Tech
Meet new drone that takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane
Runways are inconvenient, and helicopters are inefficient. Between these two statements is the quest for Vertical Takeoff and Landing, or VTOL, flying machines.
Hampered for decades by the difficulty of building such an aircraft that can switch from hovering to forward thrust mid-flight without jeopardizing the humans inside, drones have rapidly adapted to the task.
Like this one, the V-Bat from Martin UAV, on display at the drone industry’s Xponential conference in New Orleans this week.
Read also: Meet the robot that pretends to listen to you
Amazon, which originally planned delivery using a more helicopter-like quad copter, recently switched to a sturdier VTOL design, shown off in a video ad earlier this year.
However, details surrounding that aircraft remain pretty tightly under wraps.
As for the V-Bat, Martin UAV, says it can fly for up to 8 hours at 50 mph. It can operate up to 35 miles away from the control station, and carries enough fuel for a 300 miles trip.
Additionally, it boasts a maximum speed of 100 mph and, where legally permitted, it can fly as high as 15,000 feet. Martin bills it as a drone for wildlife monitoring, mapping, and, in a military role — surveillance and scouting.
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