Tech Universe: Thursday 12 May

The Aeryon Scout Quadrocopter is an uncrewed aerial vehicle that sends real-time streamed video to a smartphone or laptop. Photo / Supplied

SCOUT COPTER: The Aeryon Scout Quadrocopter is an uncrewed aerial vehicle that sends real-time streamed video to a smartphone or laptop. Flight paths can be programmed or adjusted ad hoc via a touchscreen. The camera's stabilised and on a gimbal so it has a full range of motion, but it can also easily be swapped out for a different type of sensor. Look outside: is there one above you now? More at Aeryon and video on YouTube.

SHORT STOP: Up in the bush in Alaska there are often no runways and pilots may have to take off and land in very short distances. One teenager built his own specially modified Super Cub plane and has been practising landing in a mere 5 metres, with take off in a tiny 3 metres. Huge, barely inflated tires cater for the rocky landing areas, the engine puts out 210 HP, but the composite propeller weighs just 6.3 Kg. Sounds just like a MacGyver trick. More at Wired and video on YouTube.

SOLAR IMPULSE: The annual World Solar Challenge takes place in October this year in Australia. A team from UC Berkeley College of Engineering, USA, is entering a carbon fibre vehicle called Impulse. 6 square metres of solar cells provide the power for a 9 HP motor to drive 2,900 Km from Darwin to Adelaide. The 3-wheel, single-seater car has been highly optimised, even down to factoring in the southern hemisphere location. Tilt those solar panels. More at Innovations.

WHEELS UNRAVELLED: Uneven terrain poses a challenge for any robot, and there are many ideas for locomotion. A new idea from an engineer in the USA is to give the robot corkscrew legs. The corkscrews rotate parallel to the ground, moving a prototype along quite effectively on grass, sand and gravel, though they don't work so well on smooth surfaces. So how about adding a tread? More at NewScientist.

ANOTHER TOUCH ON THE WALL: There's electromagnetic radiation all around us, coming from electrical wiring, cell phones, household appliances and the like, and people are pretty good antennas for it. Researchers at Microsoft and the University of Washington are exploring how to turn that into a usable gesture-based interface. A person wearing a wrist grounding-strap, analog-to-digital converter and small computer could touch the wall, for example, to control devices. It's an intriguing idea. More at TechnologyReview.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz