Ars Technica Live #15, produced by Jennifer Hahn and filmed by Chris Schodt.
(video link) Lisa Ling served almost two decades in the Air National Guard, working on communications technology and drones. After an honorable discharge, she discovered her work had led to the deaths of hundreds of people. On our latest episode of Ars Technica Live, she tells Ars editors Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar how that experience turned her into a whistleblower.
Civilians know almost nothing about military drone programs, and Lisa told us that it wasn’t much better on the inside
Quads are a great ‘copter design. The paired blades counteract each others’ torque, and varying the relative speeds of the four motors makes it easy to steer. But what if you could get by with fewer blades, substituting a significantly fancier control algorithm?
[Dirk Brunner]’s DuoCopter drone uses two propellers that counter-rotate, and it steers by increasing and decreasing the speed at which the blades rotate within a single revolution. Spinning faster on one side than the other makes it tilt. Saying this is one thing, but getting the real-time control algorithms up and running is another
You know not to play around with crocodiles.
Especially when they can drag an entire cow through the water, as witnessed in a video uploaded onto the Facebook page of Trip In A Van, who said the moment happened during a fishing trip in the Kimberley, Western Australia.
“We follow him with the drone as he swims down the river with his lunch,” the post reads.
“He eventually gets the shits with the drone buzzing around him and tries to pull the cow underwater. An amazing display of how powerful these big creatures are!”
The animal was estimated to be about 5 or 6 metres (16 or 17 feet) long, and once again, a creature you definitely don’t want to get too close to
Drones are one of the latest gadgets that modern geek culture has sort of glommed onto. And what’s not to like? They’re basically the ultimate RC, and we’ve been tinkering for those for… […] The post Get Into the Drone Game With These Entry Level Options appeared first on Geek.com.
Students at Singapore’s University of Technology and Design have made a drone, dubbed THOR (Transformable HOvering Rotorcraft), that transitions from hovering to flying as a fixed-wing aircraft.