Up, Up, And Away

IMAGE: interactive toy concepts

Aerial Adventurer: The Micro Mosquito can hover, fly backward and forward, and turn in any direction. $67 Micro Mosquito

Miniature. Remote-controlled. Helicopter. If you’re as big a geek as I am, I suspect that’s all you really need to hear about the Micro Mosquito, beyond the price—US $67—and who makes it: Interactive Toy Concepts, headquartered in Hong Kong.

But, as the powers that be at IEEE Spectrum are already dubious that reviewing remote-control toys is work, let me justify my paycheck and explain some more.

This tiny helicopter weighs just a few grams. Its twin rotors are about 16 centi­meters across, and its manufacturers claim it’s the smallest helicopter on the market. The power source is a built-in lithium-polymer battery, which plugs into a recharger that doubles as a launching pad. A 30‑­minute charge gets you about 7 ­minutes of flight time. You fly the Mosquito using a three-axis remote control: you can regulate lift, clockwise and counter­clockwise rotation, and forward and backward motion.

The Mosquito’s small size does have some drawbacks: it cannot be used outdoors, because even a gentle breeze would overwhelm it.

In fact, controlling this helicopter can be tricky in the best of conditions. Lift is generated by two counter­rotating sets of rotors, and the helicopter moves clockwise and counterclockwise by varying the relative speed of the two sets of rotors. A trim control on the remote allows you to calibrate the rotor speeds to cancel out any spin when the controls are in the neutral position.

However, even after trimming, the Mosquito requires constant adjustments with the control stick to keep it pointing in the same direction. Fellow Spectrum editor Erico Guizzo discovered that he could greatly improve the handling of our Mosquito by taping two paper clips to the front of the helicopter. (For a movie of the Mosquito in flight, see http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov06/skeeter.)

Fortunately, the little helicopter is surprisingly robust, as it suffered caroming into tables, chairs, ceilings, and walls with no damage. The tail rotor did pop off once or twice, but we just pushed it back onto its axle.

Getting the hang of flying the Mosquito was fun and satisfying, even if it’s never going to be known for its precision. Now, back to ruling the office skies!

http://www.interactivetoy.com