Since drones entered mainstream consciousness, people have gotten creative with developing new ideas for how they can be used. Drones can deliver food and other small items. They can even bake cakes or play instruments when configured properly. Now, a team of researchers at UC Berkeley’s High Performance Robotics Laboratory (HiPeRLab) has created a 'Passively Morphing Quadcopter' that can temporarily shrink down to squeeze through small spaces.
While this isn't the first drone that can compress its shape mid-flight, it is the only one that can shift its shape without using any additional hardware components. This feature helps preserve battery life, enabling the aircraft the fly even longer. Engines enable the arms to rotate freely and constant force springs provide the momentum to change shape. When no thrust is applied, the springs pull the arms into a folded configuration.
When the drone approaches an opening smaller than it can fit, it can plot a course that allows its arms to retract as it's flying through a small small space. The rotors shut off and after the drone passes through, it loses a bit of altitude as it powers back up. While this set up can offer up a number of useful real-world applications, like inspecting hard-to-reach areas, there is still work to be done by the HiPeRLab team for it to work in any other scenario where there isn't a wide open area on the other side of a small space for the drone to squeeze though. Nevertheless, when perfected, it could make for an innovative filmmaking tool.
That doesn't make any sense. Conservation of energy.
If what you're saying was true, then a drone with infinitely stiff arms would use zero energy, and one with flexible string for the "arms" (main body is suspended below) would require infinite energy.
No, drone with infinitely stiff arms would not use zero energy. How did you come to that conclusion? I said a drone with springed arms needs more energy to keep them straight. More means more than some base level, and base level is not zero. For example, you cannot descend with the same maximum speed as normal drone because if the throttle becomes too low the arms will fold. Same for maneuvres as during them throttle on some arms can be down to zero. So a drone with springed arms basically always flies with a higher throttle and it restricts its possible movements. Only when it hovers doing nothing, it is comparable to a normal drone.
Just draw a diagram of the forces acting on the drone. And I was not saying infinitely stiff arms would use zero energy....I said the opposite!
Yes, the props do have to produce a minimum amount of force to overcome the springs, but that force is not wasted, it's used to keep the drone aloft. All the designers have to do is make sure the spring force is no higher than the force required to keep the drone aloft.
Another way to demonstrate this is to hold something overhead. Then put a spring on it and hold it overhead again. Do you have to work any harder? The answer is no, provided that it's not wobbling all over the place because of poor spring placement (which doesn't appear to be the case with the drone).
We are in total agreement. So when the drone is accelerating upwards, hovering, or gradually descending, the springs have no impact. But during fast descents the arms might collapse leading to an uncontrolled descent.
This all assumes the arms can't simply be locked in place....
During the fast descents AND during the maneuvres such as flip, roll etc. because then one side has higher throttle (up to the max) and the opposite side has lower throttle (down to the zero). With springed arms you can't use zero throttle, therefore you need to keep the difference between throttle on one side and another to succesfully complete the flip. That means, you need to have higher throttle on the other side (to keep the same difference), or, it if is already at max, the flip will not complete in the same time and the drone will need more space to perform it.
What is the lens focal length? Does it have a good IS system? Drone Prototype Review .com? I expected to see at least something related to, or providing solutions to current problems in photography. But I can't find a single word explaining the relationship with the topic. Yes, plastics are employed for filmmaking, but would you post any news on new plastics research?
It can't fly folded. It only folds momentarily and it must unfold quickly to sustain the airborne state. In folded state it is a rock free falling from the sky..
@mmarian, ever been in an airconditioning duct? There is plenty of room to fly an extended drone. The inlets/outlets are smaller, therefore a soldier could place a folded drone inside. Then fly all around the building, spying through the ducts.
@cdembrey You are kidding right? Drones are noisy to not be detected flying inside of A/C ducts!! But the biggest problem is that the system is not flexible enough for any real life application. It only fits into a specific window. It goes from size A to size B. If the window is smaller than size B it is a no go.
Cool and impressive, I enjoyed the video. Now just ask them how I can get my old tamron lens to focus with my Z6. It'll take them like 2 seconds max what Tamron couldn't in 9 months and counting.
If things fitting through preconfigured holes is your measure of doom, being one of your dopamine receptors sounds like easy work. Do you have openings? Oops.
Maybe Cyberdyne/Skynet is a bit dramatic. But if making drones that can shapeshift and fit anywhere doesn't give you pause, maybe your oxytocin receptors are spreadeagled. Perhaps a healthy shot of reflection may 'be 'fitting'
(1) Gross exaggeration. (2) Cockroaches can already do this much better. (3) Call me when they've made them silent. (4) And there is ONE MORE THING. Once they get to the point where these things are some sort of realistic threat to the integrity of your home (which I guess is what you're driving at), they'll sell you technology to detect them. Just another lil thing to make the wealth gap more obvious. Or you could turn Old Order Amish and pretend you're unperturbed by these things existing. Or *gasp* make a law against them.
The scary part is UC Berkeley researchers are applying their talents to this sort of thing. Think how many real, pressing technical problems could have been addressed instead.
Nice student project but I can't see a real life application tbh. Too complicated, prone to malfunction and it only shrinks from size A to size B etc etc. Why not just use smaller drone for tighter spaces. It is a no brainer.
mmarian, are you serious? (1) the whole point of this design is that it's *not* complicated. And (2) if you really can't envision a case where this might be useful, then... whatever. But solving problems like these, even before an obvious use-case appears, is part of what leads to advances. Lasers are the poster-boy example of this of course. But even less extraordinary advances can still be useful, especially when added together.
@RPJG I said that it was a nice student project. But this is a typical project which is attemting to solve a problem which does not exist. Its overall folded size is only marginally smaller than unfolded to start with. Applications for this are practically nonexistent. Smaller drones can be deployed into tight spaces. Time will be the best judge for this but I dare to say that it will be put into university shelf among other "great inventions" and that is where it will remain gathering dust...
I feel your pain. But there is a easy explanation fir the missing drone shipment: If you have no Prime membership you will have to wait ages for your package.
Size has a lot to do with the weight and battery capacity of the quadcopter. You can make the copter smaller by sacrificing size, but when you do, you drastically reduce flying time, range, and payload capacity.
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