i saw this and BF was the first thing that came to mind after how many of these things are watching me already?

do you think one of these autonomous drones could be used to look for BF? hook up motion sensors to initiate the chase then program it to follow only something resembling a BF and wah lah...you've got your footage as well as maybe some behavioral characteristics that might help in further research! it does make some noise but if motion sensors were attached, it would sit quietly, even camouflaged until something set off its sensors and it's take off speed is amazingly quick and it could follow at any altitude thats programmed into it. frightening but pretty cool little spybot. i dont know, let me know what you think.

cheers

link to video

http://www.physorg.com/news162819811.html

Hi

I know we got into this many times in a few threads, It is another way to photograph an area but having Mr Helicopter up there is so far out there on the hit or miss scale it just don't seem worthwhile, But just the fun of flying the thing around can be a total thrill

Peace
Tim

thats the thing Tim, no one has to fly the thing, it can do everything on its own! it can even be watched from google earth and set of an alarm or something if its motion sensors are triggered? who knows.

Hi

The video link you gave has a machine that needs to have someone to fly it, It isn't really on it's own, It has time limits and maintenance,

Peace
Tim

oh, i thought it said that it could be flown or it could be programmed. sorry if i missed that but i could have sworn that's what it said. oh well, no harm no foul. i though that's what autonomous meant???

cheers

Would be nice to "tactically reallocate" a predator drone for a few days. One of those would come in handy for locating Biggy

Umm.. I thought the thing was autonomous or did I miss something? If it's autonomous then there is no reason not to do it as it does it on it's own. Hence the name autonomous...

Hi

Yup your right about the auto flying, Looks like you can preprogram the course and it will come back, I didn't see anything about flying time, I guess it could be used to search around with out to much fuss as long as the cost and Maintenance was reasonable, I think i would just keep it on manual and have the fun of flying it,


Peace
Tim

MIT tries to improve upon autonomous helicopters every year and they are getting pretty good at it. I wasn't thinking about helicopters when I first read the title. Little walking insect-like robots popped up in my mind. I bet they would be tasty treats to a bf. It would be great if MIT had searching for bf as a goal. They could get the job done. As we stand now, the only robots that are affordable and available to deploy would be to send hundreds of Roomba vacuum cleaners after the beast.

LOL Somehow I don't think that would work although they would probably do a good job of cleaning the forest floor...

Sasquatch will never suspect a thing.




http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull

"A robot snake, capable of recording video and sound on the battlefield, is the latest addition to the IDF's technological achievements"

Well it might stomp on it and eat it thinking is just a prey item!

That's it, I'm sending my Roomba after squatch tomorrow.

The problem with such devices ist that the small are to stupid (cannot identify, no IR) and the big are to expensive and big.

....and share the same set of problems you mentioned with the small ones.

Interesting. It doesn't appear to be field-ready at this point. It would need a large range and long mission time. Pattern recognition on a moving mammal such as sasquatch would be difficult. Maybe using infrared would work. I've always been convinced that technology will discover sassy.

Implausible at this point IMHO.
This is a good illustration actually of the difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence.
You can program a robot to walk into a room and play chess, what you will have much more difficulty doing is programing the computer to walk into a room and find the chess board.

They are making progress. They already have cheap camera's that can identify faces.

Even if it could fly through dense woods "autonomously" --I doubt that it could follow a bf seeing how quick they are....

I think the idea would be to fly over the trees.

exactly Furious!

i think few question that there has been little gained by us, human, bipeds lumbering into the forest in search of bf except for the occasional blobsquatch or youtube drizzle. i posted the vid only to open the thought of some hitech help? i know there is little chance of your average bf enthusiast being able to afford such a device but i thought the idea was intriguing. and i agree with art bowshier that

but following might not even be necessary if a general location and or direction could be gleened from any footage worthy of a looksee?

cheers

Looks like there is another type of drone being developed called the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV). Not sure how good it would perform searching for our big friend but it would be cool just having one and flying it around.

http://www.honeywell.com/sites/portal?smap...eo&theme=T8

http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/Surfac...8CBB5BDECF7.htm

WhatEVER this thing is used for is cool. That thing is awesome.

this whole new thread is going turn so wonderful indeedy...

That thing is really cool. Looks like something out of Star Wars.

Ever hear of an autonomous micro drone crash and burn, think that would be a given according to the track record of Bigfoot archival history unless Casper the Friendly Ghost is at the stick witching hour on Halloween Night!

Click to view attachment

http://www.hulu.com/watch/41751/casper-the...g-hour?c=Family

jamin19,

is the MAV system autonomous? The thing looks pretty cool but they don't give you any audio (except the soundtrack) with the video so you don't know how loud it is? The one I originally started this thread with is autonomous but it is sorta loud.

Cheers

Hi spooky, I believe the MAV system is autonomous as they state in the video "Up to 100 waypoints in a flightplan", which I interpet as it having the capabilities of a programable flightplan. As far as how loud it is that I do not know. Being of the ducted fan design it may be less noisy than your standard remote helo.

What if you operate some group of small silent drones or robot helicopters with thermal cameras and you sent them right into a bigfoot hot activity spot, specially at night? I think, if Bigfoot exists, it can be found in this way.
I also had another idea. It only works if someone finds a cave, den or abandoned building with bigfoot activity. What if some robot, disguised as a plant, rock or tree is placed nearby to monitor the creatures? I just have ideas which can eventually, help to get more information about Bigfoot without actually killing one.

Though I'm hardly an expert, I think your ideas are good ones. The original reason for this thread though was the "autonomous" part. Imagine, not having to pilot anything, not monitoring activity or watching for movement or where to place the camera so you get the best shot. Having this thing, or others like it do the unsavory job of...sitting, waiting and watching, listening or even smelling and then when, whatever is programmed into them is detected, they, fire up and start filming.

Whether or not this, or any other similar craft might be useful is, of course, pure conjecture but as soon as drones like these are more affordable I think we might see this kind of use become more commonplace?

Cheers

I think the only problem is to find some special bigfoot hot activity spot, and try to devise some drones and robots with IR vision to try to find something, specially from the air. It is actually better than physically searching in the wilderness at night (we can cover more terrain, there will be no surprises of BF visiting you at night). Bigfoot is a large animal, so it is normal we should have fear from him. (When I was a kid, I feared the bears at the zoo, they were huge and powerful). Imagine if you find an anthropoid of the same size and strenght in the woods!!
Greetings.
K. Adam.

Good points! The BF hot spot and the programing of the drone are without question two very good points but I still think that if questions like these are addressed, the hunt could get a lot more technical and with any luck provide what's been lacking in this field since it's conception.

Cheers

actually SS, that chopper is really kewl, but I would prolly just chase the cat with it, lol..............

this is what I really want for christmas, maybe longtabber can get us a few real cheap, lol.........

http://www.unitedvisionsolutions.com/

or maybe this

http://www.gs.flir.com/products/unmanned/

check out these babies in action, lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDsndFxKxjg...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4t4biiCN1Q...feature=related

if we cant find the big guy with this, lol, we cant find him

http://www.gs.flir.com/products/airborne/starsafirehd.cfm

its amazing what is out there these days for viewing at night

Those FLIR's are pretty nice. I would like to have one small enough to be carried by a remote control blimp. And then sit back and drink beer.... I mean, do research.

Exactly, this type of technology!! Although I think some modifications like size reduction could be added.
Imagine you have identified some place with hot bigfoot activity (some misterious valley, some farm raided every night by Bigfoot, some island) that can be reached with a helicopter drone. Imagine dozens of silent mini-helicopters which comb the area at night and imagine we can actually see thermal images from above (deers, people, bears, BF). Imagine the helicopters are able to follow...animal vocalizations!!!

Imagine dozens of people remotely monitoring the area, constantly, until they find something....a large creature moving across the woods. It can be followed to its den.
Imagine another drone drops a small solar-powered car with a camera near the then, also with silent motors and camouflaged. It just takes video from the entrance of the den, so stealthy that Bigfoot simply ignores it, but he's being taped!!! Suddenly, a lot of information of Mr.Bigfoot private life and behavior is obtained!!!
I think if such an action is carefully planned and people have enough patience and the right technology, it can be done.
Greetings.
K. A

Yup, I think that's going to be where possible meets practical.

Daylight near IR seems to be quite revealing in penetrating canopies and foliage somewhat. Remote controlled blimps are available that have long loiter times and can carry IIRC 10lb. That to me seems the most likely near term avenue for a sub thousand dollar BF hunting drone. However this would be non-autonomous.

It's nice to dream about other possibilities, but a "good effort" would be a multi million dollar proposition, that would only be plausible once the first specimen is in.

However, as the FLIR deployment becomes more common on police and rescue helicopters, that happy accident becomes more likely, as they look for the fugitive, the lost child or the senile grandma that wandered off.... presuming the hairy one isn't pulling an "Ahnold" and crouching under a creek bank slathering himself in mud as soon as he hears the chopper.

Flash

You gotta figure that if these things could possibly track and film a BF...covertly filming sorority girl pillow fights on casual underwear friday might not be too far off eh? Ahh...the possibility's of technology...

Cheers

This is the main point, it is possible to penetrate dense foliage with night vision and infrarred devices? It is possible to detect oversized hairy "people" with drones in dense forests? Anyway, the drone has to be silent, extreme silent...

I will say, to deploy the drones in an area with hot bigfoot activity, and make some explorations at night with several drones. If there is a Bigfoot, if can be found in this way and followed to its den...
Part 2. Unload a robotic probe or small car near Bigfoot's den and just observe the entrace of the den or cave for months...you don't have to do anything else but spying...in the name of Science.
Greetings.
K. Adam.

I don't agree Kronprinz, if the drone is placed in a location that is actually a hotspot it doesn't have to be silent. As long as it's sensors are capable of detecting movement, heat or whatever signature is programmed into it I don't think there's a need for silence. Granted, when the thing fires up, there will be a commotion that will disturb any and all things around but at that point, you will hopefully have at least some evidence that something other than the usual forest suspects are responsible for setting it off. At this point you may be able to get a location, habit, trait or whatever on the big guy. Pure speculation I understand but given an area with enough repeated and documented activity just might be able to produce something. Eh, who knows,finding an area with the best chance to produce positive results would be, I think, more difficult than finding a drone to do the work.

Cheers

After thinking about a FLIR on a blimp....... bammm... all of a sudden it appeared on the latest episode of MQ (to a certain degree). They brought a balloon up to high elevations with cold winds. They had problems with the cold air, size of the camera and the gas but they got it up in the air. Good stuff. After seeing them tackle that hard assignment it makes it seem like what I would like to be done, a bit easier. Store bought blimp and FLIR and autonomous so there is no need for a radio wave range and just hope the wind doesn't take it away. That would be sweet.

Yea...I like where you're going with this! The only problem is that I see the owner of the FLIR crapping his pants when you tell him what you're going to do with his toy! The thought of quite easily loosing something of that value might not go over so well. Perhaps tethering the blimp although that opens up a whole new set of problems with vandalism and thievery. I like the idea though it might be a little risky and who ever said that finding something worth finding was going to be cheap and easy? If it was...everybody would be doing it!

Cheers

Interesting... found a homebrew copter drone system...
http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/MikroKopter

Hi Spookysully!! I think if you want just to get an instant picture of Bigfoot, you can use whatever means you want. But I think that a silent drone has more possibilities to find Bigfoot and following him and remaining undetected. Imagine a silent drone, painted picth black, patrolling some wood extensions at night!!
Otherwise, Bigfoot will be somewhat scared about the drone, and will learn to avoid them.
Greetings.
K. Adam.

I agree! Silence is key but at present, I don't think there is an autonomous drone capable of complete silence, affordable or not is there? At least one available to the general public. I've looked at several of these things (on youtube anyway) and any of them that actually show the drones running with the audio are incredibly loud. Maybe we'll just have to wait until the military is bored with some form of useful technology in this arena that might be better suited for this job? What is needed is the supposed satellite resolutions that would be able to identify BF in real time! I doubt even the most suspicious biped would suspect such an intrusion.

Cheers

I think the limiting factor in satellite photography is atmospheric instability, they just can't get better than about 5cm resolution, which is gonna make a Sas indistinguishable from a guy in dark coat, or a bear standing up, a bush or even a scarecrow.

The remote control blimps I've seen are fairly quiet, some hum and whoosh from the motors, but nowhere near as bad as the helicopters, the motors can be used at low speed to gently nudge them around, or you could box around the target area and let it drift over multiple times. They do have to be used in calm or relatively calm conditions though.

That mikrocopter system I linked above could possibly be adapted to a hybrid copter/blimp that has a gas bag for neutral buoyancy and needs to spin the rotors only very slowly to maintain position. That would be quieter than the copter only versions.

I think your idea is very good! I like the blimp idea or the combination of blimp/helo however the lack of perfectly, perfect weather in places suspected of harboring the big guy is going to be, I think, more troublesome than finding him sunbathing. Although, I don't have an intimate knowledge of the eastern U S and it's weather, here in the PNW, you'd have to be ready at a moments notice to deploy the drone when the wind or any other weather that seems to sit in the bush around here subsides but then is usually replaced by another one. I don't know, but I like your idea about the hybrid drone. It's just that finding conditions that would allow such a craft to do it's job might be difficult?

Cheers

Cheers

Any small drone will I believe get very very tricky in winds much faster than 20mph, or lighter winds with gusts. The blimp would have a lot more trouble due to windage area. A hybrid copter though would have the advantage of being relatively overpowered compared to either the copter or the blimp, if you used the same motors and props, because it would not need all that power devoted to lift, so despite extra windage area should be about as capable as any small drone. Approaching always from downwind should carry the noise away quite a bit as the power has to be increased.

Problems due to wind of any strength likely to be an issue, are turbulence around trees, and downdrafts on the downwind side of tree lines, ridges, ravine sides etc. The mission profile would have to take this into account in windier weather and try to stay higher, and away from the downwind sides of features likely to cause downdrafts.

All very good points Flashman. Yea, I think you're on to something here, do yo have any experience in building something like this or know how one might go about doing so?

Cheers

I was "into" RC aircraft when I was younger but had to sell off all my kit years back when I did a long distance move. Since then I've not really had the time or spare disposable income to get back to it.

I'd maybe ramp up to an autonomous system and gain experience with aerial/remote photography with the following steps...

$100 approach... big boxkite, 1000ft or so of line, used canon camera that supports CHDK http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_in_Brief which allows scripting of camera behaviour, meaning you can robotise that and make it semi autonomous, or adds USB remote trigger ability which could be triggered from the ground with very simple remote lashups. Or maybe do this... http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the...r-money-budget/ but tether the balloon and skip the GPS phone. Also might be possible to get slightly fancier if you can get an x10 cam mount and have realtime control and video feed from the ground.

$500 approach... basic radio control system, and build a large powered glider style airplane drone, with electric motor(s), the loiter time could be hours if you can make use of thermal lift, camera system as above, with a bigger lense preferably so you can stand off at a few hundred feet above trees, and the motors will be very hard to hear from below if you even need to use them. With lots of wing area one should be able to build something with a good enough glide ratio such that you can make several passes over an area then climb out away from it, then come back silent again.... some autonomy might be possible to add later if the drone is capable of "hands off" flying, that is that it's inherently stable.

$1000+ approach, this would be the mikrocopter or copter hybrid, a good RC system and the autonomous control systems, 4 motors, lightweight batteries etc will add up... for the blimp hybrid version, I'd consider making the basic structure a 3ft across ring, into which could be clamped one of those extra large size helium fillled mylar novelty balloons on it's side, then you don't have to worry about custom envelopes, should be easy to put another one in it. The rotors would pod off this and I'd mount the camera package on struts slung under the balloon envelope, this should allow quite a bit of pendulum stability and vibration isolation. Really I'm not too clear on all the ins and outs of the concept yet having just discovered the site, but following up all the other builds of them, and googling up mikrocopter quadrocopter etc should get one on the right track... shrouding the rotors as some people appear to have done should reduce tip noise from the rotors/props quite a bit. To get that optimal would take some experimentation though.