A video of a flying spherical reconnaissance drone developed by Japan’s military has lately been causing a stir online – the device makes for quite a spectacle.
The video:
The unit officially goes under the prosaic name of “spherical flight vehicle,” having been developed as a prototype miniature drone.
It is 42cm in diameter, 350g in weight and can fly for some 8 minutes, being capable of reaching speeds of 60km/h. Autopilot systems are said to be under development.
Interestingly, the developers report “buying most of the parts in Akihabara.”
Reminds me of the “copseye” device from some of Larry Niven’s “Known Space” science fiction stories – used by police to “patrol” public areas rather than doing it on foot. Of course those could go for more than 8 minutes, but everything has to start somewhere….
When do we get the blueprnts? xD
Though it doesn’t look that hard to construct. The idea of building it into a ball is quite interessting and usefull too. Now the ball sceleton just has to resist a drop of roughly a 100 metres so it can be recovered after “failed” reconnaisance…
needs to be small and have a spy camera with a very very wide wireless range
Well, it has Iron Eagle music, in its intro soundtrack so the developpers know their cult geek c movies.
Somehow I am suddenly reminded of Orianna from League of Legends… Can It ram people for AoE damage?