And you thought I couldn't get any more ambitious...
When I was talking to one of my other friends on Skype, he suggested that we invent something, on the condition that 'if it wouldn't look at home in Thunderbirds, we bin in.' I agreed, of course, and suggested that we make a flying robot with all sorts of gadgets. He thought that was an excellent idea, and we both rapidly started firing ideas for gadgets and other features of the robot (such as a laser, a saw, and a chocolate fountain). Then, he mentioned the idea of it turning invisible. He was probably joking, but a while ago I came up with an idea for how to make an invisibility cloak, so I was eager to use that.
I'm sure you're all aware of the concept used in Die Another Day to explain how James Bond's invisible car worked. Basically, all sides of the car have cameras on them, with corresponding screens on the opposite sides. So the screen that you're looking at will be displaying an image of what's directly behind it, on the other side of the car. Therefore, it's as if the car isn't there.
This does have some problems, unfortunately. The main issue is that of perspective. The screens will be showing what's directly behind that part of the car, so it will be completely messed up if you look at it from an angle. It's possible to solve this problem by applying the same principle as those holographic cards that appear to change as you look at them from different angles. But to do that with screens would, obviously, be very complicated and very difficult to do. It's well beyond my capabilities, as is even having enough screens to do it at all.
My idea is possibly easier for someone like me to achieve, since it doesn't require all those screens. Instead of using screens, it has projectors suspended over the sides of the craft, projecting the image (picked up by the camera on the opposite side) onto the sides of the craft. This would eliminate the need for screens, but projectors are expensive and probably don't work particularly well in daylight. Also, even if they were fully effective, the projectors themselves would still be fully visible.
Alternatively, to fix the problem of the projectors still being visible, you could have them on the inside of the craft, utilising the concept of rear projection (though that doesn't give as sharp an image). However, this still isn't very practical because projectors are very expensive. So, while I was thinking about how I could make my own projector, I came up with a completely different way of making our craft invisible.
Mirrors! To put it very simply, imagine two periscopes stuck together. With the second periscope, the image you're seeing has now been brought back down to what's directly in front of you. So it would be as if you're seeing straight through the periscope.
That is essentially how my idea works. There is a mirror on the front of the craft, at an angle, so that it reflects the image from a mirror above it, also at an angle (just like a periscope). That higher mirror is reflecting the image from a mirror opposite it, at the back of the craft. That, in turn, is reflecting the image from a mirror lower down, covering the back of the craft, which is reflecting the image of what's behind the craft.
I hope that makes sense.
This would mean that, when you look at the front of the craft, you're seeing the image of what's directly behind it, making it appear invisible. Of course, this comes with the obvious problem that the higher mirrors will still be very much visible. However, I do have a solution for that.
My initial solution was to have both sides of the upper mirrors be reflective. That would create a rudimentary 'invisibility' effect, given the environment is agreeable to it. But it could easily not be very effective at all. So I came up with another idea.
The upper mirrors could be two-way mirrors. They would be reflective on the inside, allowing the invisibility process to work, but from the outside you would be able to see right through them. This would mean that, while the lower mirror would show what is directly on the other side, the upper mirror will be transparent and therefore you'll see the opposite upper mirror. This, obviously, would show the same image as the lower mirror, so you'd get a double-image. That wouldn't be too much of a bad thing if the background is more or less the same over a large area, like if the drone was flying in front of a plain wall.
However, this whole mirror concept, despite being much more doable than the previous two invisibility suggestions, is probably the least effective. It has some significant problems with things like perspective and the size of the reflections, so I'm not sure if it's going to be at all worth implementing into our flying drone. But I've bought some reflective material, so I've got to try it anyway.
Because of a recent flood of awesome, major improvements to my web shooter design, I've come to the conclusion that things are generally possible, and usually have a very simple solution. So I'm going to try and come up with another way of making an invisibility cloak. If I can't think of how to do it myself, I'll probably resort to getting the answers from God (as in, looking at exactly how certain animals do it).
When I was talking to one of my other friends on Skype, he suggested that we invent something, on the condition that 'if it wouldn't look at home in Thunderbirds, we bin in.' I agreed, of course, and suggested that we make a flying robot with all sorts of gadgets. He thought that was an excellent idea, and we both rapidly started firing ideas for gadgets and other features of the robot (such as a laser, a saw, and a chocolate fountain). Then, he mentioned the idea of it turning invisible. He was probably joking, but a while ago I came up with an idea for how to make an invisibility cloak, so I was eager to use that.
I'm sure you're all aware of the concept used in Die Another Day to explain how James Bond's invisible car worked. Basically, all sides of the car have cameras on them, with corresponding screens on the opposite sides. So the screen that you're looking at will be displaying an image of what's directly behind it, on the other side of the car. Therefore, it's as if the car isn't there.
This does have some problems, unfortunately. The main issue is that of perspective. The screens will be showing what's directly behind that part of the car, so it will be completely messed up if you look at it from an angle. It's possible to solve this problem by applying the same principle as those holographic cards that appear to change as you look at them from different angles. But to do that with screens would, obviously, be very complicated and very difficult to do. It's well beyond my capabilities, as is even having enough screens to do it at all.
My idea is possibly easier for someone like me to achieve, since it doesn't require all those screens. Instead of using screens, it has projectors suspended over the sides of the craft, projecting the image (picked up by the camera on the opposite side) onto the sides of the craft. This would eliminate the need for screens, but projectors are expensive and probably don't work particularly well in daylight. Also, even if they were fully effective, the projectors themselves would still be fully visible.
Alternatively, to fix the problem of the projectors still being visible, you could have them on the inside of the craft, utilising the concept of rear projection (though that doesn't give as sharp an image). However, this still isn't very practical because projectors are very expensive. So, while I was thinking about how I could make my own projector, I came up with a completely different way of making our craft invisible.
Mirrors! To put it very simply, imagine two periscopes stuck together. With the second periscope, the image you're seeing has now been brought back down to what's directly in front of you. So it would be as if you're seeing straight through the periscope.
That is essentially how my idea works. There is a mirror on the front of the craft, at an angle, so that it reflects the image from a mirror above it, also at an angle (just like a periscope). That higher mirror is reflecting the image from a mirror opposite it, at the back of the craft. That, in turn, is reflecting the image from a mirror lower down, covering the back of the craft, which is reflecting the image of what's behind the craft.
I hope that makes sense.
This would mean that, when you look at the front of the craft, you're seeing the image of what's directly behind it, making it appear invisible. Of course, this comes with the obvious problem that the higher mirrors will still be very much visible. However, I do have a solution for that.
My initial solution was to have both sides of the upper mirrors be reflective. That would create a rudimentary 'invisibility' effect, given the environment is agreeable to it. But it could easily not be very effective at all. So I came up with another idea.
The upper mirrors could be two-way mirrors. They would be reflective on the inside, allowing the invisibility process to work, but from the outside you would be able to see right through them. This would mean that, while the lower mirror would show what is directly on the other side, the upper mirror will be transparent and therefore you'll see the opposite upper mirror. This, obviously, would show the same image as the lower mirror, so you'd get a double-image. That wouldn't be too much of a bad thing if the background is more or less the same over a large area, like if the drone was flying in front of a plain wall.
However, this whole mirror concept, despite being much more doable than the previous two invisibility suggestions, is probably the least effective. It has some significant problems with things like perspective and the size of the reflections, so I'm not sure if it's going to be at all worth implementing into our flying drone. But I've bought some reflective material, so I've got to try it anyway.
Because of a recent flood of awesome, major improvements to my web shooter design, I've come to the conclusion that things are generally possible, and usually have a very simple solution. So I'm going to try and come up with another way of making an invisibility cloak. If I can't think of how to do it myself, I'll probably resort to getting the answers from God (as in, looking at exactly how certain animals do it).