‘Cockroach bots’ roam air show

Bloomberg

The Farnborough air show, best known as the year’s biggest marketplace for passenger planes, also acts as a testbed for the aviation industry’s wilder imaginings.
Vying for attention with billions of dollars in jetliner deals at this year’s expo is a smorgasbord of new technologies, many seemingly intent on eliminating the human from the equation.
Boffins at UK engineering giant Rolls-Royce proudly displayed an array of miniature robots designed to speed up engine overhauls by removing the need for powerplants to be detached from the aircraft during shop visits.
Cockroach-like “swarm” bots less than half an inch across will roam the turbine in gangs beaming pictures back to inspection crews after being deposited by so-called “snake” hosts that work their way through the engine.

Black Swan
If the bots don’t get you the drones will. Farnborough is awash with unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, ranging from delivery craft that guarantee to gently deposit a parcel by your door to the latest military types intent on blowing stuff up.
The Black Swan from Bulgarian brothers Svilen and Konstantin Rangelov stands out for bringing a touch of eco-cool to the sector. Pitched as a sort of anti-Amazon drone better suited to emerging economies, the gasoline-powered model uses a glider-like wing to carry 770-pound payloads for more than 1,500 miles and land on the short, unpaved runways common in Africa and other developing nations.
Empty Cockpit
The industry is forging ahead with plans for the pilot-less plane. Experts will tell you it’s easier to fully automate an aircraft than a car, but companies are hedging their bets and developing freight variants before trying to persuade passengers of that argument.
Boeing indicated that unmanned cargo craft will be a priority for NeXt, a new organisation formed to develop futuristic and disruptive products. On show at Farnborough was a rotorcraft model of the kind the company says could be buzzing over congested city streets within years — not decades.
It was hard to find a major aerospace manufacturer that wasn’t touting a flying cab. Airbus and Boeing already have well-advanced plans but Rolls-Royce crashed the party with a plan to leverage vertical-thrust technology that dates back to the original Harrier jump-jet and the “flying bedstead” that wowed Farnborough crowds in 1950s.
Luxury car-maker Aston Martin sought to get in on the act with a three-seat, hybrid-electric, vertical take-off and landing aircraft that it hopes might appeal to the next generation of millionaire enthusiasts. Since the company’s autos aren’t actually capable of flight, Aston wisely said it will team up with Rolls-Royce and experts from Britain’s Cranfield aeronautics
university to get the project off the ground.
The race is hotting up between three companies seeking to channel the spirit of Concorde and reverse the untimely demise of supersonic passenger travel. Fault lines between them have become clear.
Texas-based Aerion is pitching an eight-to-12-passenger model that’s a faster (Mach 1.4) version of today’s business jets