AeroVironment, maker of several important military UAVs like the Wasp, Raven, and Dragon Eye , has received a Phase II SBIR grant from DARPA to continue work on it’s hummingbird-like nano UAV (NAV), which propels itself with flapping wings. In the video shown above, the vehicles stability control is shown, including take-offs from a standstill.

“The goals of the NAV program — namely to develop an approximately 10 gram aircraft that can hover for extended periods, can fly at forward speeds up to 10 meters per second, can withstand 2.5 meter per second wind gusts, can operate inside buildings, and have up to a kilometer command and control range — will stretch our understanding of flight at these small sizes and require novel technology development.”

The Phase II contract is worth $2.1 million USD and will continue through the summer of 2010.

[Via Slashdot]

Honda recently had a media extravaganza in which they demoed their recently announced “Stride/Bodyweight Assist Machine”, an experimental device that aids human walking by reducing stress on joins and muscles. It’s a cross between an exoskeleton and a chair – the former because it’s powered and aids your movement, and the latter because you sit on it, and it doesn’t require cumbersome straps and fixtures to stay attached to your body. The smaller “Stride Assist” weighs 6 lbs and the larger “Bodyweight Assist” weighs 14. The former, after getting used to it, seems to quite natural.

Honestly, the first few steps felt awkward and a bit otherworldly. However, the prototype is designed to learn how you walk, at the same time as you’re learning how to walk with it. Within a few moments, I was walking quickly down a hall and then even running back through it. All of my actions felt natural, but improved, compared to my normal gait and running style.

The device anticipates your walking motion and aids you. It aids muscle activity and is designed for people with limited mobility – those than can stand, but have trouble walking.

The larger cousin of the Stride Assist, the “ Bodyweight Support Assist”, wasn’t nearly as “transparent” but still would allow a great many impaired people have a greater range of mobility.

Video of the Stride and Bodyweight Assist below.

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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has unveiled it’s latest version of the wildly popular Predator Drone – the Predator C Avenger. The Avenger, which made its first flight tests earlier this month, is expected to be a viable product within 10 – 12 months, and could be patrolling the unfriendly skys shortly thereafter.

The Avenger has landing gear from the F-5 aircraft, approximately a 66″ wingspan, and can carry up to 3,000 lbs of weapons or surveillance equipment. The new Predator also has many design modifications to achieve a higher level of stealth, including a, “vertically-oriented V-tail [that] both deflects radar and shields the 4,800-lb. thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW545B engine exhaust’s infrared signature”, and stealth techniques from planes like the B-22 and B-2.

It really doesn’t pay to be a Bad Guy these days.

Jon Stewart and his crew tackle the difficult ethical questions of involving robots in war. Hidden behind the humor, there’s some decent points.

[Via The Robot Report]

Boeing reported today that it has successfully destroyed several flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using a laser weapon mounted on a truck. The weapon was mounted to an Avenger Air Defense vehicle, which normally uses surface-to-air missiles for attacks. The successful test involved the Laser Avenger tracking and destroying three UAVs in flight, which set a milestone for, “the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV”.

Boeing was a little reserved when addressing the question of how exactly the UAVs were destroyed, only saying, “A hole was burned in a critical flight control element of the UAV, rendering the aircraft unflyable.” As for how long it took to do this, what “critical flight control element” it was, or if such a system is truly viable in a combat situation, that is left to the reader’s imagination. It should also be noted that Boeing has apparently made significant progress with this system, as only about 1 year ago they were proclaiming the destruction of IEDs by the Laser Avenger.

“We doubled the laser power; added sophisticated acquisition, tracking and pointing capability; and simplified and ruggedized the design,” said Lee Gutheinz, Boeing program director for High-Energy Laser/Electro-Optical Systems. “Boeing developed and integrated these upgrades in less than a year, underscoring our ability to rapidly respond to warfighters’ needs.”

An interesting point is that Boeing seems to be trying to sell the Military on the idea of destroying UAV threats to our soldiers, while, to my knowledge, there haven’t been any such threats to date. In fact, robotic air authority seems to be solidly on the USA’s side. Do they know something we don’t, or are they just being pessimistic?

Regardless, while we mourn for our robotic bretheren, I say this is pretty darn cool.