I noticed a flurry of videos recently showing test flights of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. The three vehicles spotlighted below have sizable wings to enable longer range flights compared to eVTOL models intended for intra-city hops. Note that “longer” refers to a 100-250 km range. So they are applicable to inter-city transport only for relatively nearby cities.

I’ve followed eVTOL development here for many years. With a number of companies well into the certification process in the US and Europe, it now seems safe to say that there will be commercial flights underway by 2025. So the next great hurdle will be proving that eVTOLS, handicapped by the performance limitations of current battery technologies, can find sustainable markets for passenger services and private ownership.

Advantages include very low maintenance and energy costs compared to conventional aircraft. Small foot-print “vertiports” close to passengers’ final destinations will be attractive, assuming regulatory hurdles and NIMBY resistance can be overcome. Note that the eVTOL companies claim the noise from their vehicles is far less than the racket produced by helicopters.

** Phoenix 2 (5th Generation all-electric Technology Demonstrator) – Lilium

Watch as Phoenix 2, our 5th Generation all-electric Technology Demonstrator plane, achieves main wing transition – the first time a full-size electric jet aircraft has ever made the transition from hover to wing-borne flight. Although a landmark moment for electric aviation, it’s only one small step for Lilium towards achieving our mission to transform regional air mobility. Next steps are to continue the Flight Test campaign and expand the flight envelope further, including transition of the forward canards and high-speed flights. We look forward to sharing more progress soon.

Capabilities:

• Pilot + 6 passengers
• 250 km range
• 300km/h max speed

More at

• Lilium Achieves Main Wing Transition – Lilium
• Lilium’s Battery Strategy: Performance at Scale – Lilium

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** VoloConnect –  Volocopter

We’re excited to unveil the premiere video of our VoloConnect prototype flight. Within just 17 months, this fixed-wing, 100% electric aircraft was built by our team to take to the skies and kickoff its prototype test phase. This short video encompasses the “first hop” and the first tests Volocopter’s done with this electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. As the name implies, VoloConnect can both take off and land vertically as well as show efficient forward flight with its design. At Volocopter, we’re designing our aircraft to address different “missions” (i.e., mobility purposes). With this in mind, it naturally makes sense to offer a family of aircraft that serve the diverse mobility needs. Differing from our other multicopter eVTOL designs for the VoloCity and VoloDrone, the VoloConnect is a lift-and-cruise design that serves a unique and complementary mission for urban mobility – connecting the city with the suburbs in one swift, smooth, and emission-free flight.

Capabilities:

• 4 seats
• 100 km range
• 250 km/h max speed
• 180 km/h cruise speed

More at

• Volocopter’s 4-Seater Aircraft Takes First Flight – Volocopter
• Volocopter’s four-seat eVTOL air taxi completes first flights – DroneDJ

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** Prosperity I  (Proof of Concept #2) – Autoflight

In the latest design, new optimized lifting propellers allow for a higher hover efficiency, while the two pushing propellors that were previously on either side of the air taxi have been replaced with one center propellor with twin motors to enhance cruising abilities. The latest design of Prosperity I is very close to the final design which will be released later this year.

Capabilities:

• 3 passengers
• 250 km range
• 200 km/h cruising speed
• Certification target date: 2025

More at

• AutoFlight Announces Prosperity I Full Test Flight Video | Autoflight
• AutoFlight releases video of updated Prosperity I eVTOL air taxi – DroneDJ

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** Other eVTOL news:

• Overair gets $145 million funding to develop itsButterfly eVTOL – DroneDJ
  • Overair – All-Electric Aerial Mobility
  • Butterfly – All-Electric Aerial Mobility
    • In design and component testing phase.
    • Prototype testing to start in 2023.
• Partnership of global aviation and airport leaders to accelerate introduction of eVTOL operations in Brazil – Vertical Aerospace (pdf)
  • Vertical Aerospace
  • VX4
    • 1 pilot + 4 passengers
    • 300 km/h max speed
    • 160 km range
    • 2025 certification
• Joby Receives Part 135 Certification from the FAA | Joby
  • Joby Aviation
  • Joby
    • 1 pilot + 4 passengers
    • 321 km/h max speed
    • 240 km range
    • 2024 certification and commercial operations

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A sampling of recent items about new robotic and aviation technologies (previous tech posts):

[ Update Oct.17: Vertical Aerospace in the UK debuts the Seraph eVTOL aircraft:  World first: Vertical Aerospace flies electric air taxi capable of carrying 250kg – Vertical Aerospace

The Seraph was built to test new technologies and systems for integration into our upcoming passenger model, due to be unveiled next year. With the Seraph we became the first company in the world to release flight footage of an eVTOL aircraft capable of carrying 250kg.

The aircraft is capable of carrying loads of up to 250kg and can reach speeds of up to 80kmph. It features a unique passive cooling system, and a customisable design, meaning the aircraft can be made larger or smaller, fitted with wheels or floats to facilitate water landings.

]

** Recent Agile Robotics videos:

** Latest Boston Dynamics videos:

** Lilium is now flying its first prototype electric air taxi: Lilium’s 36-Motor Flying Taxi Takes Off for the First Time – WIRED.

** Purdue team builds robotic hummingbird:

What can fly like a bird and hover like an insect? Your friendly neighborhood hummingbird. If drones had this capability, they would be able to fly steadily through windy conditions, and get into tight spaces other drones couldn’t go. Assistant professor Xinyan Deng and her team have created a bio-inspired hummingbird robot: trained by artificial intelligence, weighing only 12 grams, and utilizing unsteady aerodynamics to hover, just like the real thing.

** The Space Show – Tue, 04/30/2019 – Bruno Mombrinie talked about “the Metro Hop concept and plan for a fixed wing eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) passenger and cargo commercial plane service”.

**  The Space Show – Tue, 06/25/2019 – Dr. Anita Sengupta talked about VTOL urban aerial mobility technology market 7 craft development, technical VTOL issues, VTOL business case and much more”. See also ASX_MobiOne_Specs2019.pdf

** Urban Aero‘s large VTOL Cormorant can do crop dusting:

** Gravity Industries organizing Jet Pack racing  – Real-Life Flying Suit Inventor Richard Browning to Launch Jetpack Racing League in 2019 – The Drive – Sept.10.2018

** Using a wing with the jet pack:

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A selection of items about robotics:

** The SpotMini looks to be Boston Dynamics‘s first major commercial robot. Here is a video released this week:

It only takes 10 Spotpower (SP) to haul a truck across the Boston Dynamics parking lot (~1 degree uphill, truck in neutral). These Spot robots are coming off the production line now and will be available for a range of applications soon.

** Boston Dynamics robots for warehouse work include Handle and Pick:

Handle is a mobile manipulation robot designed for logistics. Handle autonomously performs mixed SKU pallet building and depalletizing after initialization and localizing against the pallets. The on-board vision system on Handle tracks the marked pallets for navigation and finds individual boxes for grasping and placing. When Handle places a boxes onto a pallet, it uses force control to nestle each box up against its neighbors. The boxes used in the video weigh about 5 Kg (11 lbs), but the robot is designed to handle boxes up to (15 Kg) (33 lb). This version of Handle works with pallets that are 1.2 m deep and 1.7 m tall (48 inches deep and 68 inches tall).

Using a combination of vision sensors and deep learning software, Pick works with commercial robotic arms to palletize and depalletize boxes. Pick enables logistics, retail, and manufacturing companies to achieve high rates of box moving with minimal set up or training for both multi-SKU and single-SKU pallets.

** “Evolution of Boston Dynamics Robots“:

** Backflipping MIT Mini Cheetah – Mini cheetah is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip | MIT News

MIT’S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip. At only 20 pounds the limber quadruped can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right side up or upside down. The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast as an average person’s walking speed.

** Cassie: Dynamic Planning on Stairs from Agility Robotics

This video shows the progression of increasingly complex gait strategies from ATRIAS through recent results with Cassie. Specifically, Cassie’s controller now includes planned footstep placements in addition to dynamic balancing, allowing access to substantially more complicated terrains.

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