Amazing stuff! There was something buzzing over my head yesterday! Just kidding!
"By exploiting the quirks of human vision, Northwestern University engineers have designed a drone that nearly disappears right before the eyes.
For years, researchers have tried to design invisible drones and robots using camouflage, transparent materials or light-bending optical systems. But the Northwestern team instead used a concept called “motion blur” — the same effect that makes fast-spinning fans and propellers seem to disappear.
Called the “Phantom Twist,” the drone spins up to 25 times per second, which is too fast for the human eye to see clearly. While it isn’t completely invisible, it morphs into a ghostly smudge that seamlessly blends into the background. The work eventually could lead to drones that monitor wildlife, survey the environment and inspect infrastructure with less visual disruption. ..."
From the abstract:
"We introduce Phantom Twist, a type of single-propeller UAV designed to achieve low visibility through high-speed spinning and the exploitation of motion blur.
We develop a two-stage automated design pipeline that optimizes the placement of functional components including batteries, control PCB, motor-propeller assembly, and counterweights. The pipeline minimizes visibility as measured by a human-aligned perceptual metric (LPIPS) while strictly satisfying inertial and aerodynamic constraints required for stable flight.
We validate this approach through fabrication and flight testing of multiple prototypes. These tests confirm that our pipeline produces stable, controllable designs and that the optimized UAV exhibits significantly reduced visual perceptibility compared to conventional quadcopters."
New spinning drone hides in plain sight (original news release)
Computational Design of a Low-Visibility UAV Using a Human-Aligned Perceptual Metric (conference oral presentation paper)
Phantom Twist’s spinning flight makes it nearly transparent
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