Cheap robot pilot makes sports plane fly autonomously
In the US state of Utah, a two-hour flight was carried out with a robot-controlled aircraft. All industrial components used for the Robopilot are freely available and existing (sports) aircraft can be quickly converted.
The so-called Robotic Pilot Unmanned Conversion Program, or ROBOpilot, was set up by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the company Dzyne Technologies. The Robopilot controlled the rudders and gripped the control stick during the test flight in an old Cessna. A computer used input from sensors to control the robot.
According to the developers, Robopilot can be used to make autonomous flights at low cost without permanently converting an aircraft into a drone. It is only necessary to remove the frame of the pilot seat and place the robot.
Nederlands