Everyone has different ideas on what the perfect search-and-rescue robot is, and for a University of Pennsylvania Mod Lab team, it comes in the form of a snake drone-quadcopter chimera. The Hybrid Exploration Robot for Air and Land Deployment or H.E.R.A.L.D. is composed of two snake-like machines that attach via magnets to a UAV. Continue reading
Category Archives: Applications & Testing & Experience
UAE/Airbus HAPS First Flight
The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has launched the Advanced Aerial Systems Program which aims to develop UAE capabilities in the fields of designing, manufacturing and operating advanced aerial systems, in line with EIAST’s mission to develop advanced science and technology across the UAE. Continue reading
Truck-Based QuadCopter Delivers the Last Leg
The battery-powered Horsefly can carry a 10-pound package 20 miles in almost any weather. It costs just two cents a mile to operate, compared to 50 cents for a typical diesel-powered step van. Most of its deliveries would be less than two miles because it flies from the roof of the company’s battery-powered delivery van, known as the Workhorse. Continue reading
DHL’s ‘Parcelcopter’ Flies to German Island
Indian Students Develop QuadCopter with Facial Recognition
A group of students at SRM University in Chennai, India, led by Sobin Santhosh, final year student in the Aerospace department have designed and implemented an autonomous copter equipped with an automatic face and person recognition system in a day. They have trained their intelligent software to detect a person irrespective of his/her attire, face orientation, posture and/or background. Continue reading
Fury Lightweight Precision Weapon Engages Target During Live-Fire Demonstrations
Textron Systems Weapon & Sensor Systems announced that a pair of successful live-fire demonstrations of its new Fury lightweight precision guided glide weapon off of a Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Autonomous Structure Assembly
A European project led by the Center for Advanced Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) and the University of Seville created flying robots capable of reaching places too dangerous for humans and work independently in a wide range of tasks. The autonomy and skills of the robots is being developed to build or disassemble structures for a host of future applications, from rescue missions to inspection and maintenance in the energy and space sectors. Continue reading
UAS Turns Valves
“Towards Valve Turning using a Dual-Arm Aerial Manipulator,” by Christopher Korpela, Matko Orsag, and Paul Oh, from Drexel University. Continue reading



