That's a funny-looking bird!

Monday, October 6, 2014

In the farming future, the unmanned aerial vehicle monitoring the chlorophyll levels in your crops or precision-spraying your fertilizer may never come down to earth. Joseph Moore, a PhD candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is working on a drone that can recharge its batteries by perching on power lines.

A magnetometer installed inside the drone would be able to detect magnetic fields given off by power lines. The drone could then land on the line and power up through inductive charging. Moore modelled the prototype's perching on the landing movements of birds.

He gave Business Insider a demonstration of the technology using a model glider and, while the glider did not actually perch, it was able to come "within centimetres" of a mock power line.

This technology could eliminate one of the most impractical aspects of unmanned aerial vehicles – their low battery life, currently only 10 to 30 minutes according to Gizmag.com. BF