AUTOMATIC PILOT

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1932, Page 6

AUTOMATIC PILOT

“GEORGE: THE ROBOT.”

A BRITISH INVENTION

Dispensing with the human , agency would appear to be a trend of modern invention. In several instances this has been done with a completeness which a few years ago would have been regarded as nothing short of mar vellous. In other instances, its completeness has only been partially realised. Will this be regarded as the age of robots? The inventive brains of world:-famed people of genius seem to teem with such amazing schemes that one cannot help speculating if the time ■will come when the ultimate l invention will be one designed to dispense with self. So to-day in myriad research centres diligent workers are planning and exnerimenting with all manner of uncannily accurate devices, whereby humans may be relieved either in part or in whole of their responsibilities as living forces. Of all modern inventions, there is one concerning the piloting of aircraft which, judging by recent trials, ■simply staggers and stimulates the imagination. This device is known as the automatic pilot, and it has been dabbed “George the Robot.'’ With such a name, one is not surprised to learn that George hails from Britain. 'Had he, or rather it, been invented in any other country, one feels certain that a much more suggestive title would have intrigued a somewhat blase world.

COST OF £IOO,OOO. George, the automatic pilot, is a product of the Royal Aircraft EstabfishiiLv t. which is situated at Fnrnboiough, England. Aviation generally

■; ■ :;■-■, an incalculable debt to thi - gre t research centre, which, whilst primarily founded for the purpose of improving i-Up ■efficiency of aircraft used by the Royal. Air Force, has exercised a farreaching influence upon the designs of civil aircraft throughout the Empire. For the past ten years, George has been in the embryo stage. The accumulated brain power and wealth which have been expended on this automatic pilot during that period can only be guessed, but it has been suggested that to date it has cost at ’east £IOO,OOO of British Government money. That the time and expenditure have not been in vain, is proved by the fact that already -several flights lasting several hours and up to 400 miies, u**der all manner of weather conditions, have been -made with the utmost satisfaction by using this automatic pilot. George the Robot has now reached the stage at which an aeroplane whilst in flightcan be controlled automatically with far greater precision than is -possible by even the- most skilled pilot. GYROSCOPIC MECHANISM. [.This automatic pilot takes the form of a control which depends for its s®ase of direction on a gyroscope which is driven continuously by compressed air. The gyroscope operates pneumatically certain pistons, and these in turn move the rudder and elevators. The mechanism is so sensitive- that the deviation of the aeroplane from a set course by a fraction of a degree is detected and instantly corrected. Thera is also an arrangement with this automatic pilot whereby the human pilot can make changes of course to correct, • for example, the variation of wind, or for any of the other many climatic changes. Further, the automatic pilot, can allter the trim of the aeroplane so that it can climb or dive to a different altitude whilst still maintaining complete automatic control.

This automatic pilot has been fitted to a number of widely different types of service aeroplanes, which i-amre from the 'i-irgc twin-engined machines of the Virginia and 'Southampton types to the standard two-seat sorts. So far, the device has been applied only to service aircraft, but its -.success in the irectjnt trials indicates* that its influence oiv civil aviation will be very far-reaching. RELIEVING FATIGUE. It has proved, amongst many other things, that it can be of great value in the matter of relieving the pilot in chai;ge of a large aeroplane of considerable fatigue. On a long-distance flight from Australia to England, Us value can well be imagined. From the purely commercial aspect, it is claimed

that the automatic pilot should prove yet another factor in reducing the cost

of flying, especially in the case of the large air liners operating on the regular Briteh-Europenn routes. In regard to navigation, it is maintained that the automatic pilot has definitely proved its value by increasing the accuracy of flying. Th P tests have .shown, with satisfaction to the British-experts, that this is particularly ■the case when flying in cloudy or foggy weather. Already a device of a. similar nature has been tested on a certain type of cargo sfeamer, and at least one class of steamer has made the trip to .Australia fitted with a-u automatic navigating officer. However. a«? far as

aviation is concerned. the aiito--.-' f '■■ idiot is still the close preserve of tli 11 British Government authorities, and the minute details of the invention are kept supremely secret. 'Phis is hut another notnbi'o example of th.. unostentatious manner in which Britain indicates the way to even greater I hiugs.