Building a Flying Blended Wing Body Aircraft Prototype

Anyone with an inkling of interest in super-sized remote control aircraft probably has at least seen some of the mind-blowing projects that [Ramy RC] has worked on over the years, with examples like the ongoing Airbus A380-800 build approaching the size of a full-sized business jet. That said, they recently got the offer to build a flying prototype of the Natilus Horizon, a blended wing body (BWB) aircraft that’s currently being developed into a full-sized production aircraft.

Suffice it to say that BWB RC aircraft isn’t something that they have built before, but as co-founder of Natilus, [Aleksey Matyushev], explains, they want to prove in this manner that building scale prototypes of future production aircraft is not nearly as complex as it’s often made out to be. Meaning that even two blokes in a shed as is the case here should be able to pull it off.

Natilus was founded in 2016 amidst strongly rising interest in these BWB aircraft designs that may one day threaten today’s tubes-with-wings. Their Kona design would be the cargo version and this Horizon prototype that [Ramy RC] is building the passenger version.

In this first video of two total, we can see the CAD project of the prototype and how the basic aircraft structure is being constructed out of carbon fiber composite, wood and foam. To this the engine nacelles, landing gear and wings are mounted, readying it for its maiden flight. The Natilus engineers have previously done all the simulations that should mean that it’ll fly like a glider, but we will have to wait until the next video to see whether that is the case.

youtube.com/embed/6sSr3gFUCVo?…

hackaday.com/2025/12/17/buildi…

FLOSS Weekly Episode 859: OpenShot: Simple and Fast

This week Jonathan chats with Jonathan Thomas about OpenShot, the cross-platform video editor that aims to be simple to use, without sacrificing functionality. We did the video edit with OpenShot for this episode, and can confirm it gets the job done. What led to the creation of this project, and what’s the direction it’s going? Watch to find out!

• github.com/OpenShot
• openshot.org/cloud-api/
• And that Computerphile video: youtube.com/watch?v=MS7hXuO2UK…

youtube.com/embed/405Q6AXFHWo?…

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or have the guest contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/…

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.

If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.

Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:

• Spotify
• RSS

Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

hackaday.com/2025/12/17/floss-…

Today #Ukraine journalist Vitaly Portnikov commented on #Putin’s statement about ‘European piglets’ (yes, read on…). Portnikov hits the nail on the head:

Putin is obsessed with torpedoing the European project. Understand this: a united Europe is a thorn in the side of every Russian imperialist. Every imperialist, including Putin and Trump (although he has different motives), will tell you that it is easier for him to deal with many separate countries, even large ones, than with a single bloc with a population larger than the whole of Russia. And with an economy comparable to that of the United States, and certainly larger than Russia’s. And as long as European countries are together, it is much more difficult to provoke them into fighting each other.

And here is the most important thing:

I have repeatedly pointed out that the essence of the European project is not simply prosperity – although that is also nice – but that European countries do not fight each other and their citizens do not kill each other. Eighty years ago, our continent was in ruins, Europeans were fighting each other and hated each other, they were ready to bomb their own cities. Today, we see the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister of Italy discussing fundamental issues together and travelling to Washington together.

Let us recall the history of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century – how much hatred there was between the Germans and the French, the Germans and the British, the British and the French, how much contempt there was for the Italians, who were not even considered human beings in this European concert. Where was Poland, which today is one of the world’s leading economies, but at the beginning of the century had its territory divided between three empires? This is unimaginable progress, the success of which was difficult to even dream of 100 years ago! And the small countries? They couldn’t believe they still existed at all.

And again about Putin:

And that is precisely why such a union of equal states drives Putin crazy and irritates Trump, who of course would like to negotiate with each country separately – hence his support for Brexit. And both Trump and Putin want the same thing for the whole of Europe, albeit for different reasons – Trump wants greater economic leverage, and Putin wants to rebuild Russia’s sphere of influence in Europe so that they fear him.

Full interview: youtube.com/watch?v=wrevKfGd_3… (in Russian, subtitles available)

The PediSedate: A Winning Combination Of Video Games And Anesthesia

One can understand that it would be nice to have something to focus on while trying to remain calm ahead of a medical procedure. Credit: PediSedate
Once upon a time, surgery was done on patents who were fully conscious and awake. As you might imagine, this was a nasty experience for all involved, and particularly the patients. Eventually, medical science developed the techniques of anaesthesia, which allowed patients to undergo surgery without feeling pain, or even being conscious of it at all.

Adults are typically comfortable in the medical environment and tolerate anaesthesia well. For children, though, the experience can be altogether more daunting. Thus was invented the PediSedate—a device which was marketed almost like a Game Boy accessory intended to deliver anaesthetic treatment in order to safely and effectively prepare children for surgery.

A Happy Distraction

A child wearing the PediSedate mask. Credit: PediSedate
The patent filing for the PediSedate doesn’t give away much in the title—”Inhalation And Monitoring Mask With Headset.” Still, US patent 5,697,363 (PDF) recorded an innovative device, intended to solve several issues around the delivery of anaesthesia to pediatric patients. Most specifically, those developing the device had noted a great deal of anxiety and stress when using traditional anaesthesia masks with young patients. The device was created by Geoffrey A. Hart, an anaestheologist based in Boston. His hope was to create an anaesthesia delivery device that could be used with a child in a “non-threatening, non-intrusive manner.”

The resulting device looked rather a lot like a big, colorful audio headset. Indeed, it had headphones to that could play audio to the wearer, while an arm that extended out over the face could deliver nitrous oxide or other gases via the nasal route. Sensors were included for pulse oximetry in order to track the patient’s heart rate and blood oxygenation, while an integrated capnometer measured vital respiratory factors including carbon dioxide levels in the breath. Provision in the patent was also made for including a microphone, either for interactivity purposes with entertainment content for distraction’s sake, or to allow communication with medical personnel at a distance. This would be particularly useful in the case of certain imaging studies or treatments, where doctors and nurses must remain a certain distance away.
Press materials that showed the device in use with a handheld created the idea that this was a Game Boy accessory. It was certainly never an official one; in reality, it was a pair of headphones that also delivered anaesthesia while monitoring the patient. Credit: PediSedate
Press materials and a website were launched in 2009, as the device went through Phase II clinical trials. Most materials showed the PediSedate being used in tandem with a Nintendo Game Boy. The device featured an aesthetic that followed the late 90s trend of bright colors and translucent plastics. It was often paired in photos hooked up to a Game Boy to help distract a child during sedation, with the device often talked about as an “accessory” for the handheld console. This wasn’t really the case—it was essentially a child-friendly anaesthetic mask with headphones that could be hooked up to any relevant sound source. However, at the time, a Game Boy was a readily available way to distract and calm a sick child, and it could be had in colors that matched the PediSedate device.

Those behind the PediSedate noted the device was “very well recieved by parents, kids and health-care workers.” The benefits seem to pass the common-sense check—it’s believable that the PediSedate succeeded at being a less-scary way to present children with anaesthetic treatment while also giving them something pleasant to focus on as they drifted out of consciousness. However, success was seemingly not on the cards. The PediSedate website disappeared from the internet in 2011, and precious little was heard of the device since. The creator, Geoffrey A. Hart, continued to practice medicine in the intervening years, until he resigned his license in 2024 according to the Massachusetts Board of Medicine.

youtube.com/embed/-teN8JcqLZQ?…

An explainer video demonstrated the use of the device, which was going through Phase II trials in 2009.

By and large, the medical field has gotten by without devices like the PediSedate. Children undergoing sedation with inhalational anaesthetics will typically be treated with relatively conventional masks, albeit in small sizes. They lack colorful designs or hookups for game consoles, but by and large seem to do the job. It might have been nice to play a little Donkey Kong before a daunting procedure, but alas, the PediSedate never quite caught on.

Featured image: still from Sharkie’s Gaming Controllers video on the PediSedate.

hackaday.com/2025/12/17/the-pe…