Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Micro Air Vehicle In Use In Iraq

Honeywell's micro air vehicle, which uses a lift-augmented ducted fan propulsion system providing true VTOL capability, is now in use in Iraq by the US Army.


(Micro Air Vehicle on patrol)

The MAV is being used to check for roadside bombs and ambushes; it can carry regular day cameras, as well as thermal systems for night use. Streaming real-time video is sent to a ground station for evaluation by troops; the entire system can be carried in two backpacks.

The Micro Air Vehicle offers both "hover and stare" as well as "perch and stare" capabilities; it can hover at altitudes as high as 10,500 feet, or it can land and continue sending video. The MAV has performed well in urban environments as well as open field; it can even function in confined spaces.

When I saw this thing maneuver (see Honeywell MAV video), I thought that the US Army was using Imperial Probe Droids. This well-known Star Wars technology uses repulsorlift engines to hover while its arms touch the ground to gather samples. Probe droids are autonomous robots that can be dispatched over interstellar distances to send back data and video.


(Imperial Probe Droid [Star Wars])

UK readers may want to compare the Micro Air Vehicle with the flying golden Daleks from past seasons of Dr. Who. Once famed as a level-ground-based race of irritable extraterrestrial mutants integrated with impenetrable cases of pure dalekanium, Daleks were given thruster-powered flight after fans derided them for being unable to even climb stairs. (Other fans stated that, rather than climb stairs, Daleks would simply level the building.)


(Golden flying bling Dalek)

SF movie fans might also recall Michael Crichton's 1985 movie Runaway, about a special police group that specialized in dealing with robots gone out of control. In the film, a floater camera is used to gain more information about a hostage situation.


(Top view of floater camera from Runaway)

Read more about Michael Crichton's floater camera.

Read more about MAVs in the news at The Register and Defense Review; see also Honeywell's micro air vehicle page.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/8/2007)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )

Related News Stories - (" Surveillance ")

Chameleon Personalized Privacy Protection Mask
'...the Virtual Epiphantic Identity Lustre.' - Neal Stephenson, 2019.

Spherical Police Robot Rolls In China
'Rand could effectively be in several places at once...' - Niven and Pournelle, 1981.

Vietnam To Have Full Biometric Transparency
'inscriptions too small to be seen with the naked eye; microscopic data...' - Eric Frank Russell, 1939.

Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'... designed to foil facial recognition systems.' - Neal Stephenson, 2019.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'

Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'

Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'

When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'

China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'

Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'

Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'

Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.

Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'

Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'

Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'

Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'

Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.