Rotor Technologies, Inc. (Rotor) develops autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. In Fall 2023, Rotor completed the first autonomous helicopter flight campaign of a full-scale civilian helicopter. Although no human pilot was onboard during test flights, the R220Y currently requires a pilot to remotely control the vehicle when the autonomy system is not engaged.
source.image: Rotor
Rotor is commercializing its autonomy technology with the development of the R550X, an uncrewed utility helicopter based on the Robinson R44 Raven II. The R550X will feature a payload capacity of 1,212 lbs (550 kg) and more than three hours of endurance. The R550X is designed to perform hazardous operations such as firefighting, crop dusting, construction, humanitarian aid, and remote cargo delivery without putting pilot lives at risk.
The campaign was flown with two Rotor R220Y autonomous helicopters. The R220Y is an experimental platform based on the popular Robinson R22 two-seat helicopter, with seats, pilot controls, and instrument panel removed and all functions of the helicopter automated by Rotor’s technology.
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Two R220Ys logged more than 20 hours of flight time and over 80 hours of engine run-time during the flight campaign. These flights successfully proved Rotor’s flight control systems, autonomous hover and velocity modes, and vision-based perception systems. The campaign also developed the aircraft’s long-distance flight capability through in-flight testing of long-range radio equipment and cellular LTE communication links – although all flights were conducted over a limited radius within direct line of sight of a ground control station.
