Helicopters are a useful tool
for search and rescue, but they have their limitations. But DARPA and
the University of Georgia are working on fixing that. First up, landing gear; the helicopters of the future will be getting a substantial infusion of robots.
Robocopter
The issue at hand is, essentially, you can’t land a helicopter on
anything other than a perfectly flat surface. It’s impossible for a
number of reasons, not the least of which is that even the slightest
jostle close to land can slam it right into the ground. That’s horribly
unsafe, to say the least, and part of the reason is the landing skids,
long, straight poles that are more or less useless in this situation. So
the University of Georgia and DARPA built robotic legs for helicopters
that allow them to settle on slopes of up to twenty degrees, on rocky
terrain, boulder-strewn messes, and other problematic turf. The legs
feel out the turf underneath the helicopter and put it on an even
footing with the ground. Even better, it will allow helicopters to land
in rougher weather and reduce the overall stress on the airframe, which
is a good thing when you have a vehicle whose main method of floating
has a part called the Jesus bolt. As in, if it fails, you’re meeting
Jesus.Also, it’ll be easy to add to helicopters, as it won’t add much weight
to the vehicle. Which, again, is kind of important with extremely light
aircraft. This is still be tested with full-sized craft; they’re still
using smaller drones and other helicopters. But as it’s scaled up, it’ll be useful for a whole multitude of helicopters, and make things safer.
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