Squirrel-Like Drone Design by The US Military

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The US military is relentlessly working on new drone technology developments. These efforts include new types of drones like autonomous boats and small swarming UAVs as well as ways to combat drones i.e frying them with microwaves, guided bullets and hacking.

Right now, the Army is working on a small, lightweight drone that can take on a number of tasks depending on what’s needed in a given situation. The drone slightly resembles a flying squirrel. It’s small, weighing just over 200 grams, and its rotors can tilt themselves, giving the UAV plenty of flexibility in how it moves around. The design goal is to create a drone that can easily integrate with soldiers in the field and have multiple uses.

“You’re not going to know ahead of time what you need that vehicle to do. You might need It to go over the next hill, see what’s there. It might just need to follow above you to kind of give you some scouting,” Steve Nogar, a researcher working on the project, told engadget.com. Another ability that the small drone possesses to perch. The developers want to give the UAV the ability to land on various objects in its surroundings, which will require it to sense the environment, very quickly. That level of design will need to integrate things like AI and fast perception, challenging given the stripped down design of the lightweight drone, which has just one camera.

Nogar and others are continuing to hone the drone’s abilities at the US Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.