Ai Dreams Forum
Robotics => Robotics News => Topic started by: Tyler on December 15, 2007, 08:21:23 pm
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UAV Steals Power from the Electric Grid
According to a miltary.com
story DARPA's "Power Line Urban Sentry" (PLUS) program is
developing small electric UAVs that rely on the public power grid for
navigation and power. When their batteries run low, the UAVs land
on high tension power lines and steal power to recharge themselves.
During recharging, they morph into shapes that appear natural, such
as pigeons or trash. Once regarged, they'll morph back into flying
robots and take off. The robot also store maps of the power grid,
allowing them to navigate visually should their GPS signal be lost or
jammed. For details see the SITIS entry for the SBIR Energy
Harvesting for Small Air Vehicles proposal or the DOD
SBIR description.
http://robots.net/article/2420.html
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Would explain why we keeping getting hikes in our leccy costs then ;D