Robots these days seem to be taking on larger and more important roles at the workplace, and this time around, we have researchers over at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) working on a small, off-the-shelf robot. Various modifications to this tiny robot has enabled it to be capable of actually operating a human flight simulator, now how about that? Known as the PIBOT, this particular robot would make use of a scaled down control panel, while relying on a video camera that has been integrated within its head to check out just what is going on around it visually.
The flight simulator will relay its sensory information such as pitch, yaw, and altitude among others through wires. The KAIST team did mention that the PIBOT is full well capable of fulfilling all the legal requirements by the Federal Aviation Administration when it comes to actual flight, and you do not have to worry about pilots falling asleep or playing with an iPad to send a plane plummeting by 5,000 feet without being aware of the situation.
Right now, the PIBOT has not flown a full-sized airplane, never mind the fact that it had already been tested in different simulations, in addition to flying a scaled-down biplane in the real world. I don’t think the world is ready to have robots and robots alone fly commercial airlines just yet, how about you?