The latest unmanned drone is a version of an existing manned one
Back to the unicopter
IN THE future, the skies of cities may belong to aerial drones. These are spiderlike devices with four or more propellers (thus often known as quadcopters, hexacopters, octocopters and so on) that provide both lift and thrust. The hope is that autonomous, self-guided versions of these will deliver anything from pizzas to passengers from door to door without being held up by terrestrial traffic jams.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Back to the unicopter”
Science & technology November 4th 2017
- The first visitor from another solar system has just been spotted
- A new chamber has been detected in the Great Pyramid of Giza
- The first voyager to another star may be a worm or a tardigrade
- Mammoth society seems to have been like that of modern elephants
- The latest unmanned drone is a version of an existing manned one
From the November 4th 2017 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Science & technology
A sophisticated civilisation once flourished in the Amazon basin
How the Casarabe died out remains a mystery
Heritable Agriculture, a Google spinout, is bringing AI to crop breeding
By reducing the cost of breeding, the firm hopes to improve yields and other properties for an array of important crops
Could supersonic air travel make a comeback?
Boom Supersonic’s demonstrator jet exceeds Mach 1
Should you worry about microplastics?
Little is known about the effects on humans—but limiting exposure to them seems prudent
Wasps stole genes from viruses
That probably assisted their evolutionary diversification
America’s departure from the WHO would harm everyone
Whether it is a negotiating ploy remains to be seen