Tag Archives: research

Multirotors Research

Interesting video from BBSRC: Octocopter! Experimental drone for agricultural research

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I am glad to share here this great video on an experimental Octocopter for agricultural research.

Credits to BBSRC, check out the original article by Arran Frood. Here’s a short excerpt:

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An advanced eight-rotor model dubbed the octocopter (see ‘Flight-al statistics’), has been put through its paces by researchers led by Andrew Riche of Rothamsted Research, an institute devoted to plant, soil and agricultural science that receives strategic funding from UK bioscience funders BBSRC.

octocopter-for-agricultural-research

Rothamsted is the site of the longest running field experiments in the world, where farm systems and inputs such as fertiliser, pesticides and crop growth have been running for more than a hundred years. In the 21st century, they want to see if drone surveillance can take much of the drudgery and footwork out of these large-scale experiments that span over 200 hectares of picturesque English countryside. As a demonstrator technology, the researchers are embarking on a rigorous programme of regularly recording experiments over five hectares (the size of seven football pitches) to see exactly what this airborne marvel is capable of.

“This year we have focused on monitoring crop height through the season and also crop maturity, says Riche. “Different wheat lines mature at different rates, and we regularly monitor this on the ground – this year we hope to have done it from the air.”

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Check out the full article here. All inquiries to Arran Frood, arran.frood@bbsrc.ac.uk

Stay tuned on the Personal Drones Blog for the latest quadcopter and multirotor news!

On the news

Skysense Launching Charging Pad for Drones and partnering with DroneDeploy to enable remote operations & automation

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I am glad to share here some great information from Skysense about their unique “Charging Pad” for drones and partnership with other players in the drone industry.

Skysense drone charging pad
Skysense drone charging pad

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We are officially launching the Skysense Charging Pad, a remote-controlled charger for drones that fixes the last mile of drones automation by allowing you to manage flights remotely and deploy fully autonomous missions: Continue reading Skysense Launching Charging Pad for Drones and partnering with DroneDeploy to enable remote operations & automation →

On the news

Kaizen Kinetics: Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company

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I am glad to publish the following press release by Kaizen Kinetics:

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Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company

Kaizen Kinetics

Kaizen Kinetics International (K2I Inc.) is one of North America’s premier unmanned systems companies with headquarters in San Diego, California and manufacturing operations in Vancouver, BC.
Kaizen Kinetics was launched out of the offices of Affordable Engineering Services, on Coronado Island. Continue reading Kaizen Kinetics: Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company →

Multirotors Research, On the news

Drone Mapping of Coral Reefs and the Coastal Zone in the Carribean

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Nature.org has a great story by Steve Shill, a Senior Scientist for the Caribbean Program, developing methods, tools, and information products for countries seeking to identify high priority conservation areas based on biodiversity value and risk assessments.

The story focuses on his project, carried out with his students, aimed at mapping marine habitats with a self constructed drone, made just for this purpose.

Have a look at this beautiful little bird called “Henri”:

“Henri” is able to take off from and land in the water. Photo: © Tim Calver
Meet “Henri”. Henri is able to take off from and land in the water. Photo: © Tim Calver

“Weighing in at just under 5 pounds, “Henri” (named in honor of the king of Northern Haiti from the early nineteen century) has a tough, floatable KYDEX® frame equipped with a high-def GoPro camera, an GPS enabled-autopilot chip, and other navigation electronics tucked neatly inside an upside-down Tupperware container mounted on top that serves as a perfect waterproof housing.

Henri can be guided manually using remote control or via autonomous mode with a pre-programmed flight path.”

The "Henri" quadcopter drone flies over a red mangrove forest. Photo: © Tim Calver
The “Henri” quadcopter drone flies over a red mangrove forest. Photo: © Tim Calver

Continue reading Drone Mapping of Coral Reefs and the Coastal Zone in the Carribean →

Multirotors Research, Video

How to build a Mobee micro drone (not really easy to DIY)

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Check out the construction process of the Harvard Monolithic Bee (Mobee), it’s fascinating.

A step in building a Mobee
A step in building a Mobee

Unfortunately not really something you can build at home. Nor can you buy it at a local shop. Oh well…

Harward's Mobee drone
Harward’s Mobee drone

“Such bee-sized flying robots have low material costs and could be made in large numbers, and their small size lets them maneuver in confined spaces, Fuller said. They could have a lot of applications in remote sensing and in search and rescue operations, and could also act as “robobees” in assisted agriculture, pollinating flowers and fighting pests, Fuller said.

The researchers are working in parallel on the many different technological advances required to make these fly-sized robots fully autonomous and wireless. For example, they are working on providing it with a lightweight onboard processor, and a small, high-energy power source so that it is no longer tethered by wires.

They are also working on making the vehicles faster to produce and more durable. At the moment, it takes several days to make each robotic fly, and each vehicle can only fly for a matter of minutes before it has to be discarded. “We’re talking five to ten years before some sort of commercialization,” Fuller said.” – Source

Here you go with the video:

On the news

Some multirotors and drones models at the RomaDrone Expo in Rome 24-25 May 2014

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I recently attended the RomaDrone Expo in Rome, Italy and would like to share some of the models exposed. The expo was very much oriented at the professional market. Models were mainly big multirotors with high payloads, to lift DSLR cameras, and some “wings” models for mapping. This is not a comprehensive overview, just some models that attracted my attention.

Click on the pictures to see the full size versions.

IDS Colibri

Web: https://www.idscorporation.com/fr/drones/ids-drones/item/121-ia-3-colibr%C3%AC

IDS Colibri, full view
IDS Colibri, full view

Continue reading Some multirotors and drones models at the RomaDrone Expo in Rome 24-25 May 2014 →

Multirotors Research, Video

Drone musicians as flying rockstars!

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I could not pass over this one. A real concert played by a band of small hexacopters.

Drone concert by Kmel Robotics
Drone concert by Kmel Robotics

Must see and listen, perfect execution.

By KMEL Robotics

Related posts

Stay tuned on the Personal Drones blog for the latest multirotor and quadcopter news!

 

Multirotors Research, On the news

Renault Kwid: a new concept car with embedded quadcopter

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Picture this. You are trapped with your car in a long line of traffic and have no idea about how long the line is, if there is an accident ahead and how far.

Traffic - Source
Traffic – Source

Unless you have one of those:

The AT Black Knight Transformer, the world’s first roadable VTOL aircraft. It is designed to be a low-cost rapid response ambulance to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield or transport cargo.
The AT Black Knight Transformer, the world’s first roadable VTOL aircraft. It is designed to be a low-cost rapid response ambulance to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield or transport cargo.

you have no real way to escape the line. Would be great though, to be able to figure out what’s ahead. Continue reading Renault Kwid: a new concept car with embedded quadcopter →

Multirotors Research, On the news

Peeking into our future – The Black Knight Transformer multirotor manned Vehicle

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The Black Knight Transformer seems to come right out of a science fiction movie. Those scenarios of cities from the future filled with flying vehicles might be a step closer. 

See the Black Knight in action in this video on youtube:

And the official press release:

EL SEGUNDO, California, 8 January 2014 – Advanced Tactics Inc., a small aerospace company, released details about its AT Transformer vehicle technology and announced that a full-scale technology demonstrator has completed its first driving tests.

The AT Black Knight Transformer, the world’s first roadable VTOL aircraft. It is designed to be a low-cost rapid response ambulance to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield or transport cargo.
The AT Black Knight Transformer, the world’s first roadable VTOL aircraft. It is designed to be a low-cost rapid response ambulance to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield or transport cargo.

Continue reading Peeking into our future – The Black Knight Transformer multirotor manned Vehicle →

Multirotors Research, On the news

Dutch Engineers create the world’s smallest autopilot – The Lisa/S flight controller

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Bart Remes wants you to have a personal drone in the pocket. Lisa/S brings this goal closer.

Lisa/S
Lisa/S – Source

At 2×2 cm and just 2 grams, Lisa/S could well be the world’s smallest autopilot, except maybe the one from the Black Hornet (on which no details are currently available).

The Lisa/S autopilot
The Lisa/S autopilot

Lisa/S was created virtually from scratch by Bart Remes, project manager of the Micro Aerial Vehicle Lab at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of the TuDelft, and it’s team.

Continue reading Dutch Engineers create the world’s smallest autopilot – The Lisa/S flight controller →