Now you need to use your imagination but here is a totally different application of applied technology. First read what this is designed for and then use your imagination to think of other applications.
We are talking about the Dragon or “Dual-rotor embedded multilink Robot with the Ability of multi-deGree-of-freedom aerial transformation.” It’s a modular flying robot powered by ducted fans that can transform itself when in flight, from a square to a rope to anything in between, allowing it to stretch out to pass through small holes.
There are a number of application where space is limited and there would be advantages to being able to act like a squid does when it gets itself through holes that do not look possible.
One solution is to make very small drones that can fly into small spaces but they lack functionality. Sometimes being able to “see” something works but sometimes you want it to “do” something or “bring” something which tiny drones are not well suited for.
Another solution is to put drones in cages that protect them (think Flyability), but that is not really for small space but rather confined space that are hard to get around in. Useful but not for every application.
“At JSK Lab at the University of Tokyo, roboticists have developed DRAGON. DRAGON is made of a series of linked modules, each of which consists of a pair of ducted fan thrusters that can be actuated in roll and pitch to vector thrust in just about any direction you need. The modules are connected to one another with a powered hinged joint, and the whole robot is driven by an Intel Euclid and powered by a battery pack (providing 3 minutes of flight time, which is honestly more than I would have thought), mounted along the robot’s spine. This particular prototype is made up of four modules, allowing it to behave sort of like a quadrotor, even though I suppose technically it’s an octorotor”.
Now, that is very cool, but watch this fly and tell me that it would not be the making of a great dragon in Game of Thrones, or next Jurassic Park as a supplement to CGI?
Originally material was found at IEEE Spectrum