Israeli "Steadicopter" Requires No Pilot
Israel's latest UAV is on track for market entry soon. The new
helicopter, called the Steadicopter, offers new military and rescue
capabilities. However development of the Steadicopter was slowed
down due to the suspicious disappearance of the Steadicopter
prototype last month.
The Steadicopter, which weighs 30 pounds and is five feet long,
had just completed its final test flights according to CEO Tuvia
Segal. He said the helicopter was unique in that it was capable of
independent flying without remote control. "Many companies have
tried but none of their tests worked," he told Globes.
The Israeli developers of the Steadicopter were surprised last
month to find its prototype had been stolen - presumably by someone
who wanted to copy it - from their plant in Kfar Maccabi near Tel
Aviv. No money or computer software was taken during the break-in,
leading the company to suspect espionage.
Steadicopter's Business Development Manager, Amir Rochman told
Israel21c.com that the theft proved that the company is onto
something good. "There's something positive that came out of the
burglary. We're on the right track," he said, adding that the
setback has only delayed the Steadicopter's development schedule by
a few weeks. "The theft of the prototype has influenced our very
short-term goals, but not the long-term goals," said Rochman. "We
have just completed a number of very successful autonomous flight
tests, and were scheduled for some live demonstrations for police,
military, and other defense agencies and companies. Obviously,
those demonstrations had to be delayed, and we now have to produce
another prototype. However, since we have the knowledge and the
technology, we can deliver a new prototype ! with equal
capabilities within the next few weeks."
According to Rochman what makes the Steadicopter unique is that
the unmanned robotic helicopters are fully autonomous. The
Steadicopter can take off, hover, fly, and land in a fully
autonomous manner, and therefore can be operated by novice users.
"The Steadicopter is fully autonomous," explained Rochman. "The
performance of flight mission can be implemented without the need
of human control."
Although major advances have been made in many of the
technologies involved in developing a successful unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV), such as visual guidance systems, high precision
image sensing cameras, and aerial navigation systems, devising an
effective stabilizing technology for the rotating-wing craft has
proved a serious hurdle that has held back widespread adoption of
UAVs for many applications. Steadicopter says it's developed a
unique system that overcomes stabilization and flight control
problems, paving the way for the first completely autonomous
unmanned helicopter
"The system is designed for surveillance and control of
designated areas, and provides real-time information to the command
center for passing on to the operating ground forces. The
helicopter is equipped with stabilized flight control systems,
cameras for day and night vision and receivers/transmitters for
real time operation and monitoring. The ground control system is
composed of a PC with navigation and flight control software that
enables the operator to guide the helicopter to the location of the
event using a digital map or an aerial image of the area," said
Rochman.
"During the course of the flight, real-time video images of the
events are sent to the PC or to an external video screen with vital
information for the control of the events on the ground. The system
is designed to be integrated in a command control center operation,
as we'll as a field mobile operation from a portable computer," he
added.
Steadicopter, founded in 1999, is a graduate of the prestigious
TEIC (Technion Entrepreneurial Incubator Company) which is a
entrepreneurial program located in Haifa that has received grants
from the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israel Ministry of
Industry and Commerce.
According to Rochman, the Steadicopter can carry up t! o 18
kilograms of video equipment and will sell for approximately
$125,000, depending on the electronic components installed. This
price would be only a fraction of the $1 million cost of currently
available unmanned aerial vehicles of this type.
"We're looking at a period of four months until the product hits
the market," Rochman said. "Our first thrust will be to the Israeli
market, in order to get feedback close to the customers. But then
we certainly plan to focus on the U.S. market."