[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mxq-nr9xyY]
The video you see above is the on board footage of the DelFly2 autonomous ornithopoter robot. Weighing 16 grams, it carries a small camera and can provide a live feed. If you’re amazed at the tiny size and weight of the DelFly2, check out the DelFly micro, video after the break, that weighs 3 grams. Remember when we thought 17 grams was small for an ornithopter?
All processing for the DelFly2 is done at a base station and transmitted to the flying bot to keep the weight down. The team also had to create their own brushless motor that runs at 60% efficiency and weighs only 1.6 grams. The 130mAh battery can sustain 15 minutes of horizontal flight or 8 minutes of hovering.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L17Ox4FQTkM]
[via BotJunkie]
I want one.
It’d completely freak my cockatiel out.
How cute! Skynet’s first view of the world it will soon come to dominate.
spell check is your friend
Is this really “autonomous” is all of the processing is done at the base station?
If it loses comms what does it do?
Ok this one rocks… Not a hack, but a very cool project from scratch.. Time to dust off my old RC gear…
I want one. If it’s that small, it can’t be hard to build, right? ;)
@Grazz,
To me, autonomous mean without realtime control by a human. But, that’s just me.
pretty amazing
Pretty amazing. I bet this will be in use for spying…
@andrew
I think of it more as working by itself without outside influence.
Don’t get me wrong tho, 16/3 grams with real time video is most definitely amazing!
Nice orinthopters but; the only thing worse than a vuvuzela is… accordion music.
That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.
According to their website, the micro’s battery has a capacity of 30mAh, not 130mAh.
I keep hoping to see one of these running on wireless power.
Preferably harvested from ambient WiFi signals, though I suspect the power density just wouldn’t be worth the weight in additional hardware on such a small device.