Autopilot aerobatics

[Sturmbock71]

I don't believe that a autopilot can do this !!! How the gps its so accurate in that tiny space ? How you can have a AP and gps and gyros in a plane whit only 200 grams ????

[eqstreme]

Who said it used GPS? Learn to write properly...

[RocketBurn11]

Me Gyro, Me Fly Plane Now! =]

[horizonflyer9]

autopilot? does he mean a gyro?

[NutsandGuts]

no, he means autopilot.

[ausdude31]

LOL would love to see one fitted in a pitt special. Spose its all good till you have a blackout. then its MAYDAY MAYDAY, we have have a problem!!!!!

[michi386]

fake

[efesair]

real planes can do it. provided enough engine power is available. some acrobatic aircraft such as the Pitts biplane do it during shows but only stand still for say 2 seconds. problem is to find a pilot who can keep it that stable...

[Dressagerocks93]

Whoa!!!!! totally cool! now if only real planes did that.....

[Salladsdressing]

Amazing!!

[luckyb4mboo]

this is fucking fantastic

[ZombieX13]

Goddamn fucking straight! WOO!

[LargeFish]

Damn this is hot

[ZombieX13]

Down, boy.

[Nexcet]

boeing will hate you all one day!

HAH! totally cool enhancements in aero!

kudos for MIT.

[tooby98765]

Why doesn't the body start to spin in the opposite direction to the propeller?

[surkh]

It looks like it uses the flaps on its wings to counteract the twist from the propeller. You can clearly see this around 1:10, with the flap on the right wing pointing "up" and the one on the left wing pointing "down". And it seems to do the equivalent thing with the flaps on the tail wings in order to acheive the transition (which you can see clearly around 1:32)

[Syd1940]

It's normal to use the ailerons (wing flaps) to counteract torque in the prop hang mode, though they're less effective because there's little airflow. What is surprising is the lack of rudder use. Human pilots seem to use a LOT of rudder in this mode.

Amazing piece of work.

[frankwilliams987]

Look up Benoit Dierickx videos, he does all sorts of crazy stunts with these kinds of RC planes

[rickrussell]

It's fun to watch, but is it autonomous? It looks to me like all the sensor and computing hardware is external to the aircraft. That's not really autonomous.

[lmcdosman]

Only because the model doesn't have any payload capacity.

As long as no one is manually controlling those maneuvers, it should be good!

[ATMA3Weapon]

the meaning behind an autonomous craft simple means it can "think" and perform functions and tasks on its own with out the help of a user inputting those commands via live, basicly its "Hit the button max" and watch it do what it was told to do, the question i have. is this true autonomous using a level of AI or just a hardwired A, B, C tree :/

[balderdash707]

You're not thinking of autonomous. Autonomous means it's not controlled by a human. You're thinking of independent or something, which we agree it isn't, but with all the satellites in the sky real aircraft don't have to be.

[rickrussell]

My meaning was specific. Autonomous: undertaken or carried on without outside control; self-contained. Sure, I guess it's impressive that somebody wrote the software to watch the aircraft against a controlled background and scoot it around. But it's not nearly as awesome as the feats accomplished by the participants of the International Aerial Robotics Competition or the various DARPA Grand Challenges, which *really are autonomous*.

[quelorepario]

ok ruckrussel, lets shut down gps and see how they perform...

[Sporg9]

Well, how do you think the software of mentioned participants were developed in the first place? ;-)

This is of course a work in progress, first you develop the necessary controls, _then_ you implement them in the aircraft (or robot).

And IMO the development of the controls is the hardest part of the process.

So no need to be a nitpicker ;-)

[esmith512]

Now this is really cool! Departing the perch is pretty easy, controlled hover is pretty impressive(takes combining various sensory data), landing on the perch is even cooler (sensors and precision approach), and the flight mode transition was amazing! It changed aerodynamic modes AND clearly avoided obstacles while in winged flight!! :-D Wow!!

[Frap357]

Amazing!

[RedWingedAngel]

I wasn't all that impressed until the end, but that's pretty wild! Good stuff!

[digitaltripper]

Yeah it is hard to be impressed when you already have aircraft that do this....Well I don't yet but RedWingedAngel, where is your aircraft video posted?...I looked but did not find it...

[RedWingedAngel]

Hmm? I don't recall saying anything about a video of my own... I don't have any such video as far as I know. Maybe a different RedWingedAngel on another website?

[russdogg]

at first i thought it was just going to fly vertical like that al the time, but when it flipped horizontal, I was sold.

[Timmymna]

Very impressive, can a everyday plane fly upright like that?

[trevsweb]

i would be very very sick

[Aragorn450]

No, the reason model airplanes can do that is they have very high thrust to weight ratios. Well, that and the only weight they really have is in the front of the plane anyway.

However, you could probably make a plane that could do that AND carry people, but the amount of thrust required makes it very cost-inefficient.

[Nosforit]

I think they're called 'helicopters'. Hehe. ;)

[Aragorn450]

Different mechanism for flying. Blades are different and made for a different type of thrust. They've made planes that can flip the blades vertical (Osprey comes to mind), but they just never work out quite right...

[rickrussell]

Yes, several experimental aircraft were designed to take off and land pointing straight up, landing gear on the tail of the aircraft. Look up the Convair XFY-1, the Lockheed XFV-1 and the X-13 Vertijet. Aside from the intense power-to-weight ratios required, the aircraft had control problems and the transition from horizontal to vertical flight was extremely hazardous.