DIY flight simulator motion rig
Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation (and Maker Faire Kansas City fame) designed and built this Moving Axis AirCraft Simulator, which is a flight simulator that tilts and shifts you as you fly a virtual plane.
Flying
Octothopter!
How many props is too many? Can haz hexadecacopter? [Via Frankie!]
Ben Adase’s Hovercraft build (Make: Projects)
Obviously, being a wiki, and a project platform for the entire MAKE community, anybody can submit a project to Make: Projects, even kids. Here, ten year old Ben Adase has created a post for his hovercraft build — the leaf blower, plywood, and plastic-sheet variety. I love that he used simple MS Paint illustrations for […]
Homemade Spacecraft
The latest high altitude weather balloon video making the rounds is from the father and son team of Luke and Max Geisshuhler of Brooklyn, NY. Their setup included a 19-inch helium balloon with a payload consisting of a camcorder, GPS enabled phone, and a couple of hand warmers inside a styrofoam container.
Robotic swarm over Switzerland
Subscriber RocketGuy tipped us off to this EPFL School of Engineering project involving a fleet of swarming flying robots. Using an ant-inspired swarming algorithm running on a Linux SBC, this network of swarming micro air vehicles is purportedly the largest of its kind.
Centuries of cranks vindicated by human-powered ornithopter flight
Although the Snowbird, made of carbon fiber and balsa wood and with a 105-foot wingspan, could hardly be described as “practical,” to me this seems like a major aviation milestone: Somebody, specifically University of Toronto PhD student Todd Reichert and co-workers, finally did it. All those old black and white “wacky inventor” blooper reels set to goofy music can eat it. [via Toronto Star]
