Disaster Relief WiFi Robots featured at CeBIT
March 6th, 2009
Researchers at Germany’s Ilmenau University of Technology are developing flying quadcopter robots that can be used to form a self-assembling ad-hoc wireless network in the event of disaster. Built with off-the-shelf parts (including VIA’s Pico-ITX hardware and a GPS unit) the robots are designed to provide both mobile phone and WiFi access — and they can do it far more quickly than a technician on the ground might be able to. The device comes in a kit for €300, ($590AUD) which includes all but the battery — the batteries currently run around €1,000 ($2000AUD) and only offer up 20 minutes of flight time. Once the device has found a perch, however, it can operate for “several hours.”