改变一切：美国无人机展亮点大放送

ReconRobotics的SkyScout无人机

    明尼苏达州的ReconRobotics公司之所以在军火界享有盛名，主要是因为它生产的物美价廉的抛式机器人产品。这种机器人只有一个啤酒罐大小，可由警察或军队人员隔着墙或窗户扔进他们想要进入的地方。抛式机器人身上的小型摄像机可以把影像传输到操作人员的手持式控制器里。今年的AUVSI展会上，这家公司推出了一种导线式的四旋翼无人直升机SkyScout，它可以非常简单有效地执行一些有限的任务。

    如前文所述，续航时间一直是困扰小型无人机的一个大问题。SkyScout用了一个土办法攻克了这个问题——通过一根长长的电线，把这架无人机与地面上的电源连起来。它几乎可以无限地旋停在我们头顶，但缺点就是它的横向移动能力有限。但对于很多执法任务和军事任务来说，地面操作人员需要一个持续的“制高点”来提供居高临下的视野，比如持续观察人质的情况，或是加强对前沿阵地的警戒。SkyScout的最高飞行高度是100英尺（约30米），然后便可旋停在那里，提供360度的鸟瞰视野。

    和今年AUVSI展会上的其它先进无人机系统相比，它的技术似乎非常简单。但是军队和执法部门都知道，在大多数危险的环境下，简单可靠才是王道。因此美国和英国的使馆安保人员都在Recon公司的展台前驻足，似乎对这款产品怦然心动。

ReconRobotics' SkyScout

    Minnesota-based ReconRobotics made its name in the defense world through its "Throwbot" products, a line of beer-can-sized wheeled robots that police or military personnel can hurl over a wall, through a window, or anywhere else they're needed. Tiny cameras beam video back to the robots' handheld controllers. At AUVSI 2013, the company debuted its Recon SkyScout, a tethered quadrotor that executes a limited mission profile extremely simply and well.

    The problem with small UAS, as mentioned previously, is largely one of endurance. SkyScout overcomes this by simply tethering to the ground via a long, thin wire that connects the aircraft in the sky to a power source on the ground. It can stay overhead indefinitely, but tethered aircraft are limited in their lateral movement. But for many law enforcement and military missions, operators on the ground need persistent overhead situational awareness -- a constant view from overhead. Whether surveilling an ongoing hostage situation or augmenting forward operating base security, SkyScout is designed to fly up to 100 feet above the operator and then stay there, providing 360 degrees of birds-eye view.

    It might sound simplistic next some of the more sophisticated robots on display at AUVSI, but the defense and law enforcement communities know that reliability and simplicity trump complexity in most dangerous situations. Embassy security personnel from both the U.S. and the U.K. were spotted at Recon's AUVSI booth, eyebrows raised.