3 ms·

Longer flight times are possible, if an engine is used instead (plus servos to change prop pitch). I'm just not sure why it hasn't been pursued much (can't be t

• foobarian 7y ago
  People have used fuel-powered drones extensively before Li-Po batteries got good (including me). My take on why they haven't taken off as much as the modern quadcopters: they are quite a bit scarier. The main two types of flier before quadcopters were fixed-wing model airplanes, and helicopters. They are both riskier to use than quadcopters: fixed wings can't be stationary and need a large area to fly around, while helicopters have large dangerous blades. This is why either of these are less attractive to the mass market. On the flip-side, I think converting a quadcopter to use an engine is expensive because controlling 4 blades at once is not as simple as with 4 electric motors. Either they need to have 4 gas engines (expensive, not as responsive as electrics) or they need to have a variable pitch mechanism (now you need an intricate/expensive mechanical system of levers and servos to transfer the control).
  • lozaning 7y ago
    Curtis Youngblood, the OG Heli god himself, actually has 2 stroke collective pitch drones: http://www.curtisyoungblood.com/platforms/tdp-mr/ http://www.curtisyoungblood.com/platforms/tdp-mr/ It's a scaled up version of his stingray.
• ActorNightly 7y ago
  It has, just in the form of Helicopters. Its been known for a while that moving a lot of air slowly with a bigger blade is more efficient than moving less air faster with 4 props. The issue is that stability and control is easier to do with 4 blades rather than with one that has a swash plate.