After yesterday’s fish blimp piqued my interest in quiet flying robots, I stumbled across this teleoperated blimp with a stereo vision system. Called YARB (Yet Another Robotic Blimp), the blimp is controlled remotely from another computer via a wireless connection and onboard firmware.
The project is made by Surveyor, the company that created and sells an open-hardware, free-software stereo vision system, which basically bundles the two cameras, a wireless connection, servo controllers, and a uclinux-based embedded server all into a single package.
The device looks to be just what you’d want in an out-of-box airborne telepresence system, but it’ll set you back about $550. For comparison, and in case you’ve ever wondered, it takes about 840 kw hours or approximately $50 worth of electricity to produce enough hydrogen to lift your own butt off the ground. While this may not put things in perspective, it sure is an awesomely random fact that you can unleash next time you find yourself talking about blimps in a party conversation.
YARB (Yet Another Robotic Blimp)
Surveyor Stereo Vision System
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