4 ms·
Two thought triggered by this article. 1: What alternative designs for quadcopter would be viable for small drones? Some lighter-than-air quality? I assume the
by the__alchemist 6y ago
Two thought triggered by this article.
1: What alternative designs for quadcopter would be viable for small drones? Some lighter-than-air quality? I assume the complexity involved in making a helicopter collective would be too heavy. Is it really quadcopters all the way down?
2: Why not smaller? Would an even smaller drone be unfeasible due to battery weight and square/cube law issues? What's stopping us from gram-scale drones? Presumably the interaction with the air would create new problems and things to take advantage of.
- andy_ppp 6y agoInteresting idea to fill a drone with helium, then presumably it could have smaller motors or longer flight time.
- jleahy 6y agoOr have wings.
- dkarl 6y agoA drone could be launched with a disposable helium balloon and remain silent until it needed to maneuver. Rotational maneuvers to aim a camera would be brief and quiet compared to hovering. On a calm night you might even be able to get it back quietly.
- krimpenrik 6y agoWent down this rabbit hole once, you'll need too much helium volume to make any difference.
- dimatura 6y agoThere's plenty of multirotor VTOL drone designs out there, which combine the practicality of vertical take-off and landing (hence, "VTOL") with the greater efficiency of wings for longer range flight. Many proof-of-concept delivery drones I've seen are of this kind. re: size, you can definitely make smaller drones. There's plenty of cute and surprisingly flyable drones out there that are less than 6 cm in diameter, some even with cameras. However, there's a few drawbacks at smaller sizes: - Less power. They can fly fine indoors, but they'll be swept away by any strong winds. - Less space for electronics/camera and batteries, so image quality and flight time will suffer.
- meheleventyone 6y agoOnce things get small wings and propellers get much less efficient. For really small drones people are looking for inspiration amongst insects so lots of flapping.
- zoomablemind 6y agoAttach the mini-drone to a helium filled ... red balloon (just to rhyme with the well-known song), or some better tactical color. This would somewhat alleviate the energy expenditure to maintain lift and prolong the flight time. The motors may selectively cut off based on present state of inertia. This may be all possible due to relatively small weight of such drones. Sure this would preclude operation in storm winds. It's a question of mission requirements. Drones of these sizes are more like a floating/hidden eye/ear than anything of direct offense. Besides, it does not need to transmit at all, just record and deliver back on homing beacon.
- the__alchemist 6y agoI think another issue with the balloon would be helium leakage, having tanks and the ability to refill them on hand, fill valves etc adding weight. Not deal breakers, but complicators. I think your point is more direct, although I wonder why something like this wouldn't be appropriate for surveillance of a fixed area etc.
- leetcrew 6y agore 1: I doubt weight is the main concern with a helicopter style drone. I've seen some palm-sized hobbyist helis at the local field. I'd guess durability is the larger concern. a quad with fixed rotors can take some pretty rough landings and still be good to go. the variable pitch mechanisms are much more delicate.