Drone warfare has brought us one step closer to removing the human element from the act of killing, except for the part that’s being killed. It’s been one of the fastest and arguably most unsettling technological leaps of the last 25 years. So naturally, someone looked at that trajectory and wondered if maybe we should also be making the drones nearly invisible. Surely, that’ll help.
According to researchers at Northwestern University, that’s exactly what they’ve done. Their new prototype, dubbed Phantom Twist, isn’t hard to see because of some fancy breakthrough in stealth coatings or some kind of wild science-fiction cloaking technology. All it does is exploit a weird quirk of human vision.
The drone spins at 25 rotations per second, fast enough that your brain can’t keep up. Rather than seeing a distinct flying machine, your eyes only detect a faint blur, kind of like when you try to make sense of the blur of helicopter blades, except instead of only the blades spinning, it’s the entire drone. The researchers estimate the design is about 10 times less noticeable than a conventional quadcopter.
For as much of an incomprehensible blur as it is, thus far it does have one major fatal flaw that kills its stealthiness: it’s loud as heck.
The Nearly Invisible Drone Sounds Terrifying Until You Hear How Loud It Is
In the footage above, once the drone gets fully up to speed, it turns into a hazy, ghostlike blur that is betrayed by its screeching high-pitched whine. Never fear, for it’s only a matter of time before this thing becomes both silent and deadly.
To get this thing moving so fast it’s nearly invisible, the researchers used AI to generate thousands of designs until one of them worked in a computer simulation. They then brought that simulation to life. All told, the team simulated roughly 20,000 drone designs until they found one that worked.
Of course, the researchers say that the tech could one day be used for peaceful purposes, like monitoring wildlife or surveying fragile ecosystems. Maybe even inspecting infrastructure without visually disturbing people or animals. These are the kind of examples scientists have to lead with whenever they invent something that will eventually end up as GoPro footage of an invisible drone dropping a grenade on a guy.
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