Posted on 08/31/2014 6:45:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The Drone 3 is a proof-of-concept demonstration of a more ambitious plan. In an interesting strategy, the 1/3-size drone is being sold via Kickstarter in hopes of funding development of a full-size quadcopter hoverbike, designed for human riders. Think Return of the Jedi, forest moon of Endor, this sort of thing.
Designers say the quadcopter approach, which uses four different overlapping fans, offers improved stability, maneuverability and payload capacity than competing two-fan hoverbike designs. In fact, the Malloy hoverbike is intended to share the skies with helicopters, planes and other aircraft.
“This hoverbike is a helicopter — it takes off like a helicopter, flies and lands like a helicopter,” says Malloy Aeronautics’ Grant Stapleton in the demonstration video. “It’s designed to fly to an altitude of over 9,000 feet and do so at over 100 knots [115 mph].”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
What could possibly go wrong?
As a toy it is one thing, but as a replacement for a helicopter, something else.
The existing helicopters must adjust blade pitch, or angle of attack; on every rotation. This is inherently destructive making them expensive and puts them out of reach for casual use.
This design of overlapping rings solves that.
So, whatever happened to the Segway?
Nice rotating razor blades (propellers).
Now, if it had a propulsion system that dd not use razor blades and was quiet. . .
Looks like falling off could get dicey.
I love when a plan comes together.
Funny you should mention that. I was wondering if the hovercraft uses any of the Segway’s gyro tech.
Excellent idea. But how do they plan on overcoming the greatest obstacle that hinders these kinds of inventions: over-regulatory government bureaucracies?
Been Done.
Sooo, when you run out of fuel, how do you pull to the
shoulder?
Imagine everyone has a car and the whole world was paved...
If this hovercraft is like a typical quadcopter it has linear and rotational accelerometers, gps, a compass (for yaw), and a crude barometric altimeter.
It doesn’t have to sense “level” like a Segway, it essentially adjusts it’s props’ speeds to stay in the same gps location. This offers great stability, even in wind.
Assuming it takes off from a level position, the rotational accelerometers provide feedback to help stabilize it to “level” if desired.
The controllers typically have several modes that offer the pilot different levels of control to accommodate their experience and sophistication.
So 9000 feet and 100 MPH? It looks like the props are powered by electric motors? Unless it uses a devilishly long extension cord, flight duration is going to be limited by battery capacity.
It's the same problem designers face with producing a reasonable electric car. Mediocre performance = more power = bigger battery = more weight = further compromised performance. I expect there is a "sweet spot" in there somewhere, but it's going to be a function of payload weight.
Nice toy though...
Regards,
GtG
Hovercraft that operate more than five or ten feet above ground level will never be practical on a mass level.
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