Aurora Flight Sciences, an aviation and aeronautics research company, recently demonstrated a fully autonomous military helicopter that can be controlled remotely with just a tablet. During a demonstration at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, an old UH-1H Huey helicopter flew three missions to deliver cargo without a pilot on the controls and with two infantrymen providing minimal instructions from a small hand-held tablet and a laptop.
The helicopter was fitted with onboard LIDAR and camera sensors that enabled it to detect and avoid obstacles and evaluate the landing zone, Aurora said. Unlike standard unmanned aircraft operations, in which a ground operator provides detailed flight directions to the aircraft, Aurora’s system...
