Mike Hanlon Hirobo unveils HX-1 unmanned electric helicopter， and promises a manned model

The HX-1 Rescue Helicopter （Photo： Mike Hanlon/Gizmag）

Image Gallery （12 images）

The Hirobo stand at the International Robotics Exhibition in Tokyo this week was full of surprises. The first was the appearance of the HX-1 unmanned electric helicopter， due to go into production before the end of the year， but an even bigger surprise was in store when you opened the brochure – details of the company‘s planned personal （manned） BIT electric micro helicopter.

Hiroshima-based Hirobo is a company best known for its radio-controlled scale helicopters， which sit at the high end of the marketplace. A Hirobo Eagle 3 EP won the 2013 F3C World Championships held in Poland this July， and the company has been producing scale models for 40 years.

In recent years it has been producing not just a wide range of scaled models with glow plug powerplants， but increasingly a range of electric models， and has developed a range of sophisticated control technologies which have now moved into the autonomous realm.

The company’s compact IMU-05 attitude sensor is one such technology that has been developed to enable autonomous flight， and offers the company a serious competitive advantage in that area. The IMU-05 collects a wide range of information such as attitude angle， acceleration， angular rate and magnetic direction， and enables the helicopter to be remarkably stable in blustery winds – it is a key enabling technology of autonomous flight for helicopters.

Hirobo‘s first autonomous helicopter will be the HX-1， and the first guise in which we will see it is as a medical emergency and rescue vehicle. The HX-1 will sell for JPY 8，000，000 （approx US$80，000） complete with a spare battery set and the full medical kit.

The fully autonomous helicopter can be configured for many purposes including aerial photography， search and rescue， surveying and the transport of medical supplies， organs or blood， in order to save lives.

The HX-1 has an auto-return function for emergencies and employs coaxial counter-rotating blades and a brushless electric motor as its power source. It can fly for half an hour and has a range of around 30 miles （48 km） at its top speed of 62 mph （100 km/h）。

Hirobo expects the affordability of the HX-1 to make it possible for smaller organizations （that can’t afford a manned helicopter） to purchase their own transport helicopter.

Even more surprising than the sophistication of the HX-1 demonstrated in the videos being shown was the appearance in the HX-1 brochure of the BIT – an all-composite， all-electric， single-person micro helicopter.

Last year the BIT was shown for the first time at the Japan Aerospace show， but was not expected to be ready for market until 2020. It seems that time scale has been shortened considerably – we were told the BIT would be ready for market in 2016， and a lack of regulations by the United States Federal Aviation Authority would be the inhibiting factor as to the BIT‘s availability at market.

Various prices have been mentioned for the BIT in different publications， but Takahiro Koboyashi， Hirobo’s Overseas Group Sales Manager， suggested it would sell for approximately three times the price of the HX-1 – approximately US$240，000.

自動翻譯僅供參考

Hirobo推出HX-1無人駕駛電動直升飛機，承諾開發有人駕駛版機型 hirobo推出HX-1型無人駕駛電動直升機，并承諾載人model

的HX-1型救援直升機（攝影：邁克漢隆/ Gizmag）

圖像畫廊（12張）

本該站在本周在東京國際機器人展是充滿驚喜的。首先是對HX-1無人電動直升機的出現，由于今年年底前投產，但一個更大的驚喜當你開公司的計劃個人的小冊子–細節（載人）位電動微型直升機。

廣島的該公司是一家聞名的無線電控制直升機的規模，坐在市場的高端。一個該鷹3 EP 2013 F3C世界錦標賽贏得了今年七月在波蘭舉行，該公司40年來一直在生產規模模型。

近年來它已經不只是一個火花塞廠生產范圍廣泛的比例模型，但越來越多的一系列電動車型，并已開發出一系列現在已經進入自治領域先進的控制技術。

公司緊湊imu-05姿態傳感器就是這樣一種技術，已經發展到能夠自主飛行，并提供公司在那個地區的一個嚴重的競爭優勢。的imu-05收集廣泛的信息姿態角、角速度和加速度等，磁場方向，使直升機是非常穩定，在大風–是關鍵使能技術的直升機自主飛行。

該第一自治直升機將HX-1型，和第一的幌子，我們會看到它作為一個醫療急救和救援車輛。的HX-1型要賣8000000日元（約80000美元）完成一個備用電池組和充分的醫療工具。

完全自主直升機可用于許多目的，包括航空攝影、搜救、調查和醫療用品運輸、器官或血液，以挽救生命。

的HX-1型具有自動返回功能的緊急情況和采用同軸反向旋轉的葉片和無刷電機作為動力源。它可以飛了半個小時，射程約30英里（48公里）的時速62英里每小時（100公里/小時）。

該預期承受能力的HX-1使得規模較小的組織（即不能載人直升機）到購買自己的運輸直升機。

更奇怪的比成熟的HX-1型表現在視頻顯示的外觀在HX-1型小冊子的位–全復合材料、全電動的單人微型直升機。

去年位是第一次在日本航空展，但預計不會準備好市場到2020。似乎時間已大為縮短–我們被告知點準備市場的2016，并由美國聯邦航空局缺乏法規會抑制因子對點的可用性在市場。

各種價格一直提到的點在不同的刊物，但目前koboyashi，該集團的海外銷售經理，建議將出售的價格的–HX-1型約240000美元約三倍。