Engineers develop single-wing twirling drone.

• Position: TECHWIRE

Lockheed Martin Corp, engineers have unveiled a tiny aerial drone that spins like a falling maple seed.

The New Jersey-based developers say the autonomous, single-wing aircraft, called the Samurai, is envisioned as a family of palm-sized unmanned aerial vehicles that can hover, as well as take off and land vertically.

The team's Samurai demonstrator weighs 600 grams and is about 100 centimeters long. At one end of the wing is a disc containing the vehicle's avionics and electronics, including software that controls the aircraft's flight via a flap on the wing.

"It's the first single-wing UAV to demonstrate full autonomous flight," says Kingsley Fregene, principal investigator on the project.

The prototype spins around a wooden peg on the ground that launches it into the air. It flies to pre-programmed waypoints and then lands on the ground. Powered by an electric motor, the aircraft rotates 300 times per minute and can carry a payload of 300 grams.

"When it's spinning, it's stable in the air, unlike a conventional helicopter, which is inherently unstable when it's hovering,"...