#SECURITY: "AI Prevents Vertical Takeoff UAV from Self-Terminating"

Pandora, the new vertical-takeoff unmanned areal vehicle (UAV) from Aerovel, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to take over control from operators if they give it commands that would amount to suicide. Since Pandora--which can fly like a plane or hover like a chopper--is unable to "self-terminate" (in the manner of T2) it is expected to survive even when flown by inexperienced operators: R. Colin Johnson



Here is what Aerovel says about Pandora: Aerovel has just released this video (from Aug 11, 2011) of the transition between vertical and horizontal flight by its Flexrotor vertical take-off and landing small unmanned aircraft. The flight included a hover and vertical recovery. Flexrotor has been designed by the same people who developed the Insitu ScanEagle long-endurance small UAV and is designed for fully automatic vertcial take-off and recovery and an edurance of more than 36 hours. Launch and retrieval is from a portable fold-out rig with widely spaced parallel bars to support the wings.
Further Reading