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If you want a fun time take a look at projected "technology of the future" from the 1910s or 1950s. The former was lots of steam-powered versions of things tha

by evgen 12y ago

If you want a fun time take a look at projected "technology of the future" from the 1910s or 1950s. The former was lots of steam-powered versions of things that already existed and the latter was nuclear versions of the same. Now we are seeing the quadcopter/drone version of this particular delusion. As others have pointed out, a quadcopter is ill-suited to this task, will probably not have the lift-capacity or range to make this work effectively, is not as safe as the helicopter version. While quadcopter drones may play a bigger role in the future it may also turn out that the sweet-spot for these devices is in moving small objects short distances, where they are already being used -- we might just be at a point where we can see the limit of what quadcopters can actually accomplish given battery tech available for the next twenty years or so. Here is another idea to consider: scale down a real helicopter or a tiltrotor to handle a patient and attending nurse and attach drone controls to that.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
Except it doesn't mean anything to say 'attach drone controls' to a helicopter. A quadcoptor has different physical performance characteristics that dictate the form of its controls. A helicopter will never behave similarly. Quadcopters have wonderful physical properties that make them suitable for maneuvering in tight spaces, far beyond a helicopter.
- evgen 12y ago
  The problem is that those same wonderful properties make them completely unsuitable for the task at hand. They have a weight threshold that severely limits their uses and they are unsafe for carrying anything important that cannot take a drop from max height at max velocity given the failure modes. Making better/smarter autopilots for a small helicopter or VTOL aircraft that can actually fly point to point would be more useful and might actually work, unlike this quadcopter idea.

by evgen 12y ago

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

Except it doesn't mean anything to say 'attach drone controls' to a helicopter. A quadcoptor has different physical performance characteristics that dictate the form of its controls. A helicopter will never behave similarly. Quadcopters have wonderful physical properties that make them suitable for maneuvering in tight spaces, far beyond a helicopter.

evgen 12y ago
The problem is that those same wonderful properties make them completely unsuitable for the task at hand. They have a weight threshold that severely limits their uses and they are unsafe for carrying anything important that cannot take a drop from max height at max velocity given the failure modes. Making better/smarter autopilots for a small helicopter or VTOL aircraft that can actually fly point to point would be more useful and might actually work, unlike this quadcopter idea.