Each precision flying ‘bot is capable of perfectly balancing itself, but their true power is in their ability to fly in formations, and even adjust to new 3-dimensional patterns on the fly and avoid obstacles autonomously. But enough talk – seeing 20 of these nano-quadrotors in action it is truly a sight to behold:

The way they all buzz around together, they’re reminiscent of an 1980s arcade shooter, aren’t they? I’m totally thinking Galaxian or Galaga. While each one is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, I still wouldn’t want to run into this swarm in a dark alley. There is serious power in numbers. We can only hope they don’t start adding weapons to them any time soon – and they don’t connect to Skynet.

The idea behind Alex Jantschke’s concept called Megacity Aviation is that in crowded cities, the flying machine could fly around and reduce the congestion on the roads. The personal aircraft would be made from reinforced bio-plastic and have a hollow frame like a bird’s bones.

The dual coaxial rotors would be hydraulically operated. The designer figures the real deal would be about the size of a Mini Cooper and get you to your destination about twice as fast. Sign me up. I want one.

[via YankoDesign]

The i-Fly Micro Lightning helicopter comes with an IR remote adapter that you can plug into your iOS device to control the copter using the iFly iOS app. It has eight minutes of flight per charge and can be controlled with up/down, left/right, and front/back movements. It can also be controlled using an included infrared remote. The i-Fly copter sells for $69.99 (USD).

The Sky Eye and the Black Swann both use 27MHz RF tech and are good for 110-feet of range. They have integrated cameras that can shoot video and still shots with a button press as well. The Black Swann has a microSD card slot for expanded storage and the Sky Eye has 512MB of internal storage. Each camera copter sells for $99.99, and should be available in stores soon.

[Press Release]

Having so many of these copters together makes sense in other ways too. The e-volo can lose a rotor or an engine and still land safely. Heck, it can even lose up to four at once and it will be okay.

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If that isn’t enough, compared to a regular helicopter, it’s simple. And less complication means less failure and more safety. The motors are all independent from each other, each with an off-the-shelf battery system and controller. That’s about it really. It gets 10-30 minutes in the air right now, but if they can improve the battery life, the possibilities are endless.

[via Dvice]

Using a variety of found objects and hardware, Laura (aka prixprix) created this awesome Inspector Gadget costume, complete with functional flying contraption. And while it doesn’t actually achieve lift-off at any point, the rotor is actually motorized, so maybe she could get off the ground with enough of an updraft. Here, check it out:

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Pretty nifty, eh? If you want to give it a try for yourself, Laura has documented her build over on Instructables for you to follow for yourself. Anyone who can actually get theirs to propel them into the air will get a gold star in my book. Go, go, Gadget!

The big shocker is the price, you can buy a very nice new car for the price of one of these Epic cameras – but they’re still cheaper than high-end 35mm and 70mm cameras. I like RC toys as much as the next guy, but I would never fly the creation the folks at OMStudios in Germany have put together. The system is an octocopter with eight little motors and propellers arrayed around a horseshoe underneath the copter.

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Inside that big horseshoe shaped opening sits one of the crazy expensive RED Epic cameras. The copter can fly up to 150 meters in altitude and record in shocking clarity. I would rather not think of the repair bill if you crashed this awesome RC toy.

As with all such flying helicopters, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination and what you can think to do with it. It could be used as a spy drone, you could use it to drop things where you want them, monitor weather situations, etc. A good all purpose research bot. It comes with ROS already installed, providing APIs for controlling it. The Flybox uses an ARM 32 bit controller and it can do it’s thing for up to 30 minutes at at time.

You can get it outfitted with a USB camera, WiFi, XBee and Bluetooth. No word on whether you can put an action figure of an X-Wing pilot on top, but that would be cool and it’s the best use I have for this one. No info on price yet, but it is likely out of my range.

[via Robotliving]

The Helo TC is a twin rotor helicopter with a little rotor on the back to help steer. The Flight Deck IR module plugs into the iPhone and then clips on the back so you can keep a hand on it easily. You get two modes of steering with virtual joysticks, or tilt steering if you prefer. The app can also store up to three flight plans.

That means you can record a flight and have the helicopter make the same flight again automatically. The battery inside the helicopter is rechargeable from the USB port of your computer or any other USB source. The flight Deck module uses four AAA batteries and connects to the headphone jack of the iPhone or iPod Touch. The Helo TC sells for $49.99(USD) and is available now.

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It took Vanguard Defense about three years to come up with this, but it will sure surprise anyone who dismisses the Shadowhawk as a toy. It’s 7 feet long and weighs 49lbs. It can travel at speeds of up to 70mph. It’s got a bunch of sensors so that it can also serve as a drone, as well as laser pointers, range finders, and 37mm or 40mm grenade launchers.

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These video clips show just a little bit of the potential of the Shadowhawk in action.

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Before you start saving up, remember that the most lethal version is unavailable for civilians (you need to be a military or law enforcement customer), but you can get the Mark II without the weapons for an undisclosed amount over at Vanguard Defense.

[via Gizmodo via Ubergizmo]

From the looks of it when the Kyosho copter lands in the States, it may be branded as a Griffin Technology offering. The toy is dubbed the Helo TC and it still looks awesome. The white rectangle with the copter is the Griffin unit and the larger image is the Kyosho copter, and they sure look similar to me. The copter is controlled using an app that is included for your iPhone. You can fly the toy all around your home with the smartphone.

This one also has LED lights on it so you can see the copter as you fly around in dim rooms. I have played with toy helicopters that look like this before with a normal remote control and they fly surprisingly well and are generally robust.  The Helo TC will sell for about $56 (USD) when it lands, and should arrive in time for Christmas.

[via SlashGear]

Shown at the Tokyo Toy Show in prototype form, the pint-sized helicopter will be controlled with a custom iOS app. The app will provide coaxial command of the chopper, but it’s not clear if it will achieve this over WiFi, Bluetooth, or require some sort of RF dongle for controlling vehicles. While you can already control the Parrot’s AR.Drone with an iPhone app, it’ll be nice to see some other R/C vehicles that can do the same.

Kyosho plans on releasing the iOS-compatible helicopter around October 2011, but didn’t reveal pricing as of yet. Hopefully, they’ll start offering other vehicles you can control with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch too. I’m looking forward to the day when all R/C vehicles can accept WiFi signals, so you could build custom control apps on pretty much any mobile device on the market today.

[via Hobby Media(IT)]

Eurocopter has unveiled an awesome helicopter called the X3 Hybrid that combines the elements of a helicopter with elements of a fixed wing aircraft for the best of both worlds. The US Osprey used tilting rotors to take of vertically and then fly at faster speeds. The X3 Hybrid has no complex tilting rotors, this copter has little winglets with propellers on them that pull the helicopter along with lift provided by a conventional rotor.

Another big difference is that this helicopter has no tail rotor. The demonstrator model of the X3 Hybrid helicopter hit a true airspeed of 232 knots or 430 km/hr in straight and level flight for several minutes in testing. The faster helicopter is perfect for search and rescue missions. The characteristics of the helicopter are said to be on par with those of conventional helicopters on the market already.

This time, they’ve trained a pair of their flying machines to bounce ping-pong balls between them. By mounting the head of a tennis racket to each one, and carefully positioning them, they’re able to get the ball to volley between the two. Here’s a video of the exciting ball juggling action.

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I guess it’s more like a round of ping-pong than “juggling” per se, but it’s still pretty impressive. Sure it’s not like watching Nadal and Federer go at it, but they drop the ball fewer times than I usually do. What do you think the Swiss will teach their quadrocopters to do next? I hope they’ll get them to make some watches and chocolate.

[via YouTube]

The dude put the fireworks on the bottom of the copter, and used a match head on a resistor to light the fuse when he was in range of the enemy balloons (filled with highly-explosive hydrogen) in a snowfield. He also rigged up a camera tripod with some roman candle sentry guns for effect.

He then piloted the DIY copter into the fray and shot the balloons down. It’s cool even though I know beyond a doubt that if I tried this, I would have crashed into a tree two seconds after takeoff.

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You can read more about the copter and its construction at RCExplorer.

[via Geek.com]

This unusual single-winged flying machine by Evan Ulrich and a team at of the University of Maryland is designed to mimic the twirling flight path of one of those maple seed pods. Naturally, seed pods twirl down to the ground, and don’t fly upwards, but that didn’t stop researchers from developing this contraption that spins its way skyward:

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Yikes. While I’m sure the flight physics of this thing are cool for scientific study, there’s no way you’d ever want to fly in something like this. Heck, you’d probably throw up on takeoff, then your pool of vomit would go flying around the inside of the chopper until you landed. That’s a pleasant thought.

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It took Evan and team nearly 100 prototypes to get one that would fly reliably, and from the looks of the videos, you can see why. At this point, Ulrich sees the commercial opportunities for the seed-pod-copter as a potential way to quickly move satellites into the jet stream, and not for manned flight. Thank goodness for that.

[via NewScientist]

This bad-ass flying machine isn’t one of those cheap little plastic helicopters you can buy at your local hobby shop. This beast can fly up to 1 mile away and 2000 feet into the air. It’s even got metal CNC rotor blades, so you don’t want to stick your finger in there unless you want to risk amputation. Flight time is as high as 15 minutes per charge, too.

The thing was designed by IgarashiDesign, and is based on an awesome flying machine concept they did a couple of years back. The big blue beast looks like no helicopter I’ve ever seen. Never mind the fact that the gyro-stabilized copter is strong enough to lift a 7 oz. payload, the gyro-stabilized chopper also has a wireless video camera on board, so you can use it for not-so-secret spy missions. (It’s not the most inconspicuous thing you’ve ever seen). Check out the video I grabbed below to see it in action:

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The guys are RotorConcept are taking CES orders for just $299 (USD), but they list the regular price for the SWAT copter as $499. Hopefully, that’s just to make the CES price sound good, and the price will drop on their website at some point. Either way, head on over to RotorConcept’s website for more details and more video footage.

Kyosho’s R/C J-Kart (Jumping Kart) just needs a little bit of runway when it first starts up, then quickly lifts off. The idea behind the car is that you can drive it along the ground, then flip the “Power Boost” button to lift off to avoid on-ground obstacles. Here’s a video clip of the car in action to ahow you how it works.

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Nifty, eh? The guys over at Japan Trend Shop call the R/C Jumping Kart a “3-in-1 copter car”, referring to car, UFO and helicopter – but I have to say that UFO and helicopter are basically the same thing in this case. Still, a car that can fly is pretty cool.

The only thing not to like about this thing is the price if you want to import one from Japan. Selling for $124 (USD), it’s quite steep for what really amounts to a toy. If you happen to live in Japan, you can probably score one for about half that price, or if you do some searches, you might get lucky.

The DraganFlyer X8 has 7 configurations, including the base model, which already has the carbon-fiber blades, brushless motor, landing gear, OLED video remote controller, GPS, batteries, case and such. The other configurations are Photography/HD Video, HD Video, IP Video, Low light video w/onboard DVR, Infrared video w/ onboard DVR, and Emergency Services. Check this page for the full list of specs and options.

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Note that the pre-configured models are not fixed; you can add (but not subtract) features as long as you have the funds. So how much funds are we talking about? The base model of the DraganFlyer X8 can be yours for $32,165 (USD). I’m guessing you just thought, “Oh. So it won’t be mine then.”

[DraganFly]

These pint-sized R/C helicopters aren’t like some of those really cheap models out there. While they each measure just 7.9 inches long, and weigh just 1.1 ounces, these tiny indoor copters are miracles of modern engineering. These mini copters come ready-to-fly out of the box, and are pretty easy to control for R/C chopper newbies (like me.)

Thanks to a gyro stabilization system, and trim controls for rudder, aileron, elevator and throttle, you can fine tune these little helicopters to hover smoothly within seconds of getting up and running. Each one is powered by a tiny little lithium-polymer battery that can be charged in the base or the remote control. You’ll get about 5 to 7 minutes of flying time before you need to recharge with the included 120MaH battery, ore you can grab a 150mAh battery for a couple of extra minutes runtime. Just keep in mind that since the larger battery is heavier, and the helicopter is nearly weightless, you may notice some difference in the way it handles.

The RF remote control feels at home in any video game player’s hands, offering good heft, with the left stick controlling throttle and rudder angle, and the right controlling aileron and elevator. Or in non geek-speak, the left stick makes you go up and down and spin, and the right stick makes you go forwards, backwards, and bank.  You can also put it into “SimpliFly” mode, which makes it easier for flying noobs to get off the ground. There are also a pair of triggers on the back of transmitter that you can use for firing virtual shots.

Speaking of virtual shots, in addition to just flying around your living room, what really sets the Force RC apart is its gaming modes. Each chopper has a tiny infrared emitter and receptor which let you play games with your friends. As a matter of fact, you can play with up to 6 helis in a single battle. I tested out a two-person battle and it worked as described – fire at your enemy, and you throw their heli into a spin. Hit ‘em twice, and it spins a little more violently. Third strike, and it goes spiraling down to the floor in a ball of flames. Ok, I made up the ball of flames part, but that would be cool. There’s also an optional ground target you can set up if you want to practice shooting stationary targets instead of ones that move. Personally, I had more fun firing at a moving target, but that’s definitely harder to do. You can also assign the ground targets to one of your teams, so you can try and prevent your enemies from shooting the ground target too.

I did my best to capture some video of a brief flight of a Force RC heli, and as you can see, it really is a cool thing. You can also see how I’m a really bad pilot – that’s what happens when I try to shoot video and fly an R/C helicopter at the same time:

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Here’s a slightly more professional video from the Horizon Hobby guys:

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In addition to the battery and ground target add-ons, Horizon offers interchangeable plastic canopies so you can personalize your helicopters, and a 4-battery base charger if you want to ensure nearly continuous flying. One thing to keep in mind with these is that they are definitely not cheap kids’ toys. While they’re made out of durable materials for flying indoors, they’re clearly loaded with delicate electronics and mechanisms, so you probably don’t want to get these for kids younger than teenagers.

And with a retail price of $189.99 (USD) per helicopter (currently on sale for $139.99), you’ll want to only get these for your teens if they’re really, really good kids. You can order the Force RC and all of its accessories here.

Creepy eh? Actually, that’s Mr. T, a robot made especially for Halloween by Michael aka Utah Aerials. Mr. T is based on the KKMulticontroller, which can be used to make small helicopters with up to 6 rotors. In Mr. T’s case he has two prop-tilt rotors driven by Turnigy motors. Mr. T’s spectral form hides the KKMulticontroller and a battery. Here’s Michael’s awesome video of Mr. T terrorizing his neighborhood:

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Michael, next year I think you should try turning Mr. T into the Goblin Glider, then just place a Green Goblin figure on top. Then you go as Spider-Man and you can “rescue” the citizens from Green Goblin. But judging from your maniacal laughter I’m guessing you’d rather ride Mr. T and be Green Goblin.

[via Hacked Gadgets]