Israeli company Urban Aeronautics completed a test flight for a robotic autonomous flying air ambulance.

Urban Aeronautics has announced that its Cormorant Unmanned Air vehicle (UAV) prototype has performed its first autonomous pattern flight including low flight over uneven terrain.

Urban Aeronautics AirMule, formerly Air Mule or Mule, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) codename Pereira (shapiyriyt; שפירית‎ Shafririt )(Dragonfly), is an unmanned flying car UAS designed by Rafi Yoeli and built by Tactical Robotics LTD., a subsidiary of Urban Aeronautics LTD. in Yavne, Israel.

It will be used in search and rescue operations where it would be too dangerous or inaccessible for a helicopter, such as evacuating people from the upper stories of burning buildings, or delivering and extracting police and soldiers while very close to structures, narrow streets, and or through holes into confined spaces.

 

While pattern flights are routine for conventional fixed wing aircraft and rotorcraft, it is a significant milestone in the evolution of an entirely new family of Urban’s proprietary technology aircraft known as fancraft. Unlike other (manned and unmanned) aircraft, the Cormorant’s autopilot relies primarily on inertial and ground reference, which is more complex than flying through open, unobstructed airspace. This event begins to demonstrate the Cormorant’s capability to operate close to the ground and inside obstructed terrain.

The one-ton model features shrouded rear propellers for horizontal thrust and includes rubberized landing wheels with a forward-facing, boxlike compartment for wounded. Powered by a single 730-shp (shaft horsepower) Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 turboshaft engine, the AirMule boasts a top speed of 120 knots (140 mph, 190 km/h) and can reach an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,600 m). The drone can be operated via remote control or programmed for an autonomous route.

Autonomous and unmanned medical UAVs once again demonstrate the idea of “Drones for Good”. In 2014, Alec Momont of the Delft University of Technology in Delft, Netherlands designed an unmanned, autonomous navigating mini-plane that can quickly deliver a defibrillator on the spot where it is needed. According to Momont, a network of such drones could increase the chance of survival after cardiac arrest from 8 percent to 80 percent.