The US Air Force Research Laboratory conducted the first flight tests of the ROBOpilot system, with which light aircraft can be quickly converted to unmanned aerial vehicles.

According to N + 1, a system that can be quickly dismantled is installed in the cockpit for seat mounts. It includes many actuators that are connected to the controls, including the helm of the aircraft. To read instrument readings, the system uses several cameras with machine vision, it also has a GPS receiver and an inertial measuring unit. Other details about the system were not disclosed, but, according to the developers, ROBOpilot provides autonomous take-off, flight and landing of the aircraft.

Tests of the system installed on the Cessna 206 light aircraft took place in early August in Utah. In total, the aircraft was in the air for two hours, and then landed. Judging by the video published on YouTube, the landing was not very accurate, but the plane did not receive visible damage.

hitech.newsru.com