2012

intel

Ever wonder what CPU dev boards look like? In the realm of highly confidential hardware, it doesn't get much more secret than upcoming CPUs coming out of Intel. Somehow, a few CPU dev boards wound up on eBay, and [Leon] was cool enough to save all the pictures (Polish, Google translation, or translate in the sidebar). There are a few ongoing auctions right now, but we'd settle for this LGA … [Read more...]

Robotic falconry: winged unit lands on you!

perching-robot-lands-on-you

It doesn't have four rotors, but this advanced-glider is every bit as impressive as the most complicated of quadrotor offerings. It's the first glider that can successfully perch on your arm. We can't help but think back to the owl in the original Clash of the Titans movie. The team at the Aerospace Robotics and Control Lab of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is happy to show off … [Read more...]

Augmented reality UAV controller

augmented-reality-uav-control

Controlling a long-range unmanned aerial vehicle is much easier if you have an augmented reality system like [Fabien Blanc-Paques] built. On board the aircraft you'll find a sensor suite and camera, both transmitting data back to the operator. As the title of this post indicates, the display the operator sees is augmented with this data, including altitude, speed, and a variety of super-handy … [Read more...]