FlyTech Bladestart - Sensor driven flying blade

Posted 6 Mar 2008 at 03:49 UTC (updated 6 Mar 2008 at 05:40 UTC) by roschler

At CES 2008 robot manufacturer WowWee announced the successor to their popular Flytech Dragonfly robot. Instead of a wing flapping robot like the Dragonfly, the Flytech Bladestar is a flying blade that comes equipped with sensors for obstacle detection to give it near autonomous flying capability. In fact, you can guide it using your hands since it's infrared sensors will move it away from them. You can also pilot it using the remote control, which also acts as the recharging station.

An additional attachment allows two Bladestars to dogfight each other. It was expected to be available this February but does not appear to be in Target's inventory yet, the retail store that at first will be the exclusive seller of the unit. You can see the Bladestar in this video from the CES 2008 show.