Since the 1950 researchers have been trying ways to created Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that can be as subtle in flight as the maple tree seed. Based on the spiral flight the seeds take when they fall off a tree, researchers from the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering have finally managed a micro-unmanned aerial vehicle. Inspired by the Maple seed and mimicking it in useful aspects the engineers behind the Micro-UAV term their creation as the “world’s smallest controllable single-winged rotocraft.”
Creating micro-UAVs that are stable and owing to the small size can hover in control, had been a problem for the researcher, because the aircrafts they created in the size bracket often fell prey to winds etc. But now the researchers have solved the steering problem, working out a solution which’ll allow the UAV to take off from the ground and hover and also perform controlled flights after its initial fall to the ground post being deployed off an aircraft. The device can also begin to hover during its initial descent, or after being launched by hand.
Via: BoingBoing
