Flying Saucer Hovers Over Hapless Human

Military drones take all shapes, from tiny cars and tanks to birds, insects, snakes and even baseballs. Now a new British drone start-up is modeling its family of small unmanned aerial vehicles on a very old sci-fi concept: the flying saucer.

According to Graham Warwick at Ares, Aesir has acquired the assets of a defunct drone company, including three flying saucers ranging in size from 30 centimeters in diameter to more than a meter. Aesir’s first prototype, named “Embler” and depicted in the video above, demonstrates the so-called “Coanda effect,” where air speeds up as it “sticks” to a curved surface. Aesir’s drones take advantage of the Coanda effect to direct air down, away from the drone, boosting lift.

Aesir doesn’t appear to have any paying customers yet — and is reportedly bankrolled by a single investor. Sooner or later, somebody is bound to produce a viable flying saucer bot, but in an industry characterized by “companies popping up and disappearing faster than celebrities on reality TV,” according to Warwick, it may or may not be Aesir.

Wired.com