Hard Lessons Learned While Building A Solar RC Plane

Although not the first to try and build a DIY solar-powered remote control airplane, [ProjectAir]’s recent attempt is the most significant one in recent memory. It follows [rctestflight]&#821…

No Frills Autonomous Lawnmower Gets The Job Done

[Nathan] needed an autonomous mower to help on the farm, so he built his own without breaking the bank. It might not be the prettiest machine, but it’s been keeping his roads, fences and yard…

High-Speed RC Car Needs A Flight Controller

The fastest ground vehicles on earth are not driven by their wheels but by an aircraft jet engine. At world record speeds, they run on an aerodynamic razor’s edge between downforce, which lim…

Solar Plane Might Be Able To Last Through The Night

“Just add solar panels to the wings” is a popular suggestion for improving the flight times of fixed-wing drones. However, the reality is not so simple, and it’s easy to hurt rath…

The Unique Challenges Of Aerial Robotics

When we think of robotics, the first thing that usually comes to mind for many of us is some sort of industrial arm that’s bolted to the floor, or perhaps a semi-autonomous rover trudging its…

Autonomous Inflatable Canoe

With the summer months nearly upon us, many are dreaming of warm afternoons spent floating on a quiet lake. Unless you’re [Kolins] anyway. Apparently his idea of a good time is controlling a …

Hydrofoils Love This One Simple Trick

Earlier in the year, [rctestflight] created an active hydrofoil RC craft but found the actual performance very lacking. Luckily for him and for us, he continued to tweak it and one tweak suddenly t…

Autonomous Ground Effect Vehicle Demonstrator Aims To Speed Up Maritime Shipping

Ground effect vehicles, or ekranoplans, have the advantage of being more efficient than normal aircraft and faster than boats, but so far haven’t been developed beyond experimental prototypes…

Solar Powered Autonomous Tugboat For Rescuing Autonomous Vessels

[rctestflight] has built several autonomous boats, and with missions becoming longer and more challenging, he bought an inflatable kayak to serve as a dedicated rescue vessel. Instead of relying on…

Eliminate Vertical Stabiliser With ArduPlane

Flying wings are popular options for fixed-wing FPV flying, but they have one rather annoying characteristic: yaw wag. The flying wing will wobble on the yaw axis while flying, and this side-to-sid…

Ground Effect Drone Flies Autonomously

There are a number of famous (yet fictional) sea monsters in the lakes and oceans around the world, but in the Caspian Sea one turned out to be real. This is where the first vehicles specifically b…

RC Ekranoplan Uses LIDAR To Fly In Ground Effect

Ekranoplans are a curious class of vehicle; most well known for several Soviet craft designed to operate at sea, flying just above the waves in ground effect. [rctestflight] had accidentally come a…