DARPA-funded V-Bat drone will be flying over the United States in the near future + Future Drone Can Snatch You Up Like an Eagle

Madison Ruppert: The V-Bat drone, funded by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), could very well be flying over the United States soon due relatively low asking price and features which some of the many domestic drone operators would likely find quite appealing.

While the drone is far from typical, it is still not all that astounding given the reality of deadly miniature drones, tiny helicopter drones used for surveillance, drones capable of perpetual flight, silent drones, solar powered drones or drones equipped with unbelievably powerful cameras, automatic tracking, facial recognition, EMP missiles, fully automated weapons systems and more.

This particular drone will be available for only $350,000, according to Slate, which would likely make it attractive to the countless entities already allowed by the FAA to fly drones in the United States.

“Kitted out with high-res cameras and laser sensors, the drone is designed to be used for everything from urban surveillance to wildlife monitoring,” according to Slate.

The V-Bat, sold by MLB Company, is capable of vertical takeoff and hovering, flying like a normal drone up to 15,000 feet high and flying at 90 knots for up to 10 hours.

Even more notable, however, is the fact that the V-Bat is capable of “precision autonomous delivery and placement of payload.”

The drone has a claw-like device attached to a 6-foot extendable arm enabling the drone to pick items up and drop them off at a pre-programmed location.

The V-Bat is actually capable of running entirely pre-programmed missions via GPS navigation and the DARPA version can even search for objects on the ground.

When DARPA discussed the V-Bat in a press release last year, they said it “paves the way for precise long-range delivery of small payloads into difficult-to-reach environments.”

CEO and Founder of MLB Company Dr. Stephen Morris has praised his company’s drone calling it “ideal for shipboard operations, aerial patrol, payload pick-up and delivery or any application that requires access to hard-to-reach or dangerous locations.”

Will this be used in the United States itself? Based on the rapid expansion of domestic drone use and the relatively low price tag on the V-Bat, it seems hard to say no.

A 2011 test flight of one of the initial version of the V-Bat can be seen below:

The final demonstration video uploaded in late November of 2012 can also be seen below: 

Source

AJ: Drexel University's Christopher Korpela is simultaneously developing flight stability software for drones with arms that would enable the UAV's to carry a weighty object without them falling out of the air. The eventual purpose of the drones would be focused around "interacting with people or the environment,"
although that is still a long way off according to Korpela.

Technology journalist Adario Strange envisages a future scenario where a larger version of the eagle claw drone could be used by law enforcement or military to pluck humans off the ground. Source