The American-based startup Rotor Technologies said it finished the first live demonstration of an autonomous helicopter, with its R220Y, Aviation Week reported. The company uses an uncrewed Robinson R22 helicopter as a testbed. The rotorcraft took off from Nashua Airport in New Hampshire on Jan. 30 and performed a full startup, hovered, executed turning maneuvers and successfully landed after a three-minute flight. The company also unveiled its full-scale mockup engineering prototype of its planned first product, the R550X, an autonomous version of the R44 helicopter.
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