It can drive on rough terrain and take to the skies when needed

May 27, 2013 07:54 GMT  ·  By

Quadrocopters, otherwise known as quadrotors, have been showing up more or less periodically, but they were mostly the same ones in different situations. Interesting but hardly new.

Now, though, someone else has taken the concept and resolved to push it further than it has ever been pushed before.

Witold Mielniczek is a PhD student who posted, on project hosting website Kickstarter, his project called "B."

The "B" is, to make a long story short, a remote-controlled car with very large wheels. Wheels that have propellers acting as rungs.

In other words, it is a car that can turn into a quadrocopter at will, and vice versa.

The large wheels bring another advantage: the ability to navigate rough terrain.

For those who want to know exactly what "B" can do, it can move between driving and flying positions easily, take off vertically, and land the same way.

The durable construction allows it to handle the aforementioned rough terrain and, presumably, drops from high up.

Sure, the battery can manage a few good minutes of driving or flying, but people may lose track of time while playing with it, failing to land it before the 15-minute mark (that's how long a charge lasts).

It doesn't help that the "B" has an on-board camera. Sure, snapping images and recording video in 1280 x 720 pixels resolution can be useful, but it's an added drain on the power source.

Then again, machines and robots usually eat lots of energy anyway, so we can't really deduct any points for this.

Witold Mielniczek needs £86,500 / $130,000 / €101,000 in order to get his invention off the ground.

If it gets sufficient donations, he may be able to ship the first ones by December. A minimum pledge of £125 / $189 / €146 will earn donors a self-assemble kit of the quadrocopter-car.

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The "B"
The "B"
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