Researchers are developing the world’s most advanced industrial paper airplanes – cheap cardboard gliders that can be used by military to deliver supplies to remote areas, before being discarded and biodegraded.
Military cardboard gliders could have several advantages over expensive and inaccurate supply drones that either need to be recovered or have enough battery power for a return trip, reducing their payload capacity.
The U.S. Department of Defense Military Research Agency is working with R&D firm Otherlab to develop cheap, motorless cardboard gliders that can find their destinations using small on-board computers and sensors that can adjust wings and rudders.
According to Otherlab, a single airplane could launch hundreds of gliders to conduct delivery operations covering an area the size of California.
Source: Bigthink
Photo credit: Otherlab
