Mike HanlonNovember 7, 2013Hirobo unveils HX-1 unmanned electric helicopter, and promises a manned model

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

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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.

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Hirobo推出HX-1无人驾驶电动直升飞机，承诺开发有人驾驶版机型

hirobo推出HX-1型无人驾驶电动直升机，并承诺载人model

的HX-1型救援直升机（摄影：迈克汉隆/ Gizmag）

图像画廊（12张）
本该站在本周在东京国际机器人展是充满惊喜的。首先是对HX-1无人电动直升机的出现，由于今年年底前投产，但一个更大的惊喜当你开公司的计划个人的小册子–细节（载人）位电动微型直升机。

广岛的该公司是一家闻名的无线电控制直升机的规模，坐在市场的高端。一个该鹰3 EP 2013 F3C世界锦标赛赢得了今年七月在波兰举行，该公司40年来一直在生产规模模型。

近年来它已经不只是一个火花塞厂生产范围广泛的比例模型，但越来越多的一系列电动车型，并已开发出一系列现在已经进入自治领域先进的控制技术。

公司紧凑imu-05姿态传感器就是这样一种技术，已经发展到能够自主飞行，并提供公司在那个地区的一个严重的竞争优势。的imu-05收集广泛的信息姿态角、角速度和加速度等，磁场方向，使直升机是非常稳定，在大风–是关键使能技术的直升机自主飞行。

该第一自治直升机将HX-1型，和第一的幌子，我们会看到它作为一个医疗急救和救援车辆。的HX-1型要卖8000000日元（约80000美元）完成一个备用电池组和充分的医疗工具。

完全自主直升机可用于许多目的，包括航空摄影、搜救、调查和医疗用品运输、器官或血液，以挽救生命。

的HX-1型具有自动返回功能的紧急情况和采用同轴反向旋转的叶片和无刷电机作为动力源。它可以飞了半个小时，射程约30英里（48公里）的时速62英里每小时（100公里/小时）。

该预期承受能力的HX-1使得规模较小的组织（即不能载人直升机）到购买自己的运输直升机。

更奇怪的比成熟的HX-1型表现在视频显示的外观在HX-1型小册子的位–全复合材料、全电动的单人微型直升机。

去年位是第一次在日本航空展，但预计不会准备好市场到2020。似乎时间已大为缩短–我们被告知点准备市场的2016，并由美国联邦航空局缺乏法规会抑制因子对点的可用性在市场。

各种价格一直提到的点在不同的刊物，但目前koboyashi，该集团的海外销售经理，建议将出售的价格的–HX-1型约240000美元约三倍。

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