---
title: "You Can Fly DARPA’s Idiot-Proof Helicopter With 45 Mins of Training"
description: "You can use a tablet screen to give instructions to this DARPA helicopter, which uses LIDAR and cameras to take off, land and avoid obstacles."
date: "2018-10-30"
modified: "2018-10-30"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/darpa-helicopter-tablet"
categories:
  - "DARPA"
  - "Military"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "DARPA"
  - "helicopter"
  - "lockheed martin"
  - "the digest"
---

# You Can Fly DARPA’s Idiot-Proof Helicopter With 45 Mins of Training

![You can use a tablet screen to give instructions to this idiot-proof helicopter, which uses LIDAR and cameras to take off, land and avoid obstacles.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/us-army-sikorsky-darpa-helicopter.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://prnewswire2-a.akamaihd.net/p/1893751/sp/189375100/thumbnail/entry_id/1_85f6x0ug/def_height/2700/def_width/2700/version/100011/type/1" target="\_blank"\>DARPA\</a\>\</em\>*

## Idiot-Proof

Helicopters are [notoriously tricky to fly](<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/08/last-word-on-helicopters-v-airplanes-for-now/23164/>), but Lockheed Martin and DARPA modified a commercial helicopter so that a person off the street can fly it with just 45 minutes of training.

## Trinity

In a probable nod to [that scene](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AOpomu9V6Q>) in *The Matrix* when Tank downloads instructions for flying a helicopter directly into Trinity's brain, Lockheed and DARPA call the new system MATRIX. It doesn't interface with the human mind, but it reportedly makes flying a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter so straightforward that pretty much anyone can do it.

You can use a tablet screen to give instructions to DARPA's idiot-proof helicopter, which uses LIDAR and cameras to take off, land, avoid obstacles, and follow directions. During test flights in Virginia, trained pilots stayed in the DARPA helicopter in case there was a safety issue — but they never had to take over, [according to *Breaking Defense*](<https://breakingdefense.com/2018/10/darpa-army-test-optionally-manned-helicopter-its-not-ai/>)*.*

## Flight Risk

We've [reported previously](<https://futurism.com/darpas-autonomous-system-can-fly-and-land-a-helicopter-with-just-a-tablet>) on DARPA's efforts to build a helicopter that a pilot could fly with a tablet, but the system in this DARPA helicopter is so straightforward that people with no previous training as pilots can fly it.

Lockheed and DARPA are now [working to install the same tech](<https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-10-29-U-S-Army-Pilots-Fly-Autonomous-Sikorsky-Helicopter-in-First-of-its-Kind-Demonstration>) in a Black Hawk helicopter, a military standby also manufactured by the Lockheed-owned Sikorsky.

Helicopter pilots take note: Robots are coming for your jobs, too.

**READ MORE:** [DARPA, Army Test Optionally Manned Helicopter (It’s Not A.I.)](<https://breakingdefense.com/2018/10/darpa-army-test-optionally-manned-helicopter-its-not-ai/>) \[*Breaking Defense*\]

***More on DARPA's autonomous helicopter research: [DARPA’s Autonomous System Can Fly and Land a Helicopter with Just a Tablet](<https://futurism.com/darpas-autonomous-system-can-fly-and-land-a-helicopter-with-just-a-tablet>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)