Does it look like a falling leaf? Not really, it’s a camera!
New technologies are constantly taking inspiration from nature and its shapes when developing new solutions, especially in the surveillance field, and in particular in video surveillance. One of the latest examples shows as a result a tiny flying video camera shaped like a samara, or maple leaf, informally nicknamed “helicopters” because of the way they fall to the ground, rotating just like the rotors of a miniature helicopter.
Engineering students from the Maryland-based Clark School have created a miniature camera, mounted on an equally small helicopter, shaped just like a maple leaf, and stabilized through the use of a miniature motorized rotor and a small tail.
In a few words, this small tail, shaped like a comma, works just like the tail rotor of an helicopter, with a difference: while a tail rotor prevents the helicopter from spinning around itself, the tail of this micro helicopter is designed to keep it spinning, maintaining a constant rotation and generating a push.
Thanks to its engine with its small size, it is possible to launch several micro cameras, for example from a plane, and control them remotely. On the leaf’s body, a miniature needle camera is installed, which thanks to a wireless transmitter can send images to a remote receiving station, and is suitable for being used in surveillance operations, or for example to gather aerial images in war zones or during covert military or civilian espionage actions.
