Often, the places in the world most desperate for humanitarian relief are also the most challenging to reach. Whether it’s a remote village or a city ravaged by a natural disaster, delivering relief quickly can be challenging where there’s a lack of infrastructure.
Orb Aerospace’s core vision is to build a humanitarian air force of high-tech drones. No, not the small, commercial kind you use to explore your neighborhood.
These aircraft—called Orbs—will have up to a 30 foot wingspan and be graded to carry 50-100 pounds of humanitarian cargo for ferry flights or rescue missions.
Whereas airliners travel from station to station, Orbs are independent from infrastructure. They can take off and land vertically, without reliance on an official airport or large runway. Yet, the aircraft has enough critical mass to travel anywhere, without dependence on traditional logistics—just fuel.
And they’ll be unmanned. The pilot will be in a virtual cockpit, using VR technology and a hydraulic chair to simulate all the tactile feedback of being in a plane.
As Orb Aerospace bursts onto the stage in the industry, they are pursuing a goal of their first pilotless trans-Pacific flight by 2025. They asked Michigan Software Labs to help them accelerate this process by designing a custom command-line interface for weather reporting.
