SUTD builds airdropped robot that autorotates to the water and sails on wind power

Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design have built ALBATROSS, a robot dropped from aircraft to monitor remote waters. Two rigid wingsails autorotate like a maple seed to slow its fall, then act as sails once it rights itself, with a fish-tail rudder steering between waypoints. In trials a prototype dropped from 150 metres landed intact and a larger version sailed about three hours on a Singapore reservoir; the work appears in Science Robotics.

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