New Delhi, May 23 : Chinese scientists have said that their independently developed robot helicopter, which can fly automatically without remote control, was ready for production.

The Shenyang Automation Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has taken four years to develop two types of the robot, Xinhua reported.

The larger model at three meters long is almost the size of a small car, weighs 120 kg and has a payload of up to 40 kg. It can fly for 4 hours at a maximum cruising speed of 100 km per hour.

The smaller model weighs 40 kg and has a payload of 15 kg and maximum cruising speed of 70 km per hour.

Installed with a camera, the robot can hang in the air to catch aerial images, and search for or trace targets automatically.

Researchers in the institute said the robot could fly missions based on assigned coordinates and control programs, when wind gusts were below a velocity of force six (11 km per hour).

"They are fueled by petroleum and priced from 700,000 ($102,000) to 2 million yuan," said Wu Zhenwei, a researcher at the institute based in northeastern China's Liaoning province. (ANI)