Hi,

beeing responsible for the development of the flying robots here at OFFIS I just wanted to give you the link to our activities:

www.offis.de/flugrobotik (at the moment only available in german)

or http://www.offis.de/v/index_e.php for our other research activities.

Power source: in the first pic inside the square there is a rectangular battery held on with what looks like velcros straps. There also looks to be a place for a second battery below the control box, well there are more velcro ties there. That is a Li-Po battery normally used in remote control planes/cars/helis. 30 minutes is highly unlikely for this type of aircraft, normal electric helis get 10 minutes at the most. Planes get a lot longer as they use less energy to stay in the air.

The article mentioned 30 minutes of flight times for these camera platforms yet there is no obvious power source so what's the trick?

Why does every tech writer use the "think" wording.

"This is a new product that blah blah, THINK blah blah blah"

Very annoying.

...just putting a normal 2-blade propeller inside a ring of plastic doesn't make it a ducted fan, Charlie :)

Ducted fans are turbine replacements that use high-rpm electric motors to spin small and precision-balanced multi-bladed at insane speeds. Over 20K rpm can be achieved.

Large EDFs are ~120mm diameter and deliver multiple pounds of thrust...and weigh more than that quad altogether :) Also, the "ducted" part means that they should be mounted inside a tubular enclosure, or they won't be efficient. One that's at least several times the EDF's own length, too..

Quad/Octocopters are geek toys, yes, but not because of the hardware - it's all about the control algorithms running the electronics under those CD tubs...which are open source, by the way.

duhhhh... Charlie, you must really have a hangover.

Possible technology demonstrator for military recon. I know the US Marine Corps has been working on small, disposable flying cameras for urban recon missions.

Also, "news" companies might find them useful as adjuncts to helicopters.

Not just a toy, you know.

i love my radio controlled helis. but where is the fun if you cant do stunts? walkera 4G3 6 channel heli is probably the best indoor mini heli, full 3D flight, not for beginners though....

You should try a real geek toy in this area - the E-flite Micro CX (mCX). It is cheap, and it really flies well indoors.

If it doesn't have missles?