A couple interesting submarine launched UAVs, one by Raytheon and another, VOLANS, built by a German company, are featured in this Register article. The Submarine Over the Horizon Organic Capabilities, or SOTHOC, built by Raytheon, is launched out of the waste disposal lock of a submarine. SOTHOC then decents to a preset depth where it rises to the surface and launches a unmanned flying vehicle to gather data. The UAV can relay the data back to the sub via antenna, or if the sub whishes to remain anonymous the data can be relayed via satellite back to the US. This system allows a submarine to lauch an UAV while remaining submerged, in contrast to the VOLANS, which launches via a mast attached to the robot. The VOLANS functions as a mobile periscope for the sub.

Howard Gordon who runs Surveyor Corporation just sent me details on their latest product, the Surveyor Stereo Vision System, or SVS for short. The system allows you to record high-resolution full-frame video using two video cameras for a complete stereo vision system. Better yet, the whole set-up is 2.5″ x 6.0″ and only weighs 5 oz.

 

The SVS is open source, and it is intended for researchers, educators and developers interested in enabling depth perception in their applications without the need for an array of active sensors (e.g. laser scanners, ultrasonics, infrared, etc).

The SVS uses two beefy Blackfin DSP’s from Analog devices to do video processing, and can also simultaneously control 8 servos and has a built-in dual motor driver capable of supplying up to 1 Amp per motor. Also included is WiFi connectivity via a Lantronix MatchPort.

The firmware for the SVS is GPL Open Source and comes functional with basic image processing features like, “histogram, pixel sampling, mean, frame difference, blob, scan, count, [and] find”. Currently in development are stereo correspondence and image rectification functions.

Surveyor is targeting this device to the educational and hobbiest crowd, and is selling the SVS for a (very) modest $550. It looks like a great new gadget for robot builders to stick on their creations. Toss on some goofy 3D glasses, and that autonomous aerial footage will really come to life!

Update: Howard has mounted the SVS system to a robotic blimp. You can check out some video after the jump.

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At the 18th annual International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC), Georgia Tech came away as the winner, with prize money of $27,000. The event, which was held on July 28th – Aug. 1st, 2008, marked the conclusion of the 4th Mission of the IARC, with a new mission being released for the 2009 competition. The competition, which as been existance since 1991 (the creator of the competition, Robert Michelson, coined the term ‘Aerial Robotics’), and has long been known as a grueling, and nearly impossible, robotics competition.

The forth mission was divided into 4 different levels – a 3km ingress path, locating a specific building in a town environment, flying into, or launching a sensor into, the building and sending back pictures, and finally doing all three steps in under 15 minutes. Several teams were able to complete 3 of the first 4 steps, but no team was able to complete all the steps in under 15 minutes, the “winner take all” requirement. The judges divided the total prize winnings of $80,000 USD between 10 teams, with Georgia Tech taking the most money.

The new 2009 competition will be announced soon. Based on previous competitions, it will be interesting to see the level of difficulty that the new 5th mission will require.

The DelFly Micro, built by Delft University of Technology, is the world’s smallest ornithopther. The flapping robot has a 10 cm wingspan and even includes a video camera. In a mere year-and-a-half, the team decreased the weight from the 16 grams of the DelFly II, to the amazing 3 grams of the DelFly Micro.

The group hopes to use the ornithopther to study the aerodynamics of small flapping vehicles, as computer simulations prove very difficult. They also hope to use the onboard camera to achieve autonomous flight using machine vision. The current vehicle has a 30mAh lithium polymer battery that allows for 3 minutes of flight-time (the battery is 1/3 of the DelFly’s weight). The wings are made of mylar and flap at 30 Hz.

You can see some video of the ornithopther flying after the jump.

Update: The August 15th edition (MP3) of the Robots Podcast features an interview with the creators of the DelFly Micro.

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Chris Anderson, over at DIY Drones, recently posted a full page advertisement, from the July edition of the AUVSI magazine, for AUS International’s AirSniper product. The AirSniper is described as, “a VTOL combat mini UAV intended for close infantry support.” Or, in other words, “a gun with wings.”

Now, this idea seems like a solid one – why not mount weapons on UAVs? In fact, it’s been done before. However, I don’t think anyone has every proposed a UAV sniper system that can also be torn-down to work as a regular, old, gun. Also, AUS claims,

Our patent pending “tilt and stop” rotor design concept gives AirSniper hovering performance and agility of helicopters, with speed and endurance of fixed wing airplanes.

Supposedly the airframe also allows for “precise aiming at any flight speed.” Quite a claim. The comedic aspects of the advertisement give some reason to doubt as to AUS International’s ability to bring this to market. Chris even said, “if this were the April edition, I’d think it was an April Fool’s joke”.

Some of the more laughable lines from the ad:

For an enemy up there, you could be like a sitting duck.
With AirSniper, sitting duck is the other guy.

WIRED’s DangerRoom blog also got into the action with their latest idea, the AirKnife.

Ok, so after AUS International had been give such a bad rap, what did I do? Well, I contacted them to find out what the skinny was. Check out our correspondance after the jump. (more…)