SONY VTOL DRONE MAKES “AERO-SENSE”

Sony-Backed Aerosense Offers Drone That Can Takeoff Like a Chopper But Fly Like a Plane

Sony’s collaboration with Tokyo-based ZMP Inc. via drone company Aerosense looks to be bearing fruit as it releases a video of its VTOL drone that takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane.The US military has spent billions on research into providing its newest line of fighter aircraft with Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) capabilities, but something tells us this Japanese venture didn’t have to dig so deep. Aerosense’s drone is powered by a pair of counter-rotating propellers located to the rear of the craft that offers it the combined strengths of planes and helicopters.

The drone has a reported payload of 22 pounds (10 kilos), a top speed of 106 mph (171 km/h), and an estimated flight time of two hours. It could be used to inspect industrial sites, such as gas and oil pipelines.