This disclosure describes an aerial vehicle, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”), which includes a plurality of maneuverability propulsion mechanisms that enable the aerial vehicle to move in any of the six degrees of freedom (surge, sway, heave, pitch, yaw, and roll). The aerial vehicle may also include a lifting propulsion mechanism that operates to generate a force sufficient to maintain the aerial vehicle at an altitude.

[Problem] To provide a flying body having a new structure capable of improving flight efficiency. [Solution] The problem is addressed by a flying body capable of traveling along at least a first direction and comprising an airframe part and an auxiliary part wherein the airframe part has a body part and a lift generating part, the body part having a right part and a left part extending along the first direction and a connecting part whereby the ends of the right part and the left part in a second direction opposing to the first direction are connected. The flying body is thus configured so as to create a surrounded space surrounded by the left part, the right part, and the connecting part when seen from a third direction perpendicular to the first direction.

The present disclosure pertains to a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Aspects of the present disclosure provide a UAV that includes at least four arms, each configured with a co-axial pair of contra rotating propellers, wherein each propeller has capability of rotating reversibly with associated reversal of direction of thrust, and an autopilot control system that controls rotational direction and speed of the at least four co-axial pairs of propellers to maintain yaw stability, roll stability and pitch stability of the UAV, wherein in an event of failure of any one co-axial pair out of the at least four co-axial pairs of propellers, the autopilot control system reverses direction of rotation and thereby direction of thrust of at least one propeller of any functional pair.

Autonomous unmanned vehicles (UVs) for responding to situations are described. Embodiments include UVs that launch upon detection of a situation, operate in the area of the situation, and collect and send information about the situation. The UVs may launch from a vehicle involved in the situation, a vehicle responding to the situation, or from a fixed station. In other embodiments, the UVs also provide communications relays to the situation and may facilitate access to the situation by responders. The UVs further may act as decoupled sensors for vehicles. In still other embodiments, the collected information may be used to recreate the situation as it happened.

Stability of an unmanned aerial vehicle is sought by using a flight controller of an unmanned aerial vehicle control system for controlling flying by an unmanned aerial vehicle based on an instruction from a first operator. A determiner is used to determine whether a second operator visually recognizes the unmanned aerial vehicle based on a predetermined determination method. A switcher is used to switch, based on a result of the determination obtained by the determiner, from a first state, in which the unmanned aerial vehicle flies in accordance with an instruction from the first operator, to a second state, in which the unmanned aerial vehicle flies in accordance with an instruction from the second operator.

A device and method for remotely controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle based on reinforcement learning are disclosed. An embodiment provides a device for remotely controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle based on reinforcement learning, where the device includes a processor and a memory connected to the processor, and the memory includes program instructions that can be executed by the processor to determine an inclination direction corresponding to the hand pose of a user, the movement direction of the hand, and the angle in the inclination direction based on sensing data associated with the pose of the hand or the movement of the hand acquired by way of at least one sensor, and determine one of a movement direction, a movement speed, a mode change, a figural trajectory, and a scale of the figural trajectory of the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the determined inclination direction, movement direction, and angle.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) includes a body that supports one or more rotors, the one or more rotors each driven by a motor and configured to provide lift to the body. The UAV further includes a parts handler coupled to the body, the parts handler configured to grasp a payload, and rotate the payload with respect to an external structure to couple the payload to, or decouple the payload from, the external structure. The UAV includes a stabilizing mechanism extending from the body, the stabilizing mechanism configured to contact the external structure without transferring entire weight of the UAV to the external structure and prevent rotation of the body when the part-handler rotates the payload.

A navigation light system for an unmanned aerial vehicle, such as a multicopter type unmanned aerial vehicle, includes: a plurality of light emission units. E of the plurality of light emission units has a unit-specific light emission direction and is configured to provide a light output around the unit-specific light emission direction. Each of the plurality of light emission units includes a multi-color light source capable of emitting red light, green light, and white light. The plurality of light emission units are arranged to jointly provide a navigation light pattern around the unmanned aerial vehicle and wherein the light outputs of adjacent light emission units have an overlap the navigation light system is configured to operate each of the plurality of light emission units depending on a relation between a momentary flight direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the respective unit-specific light emission direction.

Presently disclosed subject matter integrates a method of using thousands of semi-autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, herein called drones, to deliver vastly superior amounts of fire retardant over substantially larger and variably-shaped drop patterns. Each drone is able to swap its own batteries with freshly charged batteries and each drone is able to refill its container with water or fire retardant. Once launched, a swarm of drones can perform repeated trips from the water/retardant source to the fire without human involvement other than the high-level tasking of where to drop the retardant. Once a general drop destination and drop pattern shape is designated, the swarm can transport retardant to that location, form itself into the desired drop shape, and deploy retardant. The drone body is designed to be modular so different components can be attached with ease and no special training or knowledge required.

A rotary wing vehicle includes a body structure having an elongated tubular backbone or core, and a counter-rotating coaxial rotor system having rotors with each rotor having a separate motor to drive the rotors about a common rotor axis of rotation. The rotor system is used to move the rotary wing vehicle in directional flight.