Elephant in the room - Quadcopters...

Hehe... The 1997 movie "The Fifth Element" sorta nailed it. Sort of. (In 20th-century perspective.) A screen shot:
Fifth_Element_Circles_of_Power.png

Just shrink the "barge-sized" vehicles down... a lot.

Point being to get control of the vehicle OUT OF THE HANDS OF AMATEURS. "Rush hours" will never be the same again. The hospital "industry" would collapse.
 
The future is absolutely incredible! Check these 8 project developments -

http://sinovoltaics.com/technology/top8-leading-companies-developing-solar-powered-drone-uav-technology/

5 year flights and atmospheric orbits, etc. As an old guy I think in terms of pax/cargo but these inventions are intended to provide services I don't even understand.
 
The fingers said:
http://www.myfoxla.com/story/29753429/annoyed-fisherman-hooks-drone-flying-over-pier-video
Sign on most fishing piers reads: "No Overhead Casting". :p
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Yep, the fisherman is an asshole and an idiot. MR was not flying directly over people and it's a public pier - no expectation of privacy. In fact, there's a very good chance the actions of the fisherman could've sent the MR out of control and he would've been liable for his vandalism of property and resulting injuries to bystanders.
 
Couldn't help but admire this guys home made flying machine, at first I figured he would run out of power quickly but it hovers about for a decent amount of time..
I have been reading a lot of battery breakthroughs over the last year and if even if %10 of them come through (or join forces through accumulative technologies) I for see this type of electrical flight becoming quite practical! (maybe?) :mrgreen:

I think hobbyking will be doing well out of this guy.

[youtube]t5JgnMJzCtQ[/youtube]
 
I have been building and flying tricopters, quads and y6 hexacopters for a couple years now. If anyone has an interest in the physics of it as it relates to flight time vs weight and component selection, you have to check out http://www.ecalc.ch

They still let you try it for free and it's fun to play with to see the difficulties involved in designing for heavy lifts or long flight times.

Here is a pic of the last one I built. 3d printed frame, full remote video setup (fpv), and I have a serial connection through my 433mhz radio so I can give it waypoints via laptop 5 miles away. :)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1441468978.167935.jpg

And imho once you have a 13" carbon fibre prop take a chunk out of your finger it's hard to have much faith in plastic prop guards.
 
Nice custom stuff. There's good reason folks nickname CF props "spinning steak knives".
 
Another "biggie". A Multi thingee:
http://interestingengineering.com/volocopter/

VC200_oben_T_A-660x362.jpg
 
LockH said:
Another "biggie". A Multi thingee:
http://interestingengineering.com/volocopter/
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Looks cool. I wonder if its got similar battery life like the lipo bricked British one I posted earlier.
I was thinking maybe a way around battery problem is to have a small ice engine in the middle. And it would act in dual purpose as one being core thrust with a propeller pointing downwards but the ICE engine would also act as an electrical generator to feed electric power to all the side motors for find grain control.
So it would essentially be the same thing but a 'hybrid' for my range... and if the ICE motor fails their would be enough electric battery just to land.
 
Was just browsing around on quadcopters and found this thread for the best quadcopter between $300 - $500.
I don't know if these guys are geniuses or not but they do appear to be active users with 1000's of posts on an rc forum...
The winner was this XK380 X which has an impressive flight time of 30 minutes, super easy to fly apparently and very stable.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2524644&page=2
 
It depends on what you want to do.
-If you want to fly around at 2mph taking glassy smooth 4k resolution gimbal stabilized videos you want a big octocopter
-If you want to go exploring you want a 400+ sized RTH enabled quadcopter like the TBS discover. You don't want anything DJI, Blade, WLtoys, because the range on them sucks and the receivers are integrated into the flight controller boards so you can't swap them out for something that is worth a darn.
-If you want to race around darting through the trees, zipping through the park you want something like the QAV180 or QAV250.
-If you want to actually go exploring you want fixed wing as 30 minute flight time on a quad means hauling a friggin' humungous battery (XK380 is full of it) 1hr + on a fixed wing craft is easily attainable but a logistical nightmare on quadcopter.
 
TheBeastie said:
Gather around everyone, worlds biggest looser right here...
I cut through the wires on all my motors, going to cost $100 USD to get 4 new motors.
Can see all the carnage here..I took photos with a phone microscope lens gadget... Which was the only upside to this whole problem since I hadn't found a use for it yet and with the naked eye I couldn't see any damage.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwxrzOTOLzKvT1htaE50SHhYUjA&usp=sharing

The prop guards didn't come with screws and the thumb screws that come with the legs are same thread..
I did wonder if I could ruining my motors by screwing in my prop guards with screws too long but I thought there is no way they would ever allow someone to ruin the motors in such an easy way, boy was I wrong.

Here is a pic of the screw with the prop guard on going through the bottom all the way into the motor winding wire.
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Well I bought some nicer more expensive motors compared to last time as I figured I may as well upgrade while I am at it.
I put them on and checked they were spining the right way etc then took it out for a test fly... The quad kept flipping over, then darn it I did in fact have one motor spinning the wrong way.. I take it home and fully take off the top shell off which basically involves unscrewing everything.. and sure enough I had two wires on the motor back to front. I pop them in the right way.
While screwing the shell back on I decided to speed things up by popping all the screws in first then I can move around with the screw driver and drive them all in.
I finish tightening the last screw in thinking nice job and then I go "OH NO!" you guessed it I forgot to put the prop guards on again and over screwed into the motors.
Just did a non take off spin up test now and I have 2 motors barely spinning.
I couldn't believe they design motors/quadcopters this way when I first did this mistake and now I am double shocked they design them this way. I have now spent enough money on this quadcopter to have almost bought it twice brand new.
 

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Classic noob quad building move. Running a screw into the windings happens to everyone at least once.
 
DHL to invest $16.3 million and introduce drones in India
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...duce-drones-in-india/articleshow/50108396.cms
dhl-to-invest-16-3-million-and-introduce-drones-in-india.jpg

SINGAPORE: Global logistics provider DHL is planning to invest about $16.3 million in all its business segments in India and introduce new technologies, including drones, for deliveries and managing logistics, a senior company executive said today.

"We are investing in all divisions in India," said Matthias Heutger, senior vice president for strategy marketing and development.

Speaking at the launch of DHL Asia Pacific Innovation Centre here, he said the group will be introducing new technologies including drones for deliveries and managing logistics in the Indian market in the future.

"The use of drones in the delivering and managing logistics is becoming increasingly important globally, especially in the remote and disaster hit areas," he told PTI.

DHL has already invested Euro 100 million ($109 million) for transportation, warehousing, information technology network and manpower training over the last three years.

It also plans to include a new Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) in North India next year and participate in the rail-based transportation.

DHL is expected to invest between Euro 5 million (USD 5.4 million) and Euro 15 million (USD 16.3 million) in the zone, which will be its third in India. As part of the elaborate investment plan, state-of-the-art warehouses will be set up near high demand growth regions such as Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Ambala and Kochi. A new airport is expected to come in Mumbai.

Long haul trucks are being used on the North-South Indian corridor for speedy delivery on long routes. Owing to such expansion, the company's growth in India has outpaced the overall sectoral growth in the country, the company said.

The Indian logistics industry is annually growing at 10-11 per cent while DHL is growing its supply chain business between 25-30 per cent, it said.

"With our emerging markets expected to generate 30 per cent of DHL global revenue by 2020, our sustained industry leadership demands that we successfully differentiate our services in these markets through well-calculated forays into new technologies, processes and products," said Bill Meahl, Chief Commercial Officers.

The launch of the centre in Singapore is a natural step to maintain our lead as a frontrunner in innovation, following the success of our first centre in Germany, he said.

The centre will drive DHL's "trend research" initiative focusing on emerging trends in Asian logistics and economic activity, he added.
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hahaha awesome. Drone police. They better be fast if they want to keep up with me :)
 
I don't understand why you think the military isn't using small quads. . . .

So the government has come up with a solution to drones turning up where they're not wanted - EVERYONE will pay $5. Seems the government getting it's hands on $100-200 million or so takes care of everything. The website to register yours will be up in January.

crooked-house-building.jpg
 
"FAA announces mandatory registration for drone owners"
http://interestingengineering.com/faa-announces-mandatory-registration-for-drone-owners/

A mandatory registration for drones was just approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and all drones over 0.55 pounds (250 grams) must be registered by February 16th, 2016, or the owners will be subjected to fines.

Lately, the FAA has been concentrating all its efforts into creating a system of rules, since they are concerned about the possibility of thousands of drones being given this year as Christmas gifts, leading to a series of accidents involving unmanned vehicles.

Drones have really been all over the media recently for having interfered in police operations, for flying too close to airports and planes and smuggling things into prisons in the United States. These trouble makers have their days counted with this new regulation.

“Make no mistake: unmanned aircraft enthusiast are aviators, and with that title comes a great deal of responsibility,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Registration gives us an opportunity to work with these users to operate their unmanned aircraft safely. I’m excited to welcome these new aviators into the culture of safety and responsibility that defines American innovation.”

Starting December 21, owners have to register their drones online for a US$ 5 fee (although the FAA is suspending the fee during the first 30 days). Those who already own a drone will have until February 19, 2016 to register their drones. Drones purchased after December 21 will have to be registered before ever flying outdoors. The registrations will be valid for three years. Pilots will have to provide their name, home address and e-mail addresses and must be at least 13 years old to register.

During the registration process, drones owners will each receive a single registration number and that number must be marked on their drones. The registration numbers are linked to the owner, not the drone itself, so you can use the same number for multiple drones.
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