Skip to main content

VTOL drone can evacuate wounded soldiers and disaster victims, deliver cargo

Synchronized Playback of Autonomous Cormorant UAV Demo, Megiddo Airfield, August 2017

Evacuation by drone could soon appear on the readiness checklists of rescue and first responder groups worldwide. Tactical Robotics’ Cormorant ratchets up the potential for drone deployment for a wide range of military, industrial, and civilian applications.

Recommended Videos

The unmanned Cormorant is a compact, single-engine Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. Internal lift rotors give the drone the ability to land and take off almost anywhere it can find a large SUV-sized horizontal surface.

Tactical Robotics Cormorant VTOL Drone
Unlike helicopters and many smaller drones with exposed rotors, the Cormorant’s six-foot rotors turn inside circular housings underneath the aircraft within the superstructure’s front and rear — hence the term “internal lift rotors.”

The lift rotors don’t swivel for horizontal travel. Instead, two smaller encased rotors are mounted vertically on either side of the drone’s tail. A single turbocharged engine powers all four rotors.

The Cormorant’s rotor arrangement minimizes the craft’s footprint. The smaller size and encased rotors allow it access to obstructed areas with wires, buildings, forests, jungles, and even mountainsides, where helicopters could never attempt to touch down.

Tactical Robotics Cormorant VTOL Drone
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In addition to its unique rotor placement, the Cormorant also stands out for payload capacity. Two main cabin compartments can each hold a bit more than 27 cubic feet of cargo (think medium-sized refrigerator), and an optional belly-mounted cargo hold accommodates an additional 35 cubic feet (a large refrigerator). Maximum combined cargo weight is approximately 970 pounds.

In battlefield evacuation and accident or disaster rescue, the VTOL drone has space for two casualties inside the cabin with ample room below in the belly cargo hold — if equipped — for additional supplies or materials.

According to the manufacturer, the Cormorant can transport prodigious quantities of food, water, and other needed supplies to remote or otherwise unreachable locations. With continuous round trips in a 50-mile radius, the drone could deliver more than six and a half tons of supplies (13,000-plus pounds) — enough for 3,000 people — in 24 hours.

Tactical Robotics Cormorant VTOL Drone
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Tactical Robotics lists unmanned inspection and monitoring flights for electrical grids, bridges, agricultural areas, and offshore oil platforms among diverse civilian applications. With optional remote-controlled mechanical arms, the Cormorant also could be used for spraying, retrieval, and other tasks.

The drone may be unique in its ability to provide “eye in the sky” photographic surveillance, and can transport cargo and equipment and perform evacuation duties.

Tactical Robotics has demonstrated the Cormorant operating via a preprogrammed course and with a human operator from a remote site.

Another useful item on the options list is a rocket-deployed parachute substantial enough to lower the drone and a full payload to safety if the engine or VTOL lift rotors fail.

Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders
Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Read more
BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too
BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Read more
Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say
Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.

Read more