Proxflyer

January 2, 2006 2:24 AM

World's smallest flying robots In the early 1930 's, Arthur Young, a brilliant young inventor, built and successfully demonstrated a viable, flyable helicopter model. In Oslo Peter Muren developed a totally silent and aerodynamically stable coaxial rotor flying robot.In Brussels Alexander Van de Rostyne developed a 6.9 grams helicopter with infrared 4 axis control. Very cute too .
posted by hortense (14 comments total)

Looks like a sequel.
posted by Laotic at 2:29 AM on January 2, 2006

Incredible, but would it lift the hamster?
posted by DrDoberman at 2:56 AM on January 2, 2006

hortense: I believe you meant to link this page on your last link?
posted by slater at 5:42 AM on January 2, 2006

Sequel or not, very good post, except for the pdf file. Some browsers really truly hate Acrobat and crash, so a bracket warning [pdf] would really help.
And you're right - very, very cute for such a manmade thing.
posted by moonbird at 7:22 AM on January 2, 2006

How do these things behave, do they buzz around like flies or travel to a specified location? I presume they do more than just take off, as they're called robots and aren't remotely controlled.
posted by Citizen Premier at 7:54 AM on January 2, 2006

But are these miniature flying robots also the world's smallest stereo system?
posted by nTeleKy at 8:17 AM on January 2, 2006

They are remote controled The links to the video are are in the product descriptions,
posted by hortense at 8:54 AM on January 2, 2006

Picoflyer Nanoflyer Microflyer Bladerunner Mosquito Mosquito Twin-tail Video
posted by hortense at 9:08 AM on January 2, 2006

These are for "indoor only" flights. With their light weights the slightest gust of wind can cause problems.

They need some proprioception and a control system that can deal with gusts.

I remember breifly watching a monarch butterfly last fall on a gusty day making its round of a garden. It approached from up the street - quickly checked 3 known areas of interest - and then left in the direction it came from. It had remarkedly straight line paths of flight considering how gusty it was.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 10:03 AM on January 2, 2006

It would be sweet if you could somehow combine the world's smallest stereo with the world's smallest remote control helicoptor.

...not for any practical reason.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:13 AM on January 2, 2006

You could have that little dude play "ride of thevalkyries ".
posted by foozleface at 10:51 AM on January 2, 2006

I like how the picoflyer video has the topgun theme in the background... hilarious
posted by ba3r at 6:58 PM on January 2, 2006

More on proxflyer and pixelito.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:42 AM on January 3, 2006

AAA
posted by cenoxo at 11:42 PM on January 3, 2006