Mike Hanlon Hirobo unveils HX-1 unmanned electric helicopter， and promises a manned model

The HX-1 Rescue Helicopter （Photo： Mike Hanlon/Gizmag）

Image Gallery （12 images）

The Hirobo stand at the International Robotics Exhibition in Tokyo this week was full of surprises. The first was the appearance of the HX-1 unmanned electric helicopter， due to go into production before the end of the year， but an even bigger surprise was in store when you opened the brochure – details of the company‘s planned personal （manned） BIT electric micro helicopter.

Hiroshima-based Hirobo is a company best known for its radio-controlled scale helicopters， which sit at the high end of the marketplace. A Hirobo Eagle 3 EP won the 2013 F3C World Championships held in Poland this July， and the company has been producing scale models for 40 years.

In recent years it has been producing not just a wide range of scaled models with glow plug powerplants， but increasingly a range of electric models， and has developed a range of sophisticated control technologies which have now moved into the autonomous realm.

The company’s compact IMU-05 attitude sensor is one such technology that has been developed to enable autonomous flight， and offers the company a serious competitive advantage in that area. The IMU-05 collects a wide range of information such as attitude angle， acceleration， angular rate and magnetic direction， and enables the helicopter to be remarkably stable in blustery winds – it is a key enabling technology of autonomous flight for helicopters.

Hirobo‘s first autonomous helicopter will be the HX-1， and the first guise in which we will see it is as a medical emergency and rescue vehicle. The HX-1 will sell for JPY 8，000，000 （approx US$80，000） complete with a spare battery set and the full medical kit.

The fully autonomous helicopter can be configured for many purposes including aerial photography， search and rescue， surveying and the transport of medical supplies， organs or blood， in order to save lives.

The HX-1 has an auto-return function for emergencies and employs coaxial counter-rotating blades and a brushless electric motor as its power source. It can fly for half an hour and has a range of around 30 miles （48 km） at its top speed of 62 mph （100 km/h）。

Hirobo expects the affordability of the HX-1 to make it possible for smaller organizations （that can’t afford a manned helicopter） to purchase their own transport helicopter.

Even more surprising than the sophistication of the HX-1 demonstrated in the videos being shown was the appearance in the HX-1 brochure of the BIT – an all-composite， all-electric， single-person micro helicopter.

Last year the BIT was shown for the first time at the Japan Aerospace show， but was not expected to be ready for market until 2020. It seems that time scale has been shortened considerably – we were told the BIT would be ready for market in 2016， and a lack of regulations by the United States Federal Aviation Authority would be the inhibiting factor as to the BIT‘s availability at market.

Various prices have been mentioned for the BIT in different publications， but Takahiro Koboyashi， Hirobo’s Overseas Group Sales Manager， suggested it would sell for approximately three times the price of the HX-1 – approximately US$240，000.

自動(dòng)翻譯僅供參考

Hirobo推出HX-1無人駕駛電動(dòng)直升飛機(jī)，承諾開發(fā)有人駕駛版機(jī)型 hirobo推出HX-1型無人駕駛電動(dòng)直升機(jī)，并承諾載人model

的HX-1型救援直升機(jī)（攝影：邁克漢隆/ Gizmag）

圖像畫廊（12張）

本該站在本周在東京國(guó)際機(jī)器人展是充滿驚喜的。首先是對(duì)HX-1無人電動(dòng)直升機(jī)的出現(xiàn)，由于今年年底前投產(chǎn)，但一個(gè)更大的驚喜當(dāng)你開公司的計(jì)劃個(gè)人的小冊(cè)子–細(xì)節(jié)（載人）位電動(dòng)微型直升機(jī)。

廣島的該公司是一家聞名的無線電控制直升機(jī)的規(guī)模，坐在市場(chǎng)的高端。一個(gè)該?dān)? EP 2013 F3C世界錦標(biāo)賽贏得了今年七月在波蘭舉行，該公司40年來一直在生產(chǎn)規(guī)模模型。

近年來它已經(jīng)不只是一個(gè)火花塞廠生產(chǎn)范圍廣泛的比例模型，但越來越多的一系列電動(dòng)車型，并已開發(fā)出一系列現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)進(jìn)入自治領(lǐng)域先進(jìn)的控制技術(shù)。

公司緊湊imu-05姿態(tài)傳感器就是這樣一種技術(shù)，已經(jīng)發(fā)展到能夠自主飛行，并提供公司在那個(gè)地區(qū)的一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)優(yōu)勢(shì)。的imu-05收集廣泛的信息姿態(tài)角、角速度和加速度等，磁場(chǎng)方向，使直升機(jī)是非常穩(wěn)定，在大風(fēng)–是關(guān)鍵使能技術(shù)的直升機(jī)自主飛行。

該第一自治直升機(jī)將HX-1型，和第一的幌子，我們會(huì)看到它作為一個(gè)醫(yī)療急救和救援車輛。的HX-1型要賣8000000日元（約80000美元）完成一個(gè)備用電池組和充分的醫(yī)療工具。

完全自主直升機(jī)可用于許多目的，包括航空攝影、搜救、調(diào)查和醫(yī)療用品運(yùn)輸、器官或血液，以挽救生命。

的HX-1型具有自動(dòng)返回功能的緊急情況和采用同軸反向旋轉(zhuǎn)的葉片和無刷電機(jī)作為動(dòng)力源。它可以飛了半個(gè)小時(shí)，射程約30英里（48公里）的時(shí)速62英里每小時(shí)（100公里/小時(shí)）。

該預(yù)期承受能力的HX-1使得規(guī)模較小的組織（即不能載人直升機(jī)）到購(gòu)買自己的運(yùn)輸直升機(jī)。

更奇怪的比成熟的HX-1型表現(xiàn)在視頻顯示的外觀在HX-1型小冊(cè)子的位–全復(fù)合材料、全電動(dòng)的單人微型直升機(jī)。

去年位是第一次在日本航空展，但預(yù)計(jì)不會(huì)準(zhǔn)備好市場(chǎng)到2020。似乎時(shí)間已大為縮短–我們被告知點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)備市場(chǎng)的2016，并由美國(guó)聯(lián)邦航空局缺乏法規(guī)會(huì)抑制因子對(duì)點(diǎn)的可用性在市場(chǎng)。

各種價(jià)格一直提到的點(diǎn)在不同的刊物，但目前koboyashi，該集團(tuán)的海外銷售經(jīng)理，建議將出售的價(jià)格的–HX-1型約240000美元約三倍。