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Comment by lloeki | Hacker News Reader

The difference here is not so much that it hovers and stabilises position, but that it has two modes of flying: when it hovers, it works like a helicopter (the propeller provides support), but when it goes forward, it works like a plane (the wings provide support while the propeller only provides forward movement).

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In addition to the two flying modes it can roll on the ground to get to hard to reach places. I've not seen a helicopter do that before.

I honestly have to wonder if that was inspired by a certain Japanese video game series in which the protagonist does exactly the same thing.

OK, build a sphere around the $200 VTOL plane I linked to above and you have that too.

making that sphere not interfere with airflow from the rotors is not trivial.

Also nothing new. You can buy one right now for about $200. Here's one example: http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFL...

Here's a video: http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/EFLU4780.wmv

So what is different from the flying orb (other than the chassis)? avionics software? Why $200 vs $1400?

This made me think of an experimental aircraft design I saw once. It uses a huge ducted propeller to be able to hover while at the same time being able to fly forward, with the wings (and duct) generating lift as in a traditional airplane. The problem is that the cockpit stays fixed, so hovering would be very disorienting for the pilot.

http://www.esotec.org/hbird/index.html

This is pretty much how the new F-35B (STOVL variant of the Joint Strike Fighter) works. There's a ducted fan in the middle of the plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35C#F-35B

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