This transforming drone can fly like an airplane and spin like a seed

Small drones tend to come in two distinct varieties: the ones with wings, which are best for carrying loads over long distances; and the ones with rotors, which are more agile but less energy efficient. A few drone-makers have tried to combine both flight-modes into a single design, but none have taken the approach of THOR — a new drone from the Singapore University of Technology & Design.

Usually, when aircraft makers want to hover and cruise, they simply fix rotors onto rotating wings, like NASA did with its massive Greased Lightning prototype. But with THOR (it stands for Transformable Hovering Rotorcraft) the wings become rotors, transitioning in mid-air and spinning around a...

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