DIY UAV

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of WIRED, showed his latest even-lower-cost UAV, hanging off a blimp. (hmmm…. Lots of ad space there to make it “almost free” per his latest cover story…. 😉

On the screen is his earlier prototype with a RC plane + LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot kit + a cell phone + pan/tilt camera. The cell phone has GPS so the plane can fly to pre-designated coordinates. The cellular system is the wide-area wireless link. And, in a simpler early version, with the cell phone strapped to the plane belly, the built-in camera can take photos of targets of interest.

I caught a glimpse of Chris and his UAV plane in this photo of our rocketry display at Maker Faire.

Which reminds me of the TSA… I still think that UAVs are the long term future of commercial aviation…