Ok, this is just too damn cool. The Surveyor crew have integrated the SRV-1 controller with a quad-rotor helicopter.

The heli, called "X-3D-BL Scientific," is from a German company called Ascending Technologies GmbH.  I knew it was easy to use the SRV-1 controller for other wheeled vehicles, but seeing it on a UAV is pretty exciting.  They don’t have too much info up yet, but it sounds promising.  Here’s a video of the aircraft (without SRV-1 controller) in action:

Check out the original post, and keep an eye on the Surveyor Robotics Journal for updates!

Let’s get right to the heart of this thing.  Project CONDOR is a high-tech immersive multimedia sensory experience.  An array of eight robotically controlled helium-filled blimps, each with a speaker hanging from it, dynamically repositioning sound sources, with audio streaming to each blimp via Bluetooth, playing a separate part of an electronic musical composition, floating around inside a large indoor space, accompanied by a light show and video projections…  I’m on the verge of a flashback just from writing that sentence, so I can only imagine how trippy the actual performance is going to be.  Tonight and tomorrow night (That’s June 29 and 30, 2007), starting at 8 pm, Project CONDOR will take flight in Chicago’s Broadway Armory.  Admission is only 10 bucks, and I have no idea how many people they’re letting in, so get there early if you want to check it out.

Thanks to Chicago Public Radio for covering this story while I was on my way to work this morning.  Their pledge drive is still going on, so head over to WBEZ.org and give them some money.

Story at news.big.net

Project CONDOR event posting at Metromix

I couldn’t find any Project CONDOR pictures, so I ran a Google image search for “psychedelic blimps” and this is what I got.

This army project has been making the rounds on the internet. The Flying Saucer works using the Coanda Effect which makes for a compact blade system to lift a larger bodied object. Pretty smart!

Related Links:
Wired - most in depth info
JNL Labs - Pictures of Assembly
Coandă effect @ Wikipedia