Unmanned aircraft, information processing method, and recording medium

An unmanned aircraft, comprising:

• a sensor that includes at least a microphone that generates sound data and an image sensor;
• and
• a processor,
• wherein a sound pickup direction of the microphone is fixed relative to the unmanned aircraft, a range in a direction in which sound pickup quality of the microphone is higher than in a range in another direction is fixed as a sound pickup characteristic, and the image sensor is rotatably fixed to the unmanned aircraft, and
• the processor:
• determines quality of a target sound by use of the sound data generated by the microphone;
• and
• controls an unmanned aircraft state that is a state of the unmanned aircraft such that the sound pickup direction is aligned with an imaging direction of the image sensor, in accordance with the determined quality, the sound pickup quality being the sound pickup characteristic of the microphone.

An information processing method performed by a processor in an unmanned aircraft that includes the processor, at least one rotor blade, and a sensor including at least a microphone that generates sound data, the information processing method comprising:

• determining quality of a target sound by use of the sound data generated by the microphone;
• identifying a sound source direction from the unmanned aircraft to a sound source of the target sound by use of data generated by the sensor;
• controlling an unmanned aircraft state that is a state of the unmanned aircraft such that a direction of a sound pickup area is aligned with the sound source direction, in accordance with the determined quality, the sound pickup area being a range in which sound pickup quality of the microphone is higher than that of another area;
• and
• controlling the unmanned aircraft state such that a change in a rotational speed of the at least one rotor blade included in the unmanned aircraft is minimized.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use by a processor in an unmanned aircraft that includes the processor, at least one rotor blade, and a sensor including at least a microphone that generates sound data, the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing the processor to execute an information processing method including:

• determining quality of a target sound by use of the sound data generated by the microphone;
• identifying a sound source direction from the unmanned aircraft to a sound source of the target sound by use of data generated by the sensor;
• controlling an unmanned aircraft state that is a state of the unmanned aircraft such that a direction of a sound pickup area is aligned with the sound source direction, in accordance with the determined quality, the sound pickup area being a range in which sound pickup quality of the microphone is higher than that of another area;
• and
• controlling the unmanned aircraft state such that a change in a rotational speed of the at least one rotor blade included in the unmanned aircraft is minimized.