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VoloDrone Heavy-Lift Cargo Drone Makes First Public Flight
- GordonS 5y agoSince these can life 200kg, I wonder if they could be used to transport people? I'm thinking along the lines of an air taxi, or a personal flyer for short hops). Obviously the shape of the "cargo bay" would need redesigned, and you'd need to add weight for chairs, doors, safety stuff etc, but could it still transport 1 or maybe 2 people?
- jeffreyrogers 5y agoI don't understand the advantage of this drone configuration over a heavy lift helicopter, or something like the V-22. Hard to believe so many smaller rotors are more efficient than 1 or 2 large ones.
- holoduke 5y agoI don't call this heavy weight. For now I only see potential market in more efficient sea container carriers. Even within a large sea harbour it could be very useful. Cost wise I don't know.
- sockpuppet_12 5y agoCool.
- scanny 5y agoThey have come a long way from their flying Zumba-ball days [0,1] [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/E-volo_erstflug.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/E-volo_e... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volocopter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volocopter
- bserge 5y agoSooo, when will they realize a helicopter is more efficient?
- qayxc 5y agoNever, because it isn't. The problems with helicopters are the need for a pilot (cost, risk) and the significantly higher cost (both purchase and upkeep).
- mkl 5y agoI get that they're mechanically more complicated, but why is a pilot necessary?
- foota 5y agoI believe helicopters are less stable than multirotor vehicles, so a pilot is more necessary.
- TeMPOraL 5y agoComputers are better than humans at dynamic stabilization, so this would be an argument for not having a pilot.
- numpad0 5y agoHelicopters are much more stable. Multis has zero static stability. Just look at how they tumble out of sky when controls die.
- baybal2 5y agoYes, helicopters can be made statically stable through mechanical ways only.
- MichaelZuo 5y agoMost modern helicopters have electronic-hydraulic control systems.
- zokier 5y agoAutonomous helicopters are a thing https://www.theverge.com/transportation/2019/3/5/18250996/sikorsky-autonomous-helicopter-flying-taxi-lockheed https://www.theverge.com/transportation/2019/3/5/18250996/si... https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/17/21024988/skyryse-autonomous-helicopter-technology-video-demo https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/17/21024988/skyryse-autonom...
- konschubert 5y agoNot clear to me what kind of goods would be transported this way?
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoAnything? I mean, use your imagination.
- ovi256 5y agoAmazon could deliver a wide range of goods using this. Pallets of groceries, furniture, household appliances. 200kg is a good payload.
- hef19898 5y agoAnd then they land in your garden? Warehouse to warehouse transfersaybe, but for that proper planning can make that work with trucks over night.
- post_break 5y agoHow about an amazon locker location that has a landing zone. I'd love that.
- greentissue 5y agoMaybe create virtual roads for flying? The "roads" do not have anything there and are therefore safe to fly over?
- nradov 5y agoCongratulations to them, but 200 kg isn't heavy lift. Real vertical heavy lift capacity is in the 10 tonnes range.
- Aeolun 5y agoCompared to the 10kg that current drones can do it is.
- nradov 5y agoMQ-8 drones have been in service for years and can lift way more than 10kg.
- Robotbeat 5y ago1) Non-electric. Means higher emissions, operating costs, more complicated. 2) swashplate-based means more maintenance, low frequency sound that travels further. 3) Not commercially available. It’s for military use primarily. When people (EDIT: i.e. normies) use drone in this context, they’re talking about multi rotor electric vehicles that have less maintenance (in principle) than conventional helicopters.
- nradov 5y ago"Drone" has been an established term for decades. It is absolutely not limited to multi-rotor electric vehicles. The Yamaha Fazer gasoline powered helicopter is commercially available. They specifically label it as a "drone". https://global.yamaha-motor.com/news/2016/1011/fazer_r_g2.html https://global.yamaha-motor.com/news/2016/1011/fazer_r_g2.ht...
- Robotbeat 5y agoI mean, obviously you are technically correct (and, in fact, there are horizontal flight drones that are a century old... also technically "drones" and were called that a century ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#Early_drones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle#Early_... ), but I really don't think the claim is misleading for most people, whose concept of "drone" is uncrewed electric multirotor.
- 0xfaded 5y agoI got to see this in Hamburg. It was quieter than I expected, even from a couple hundred meters away. Once it was further away it probably dropped to around 60dB, but the frequency (pitch) of the sound was still distinct and therefore remained noticeable above the background noise of the port. My preconceived expectations of a drone flight also left me caught off guard by the larger moment of inertia. The cargo bay "swayed" during the flight instead of making instantaneous and zippy corrections that I've become accustomed to seeing small drones perform. Looked super alien.
- martin_a 5y agoVolocopter is the perfect example of what's wrong with "the german way" of thinking about transportation. Instead of improving public transportation, goods on the rails, improving bicycle infrastructure, lots of effort is put into crowding the skys, too. All pushed by a blatantly incompetent minister who was fantasizing about "air taxis" and how they will improve our life, while rural Germany is still stuck on < 16 MBit internet connections. It's all just a giant clusterfuck with setting the wrong priorities.
- jallasprit 5y agoIt is much harder to productify infrastructure improvements across the nation, meanwhile this drone can be sold in the thousands to retail operators and the likes (so the makers can get rich).
- rad_gruchalski 5y agoIn Germany? These will hit the same problems as improving existing infrastructure. Want to pull fibre under the road? 18 months planning permissions. Dig ditches in rural areas? Well, some of the locals don’t like the noise or mud on the road, tough luck. They object and the whole process extends by months. Want to replace the roof? Better make sure you don’t make it higher than what local code allows! And use the same colour for the tiles… New road? 2 years. Improving drainage? 2 years. Everyone has something to say, everyone can object and block the nice things for everybody else. These will hit the same issues. People will complain about noise or just simply drones flying above. Soon it will turn out they can’t fly here, or there, or from there, or to there.
- kburman 5y agoNow I wonder what the line that differentiate between a helicopter and a drone?
- zokier 5y agoMulticopters are subclass of helicopters. Drones are unmanned (air)craft, which can rotor or fixed-wing based.
- fuoqi 5y agoI wonder how much they pay for insurance and what are regulations around it, i.e. what will happen if it crashes and kills someone in result?
- hef19898 5y agoFirst flights have to be approved by authorities, in order to get that approval safety if flight has to optained through testing. Obviously, you gonna have insurance. Also, flight scenarios and flight paths are pretty limited. E.g. flying of inhabited regions is a non starter. One of the reasons in Europe more ambitious flight tests are done in Spain where you have a lot of space. And one of the reasons Jobi for example is testing at military airports and airspace.
- AHASIC 5y agoHere is the video if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvUz4LgAJWE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvUz4LgAJWE
- jcims 5y agoI wonder what it would sound like if they went to a higher blood count on the props. For some reason they don’t seem to have garnered much attention yet, but eight blade props are extremely quiet relative to the smaller prop counts. Here’s example comparing a typical 2 (or 3) blade 5” prop to an 8 blade on a drone. The 8 blade is smaller, 3” i believe, with similar performance but a major difference in sound. https://youtu.be/1nk74KEIc2c?t=136 https://youtu.be/1nk74KEIc2c?t=136 Here’s another one with two 8’s stacked on each motor. https://youtu.be/i58cC2hntqQ https://youtu.be/i58cC2hntqQ Also for all the time spent developing the aircraft and the importance that perception plays in selling it you would think they might have put a little more effort in figuring out how to efficiently load it. That was torture watching haha. (wtf Apple, the ’haha’ in my last sentence autocorrected to ‘gays’?!? I wonder what i haven’t caught)
- DaveExeter 5y agoPropeller efficiency drops off with increasing blade count.
- Saris 5y agoI think from my limited knowledge of propellers that more blades is less efficient, so it would lower flight time.
- all2 5y ago> higher blood count Made me chuckle :)
- jcims 5y agolol I’m leaving it
- NickNameNick 5y ago
- kleiba 5y agoVery interesting. I wonder though what is the exact use case for this kind of transportation, i.e., in which way it is superior to the current way of transporting goods.
- mkr-hn 5y agoRight now: buy a stack of sheet rock (50+ pounds each) to finish a room, wait while it moves by truck through traffic. Future: order on your phone, get it flown out to the work site.
- kleiba 5y agoWho does the unloading of the sheet rock from the device in the future?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gremloni 5y agoScary that anyone with a gun can bring down 200kgs on people or buildings. But people probably said the same thing about cars and planes.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoDiz iz in Hämbörg, Görmännie! Vee häff no facking GUNNZ because VÄRRBOTÄHN! (mostly, anyways)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nharada 5y agoCould this be MORE resilient to firearms than a helicopter? Multiple redundancy to rotor failure and no pilot who could accidentally get hit
- 5y ago
- rmah 5y agoNot sure how to say this without sounding snarky, but how is 200kg cargo capacity over 40km "heavy lift"? That barely qualifies as ultralight for helicopters. Cargo capacities of 4,000 kg over 400km, is considered "medium" for helicopters.
- post_break 5y agoMaybe because it doesn't require a helicopter pilot? You could run it 24x7 possibly autonomous to deliver specified goods. Heavy lift is also relative. 20mph on a bicycle is fast, 20mph in a car is slow.
- greentissue 5y agocouldn't they focus on developed an autonomous/robotic helicopter rather then a drone? I don't think it can run 24x7 since it needs to refuel/recharge.
- Robotbeat 5y agoIt definitely is heavy lift as far as drones are concerned. But I am disappointed that there has been so few drones trying to go in this direction that 200kg is considered “heavy.” (You can make arguments that the multi rotor approach has lower maintenance needs than swashplate-based conventional helicopters, besides the use of electricity instead of hydrocarbons… these all potentially allow lower operating costs. And the higher pitch sound of multi rotors travels less far than low frequency of helicopter blades.)
- idiotsecant 5y agoIt's not just maintenance issues - it's fundamental aerodynamics. Efficiency scales with the diameter of the rotor in rotary wing aircraft. Larger rotors are more efficient. In a helicopter you lose a bit of that efficiency from the tail rotor, but past a certain size helicopters are always going to be more efficient, until you get the size regime that materials drive all designs to become multi-rotor. It seems like maybe there is a niche for very large fixed-pitch propeller vehicles like quadrotors but at that scale why stick with fixed pitch at all? You could still have variable pitch rotors with variable speed drivers and get the best of both worlds, like a Kaplan turbine in hydraulics, but in reverse.