Since 1980, there has been a
bounty on the table in the form of the Sikorksy Challenge - which states
that any group able to build a human powered helicopter that can meet
those criteria, all without leaving a 10-meter by 10-meter area, will be
awarded a prize of $250,000 and the universal admiration of fellow
engineers. A few teams came close in the 80's and 90's, but no group
has claimed the prize. That may be changing soon.
A team of 75 students from the
University of Maryland have built a of carbon fiber helicopter that is
inching its way towards that record, and it is called the Gamera -
whimsically named after the flying turtle from old Japanese monster
movies and a play on the university's mascot, the Terrapin.
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