/ News
AeroVelo's Atlas joins Sikorsky race for human-powered helicopter flight
The efforts of Maryland University's Gamera II team in snaring the US$250,000 Sikorsky Prize for human-powered helicopter flight have garnered much attention (not least from Gizmag) in recent months, and with good reason. But the team is by no means alone in chasing down its sadistic requirements set by the American Helicopter Society in 1980. First tested in August, The Atlas helicopter, by human-powered vehicle specialists AeroVelo, is the latest machine to enter the fray, and has already flown successfully, becoming only the fourth human-powered helicopter to do so.
In fact it was the very same day, August 28, 2012, that Gamera II broke through the crucial 60-second barrier stipulated by the prize (though flights must also achieve an altitude of 3 meters (9.8 ft) while remaining inside a 10-meter (32.8-ft) square) that Atlas took flight for the first time, for a total of "about 4 seconds."
That may be 61 seconds shy of the current benchmark, but AeroVelo, which began life as the University of Toronto's Human-Powered Vehicle Design Team in 2006, is no slouch when it comes to human-powered vehicles. The team not only broke the college land speed record in 2011 with its Vortexstreamlined bicycle (achieving a speed of 72.6 mph/116.9 km/h), but has also seen successful forays into human-powered flight with what it claims is the first working human-powered ornithopter. AeroVelo has reason for optimism, then.
Fundamentally, Atlas is designed upon a very similar principle to Gamera II and its predecessor. They all consist of four twin-blade rotors connected to a lightweight frame, surrounding the pilot who is suspended on a bicycle-like mechanism that powers the vehicle from its center.
The team went through a taxing period of testing between August 21, when Atlas was assembled in its entirety for the first time, and September 4. The testing period was not without teething trouble and hiccups, including a crash on August 29 that damaged the aircraft. The team also realized that the rotor blades had very limited freedom of movement before bracing lines would be clipped, leading to many test flights being aborted at an early stage. The time made design changes to give the rotors more breathing space, while limiting their vertical movement.
It would seem foolish to bet against Gamera II just yet. NPR reports that AeroVelo's Atlas team is a mere eight strong, and has the added frustration of having to disassemble and reassemble the Atlas during every day of testing, due to the limited availability of the indoor soccer field used for test flights. Having said that, human-powered flight is still anything but predictable. We watch with interest.
You can see a video of the first flight of the Atlas below.
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/aerovelos-atlas-joins-sikorsky-race-for-human-powered-helicopter-flight/24561/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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