The idea behind Lockheed's new Samurai drone is to mimic the motion of the helicopterish maple seeds we amused ourselves with as kids to create a simple flying mechanism. The stripped down design lets the drone operate with just two moving parts, and come in at about a foot long. It's a prototype for now, but when it makes it to the field it'll be operated by remote control, and will be carried into the field in a lightweight backpack.
Science fiction fans may be reminded of devices like
Small Town Wants 60 License Plate Readers
'the registration number which the traffic control automatically photographed as she left the controlway...' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
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Liberty Lifter X-Plane From DARPA
'...the tremendous speed that the Jupiter was turning up under the thrust of her twenty-four screws whirling on the shafts of twelve powerful motors.'