I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
$96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
241–250 of 561 posts
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#242I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#243I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#244I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
Presto! Two axis continuous flight control with a 1-bit input.
Edit: my memory wasn’t far off. It’s Starstreak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starstreak
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#245I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
> equally cheap or cheaper I doubt it, as D_A's target is stationary (and could be reduced to GPS coords) while D_B's target is moving.
And also the attacker can send 100 drones without any real targeting at all and 10 proper expensive drones and you need to send up 110 defenders which need to be able to track flying drones. Being the attacker will always be easier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_bomber_will_always_get_thr...
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Realistically, I doubt there’s ANY system out there will be able to counter small weaponized drones that are flown manually let alone with AI, you might have some workarounds, but never a real counter. Weaponized drones (say D_A) can be countered by other weaponized drones (say D_B), equally cheap or cheaper than D_A because the D_A is usually targeting something larger (so more payload) and typically has a longer…
Couldn’t post earlier seems HN is rate limited :/ hardest issue as I mentioned in another comment is detection. Now on using other drones to counter a drone, there are other issues, as I built and tested some before, assuming you got the detection part done. The first one is guidance and correction mid-air, flying manually won’t really be practical due to the need for an extraordinary flying skills, which can’t be re…
This [2] talks about swarmer software used by Ukraine.
$1k-$2.5k gives a lot of room for tech to avoid jamming - ir or visible light, ultrasound, for in-swarm comms.
And I wonder if the battery itself could be weaponized. We have seen that a very thin layer of the right material can turn phones/pagers very destructive.
[1] https://www.twz.com/news-features/ukrainian-companies-prohib...
[2] https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukrainian-drone-swa...
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
At some point it itself becomes a target. It has to be able to get almost 100% kills, otherwise the enemy can swarm it with cheap drones, destroy the expensive installation, then continue as before.
Sure, but it needs many "many times" for that to be a factor. And even in the case it could be useful as an addition to or paired with a tank etc.
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#249I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
I believe there was a similar weapon being developed in the west, only recently, which involved a missile with contra rotating halves joined by a clutch. The fixed fins caused it to always steer one way. It flew straight by releasing the clutch to spin up the front half, negating the steering effect. Grabbing the clutch caused it to stop spinning and veer off in one direction. Presto! Two axis continuous flight contr…
Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor
#250I remember an anecdote our robotics lecturer told our university class in 1995, which was about how in the west we try to make expensive things that are the absolute best of technology and how the other side didn't have that luxury and relied on ingenuity. He described a cold war Russian missile they had somehow obtained and were tasked with trying to reverse engineer. Ostensibly, it was thought to be a heat seeking…
Unless it was nighttime or the engagement happened at low altitude on a cloudy day, wouldn’t that usually lock onto the sun?