my thought exactly. but I guess the main purpose of the cardboard is to make the drone cheap enough to discard. and then rely on the receiver to dispose of/recycle the electronics
Couldn't the electronics be reused or recycled to other projects? Perhaps instructions could be included to transform the devices into something useful on ground?
0:53 Woah! It glided for whole 10m, what a marvel of engineering. Why not just drop stuff by parachute? Like people can't walk 100m to get stuff that would save their lives.
Gordei Pribõtkin there is no way to guide a parachute on the way down the same way you would a glider. try walking 20 miles and tell me if you could go 80 more
so you want to be responsible for livesaving medicine getting dropped a bit out of sync the oldschool way and think it's better people to do the 250 meter sprint twice and then get it to where it needs to be ?
0:37 Translation: To precisely deliver small arms or explosives to local agents in foreign countries, with a small and hard to see, easy to hide/dispose drone-body.
Its why they are paid by DARPA. You have a team working with stealth behind enemy lines but something breaks. You can't drop a parachute to them them without them getting found out. Quad copter's etc... make heaps of noise and would also put them at risk. Drop one of these painted black etc... at night with the new gear. Little noise and little movement to collect the glider. They grab the gear pocket the few electronics and dump the glider in a puddle. No evidence they were ever their. I can see the CIA using them to drop bugs and trackers to agents in dangerous countries. Their people are stupid it they think that DARPA only wants something to drop food etc...
+KIMZ AUTO true, but they may be reverse engineered to be used as disposable drones carrying explosives. They said it could handle a 2 pound load. 1.5 pounds of plastic explosive and .5 pounds of nails can do a lot of damage. Disclaimer: I'm not an engineer. I'm just going off what limited info i know
you might be amazed by this - but their are thousands of tutorials on youtube that show you how to make drones/planes with much heavier payloads with easily sourced parts online.
SIMPLEST SOLUTION TO THEIR PROBLEM: Biosegradable parachute with an altitude sensor, so that your package is in freefall until it's maybe 100 meters (300 feet) above the ground. Then the parachute opens. Accurate, simple and relativly cheap.
why don't they use normal drones. a normal 500 dollar drone would probably carry 5 pounds (double than the glider) and can be dropped with prefect precision. if a villager tries to ateal mm it while it lands just drop the package 30ft above with a parachute for robbery prone areas. drones are just better because they can be reused
To me this idea seems stupid. Why not fly a reusable drone and drop the things needed. With that they can carry more and not waste time putting them together. Look at Amazon's drone already. It has proven that long distance drone delivery is possible.
I was a Military Rescue Analyst and Operator for 7 years and this seems more like a gimmick then a Functional Concept. Please don't tell me that this is Taxpayer supported!!
I get the impression that a lot of people in the comments miss the core concept of this idea. It's not meant to REPLACE anything. It's not meant to make large drops or massive resupply runs. It seems to be meant to relatively affordably to not only deliver but distribute small packages. It's a concept for just an another tool for the humanitarian (and logistics in general) toolbelt. With a single fly-over of a cargo plane, you can drop MANY of these drones that can cover a large area. The transportation costs for a parachute drop and then distribution via ground transport would probably cost more then these drones and more importantly, take far longer. They specifically mentioned vaccines. Correct me if I'm wrong but such medicines in general tend to have a short shelf life, in some cases even when properly stored and refrigerated. Those that don't have these issues would naturally be delivered in bulk via other means with other supplies unless emergencies. As for the whole "terrorist refit" shpiel... I don't see it. First, they are designed to land pretty close to a particular coordinate, likely a coordinated event where there will be someone waiting for the drone and will not just leave it on the ground. Secondly, if these things are designed to crumple away in only a few days after deployment then the material in question has to be made to do so even in dry climates. In that regard, these people would have to move REAL fast and basically have their own aircraft or otherwise high altitude spot for deployment already set up. As for the electronics, most of that stuff would be cheap toy grade parts that if these people would want to refit, would probably already have through other sources. The GPS and power sources are the only valuable parts in the whole deal but if the fear does exist of people reusing these for ill deeds then after retrieval of supplies you use a sledgehammer on the electronics or more likely the recipient will not only know what to do with the cargo but have ideas about how to reuse parts of the drone for their needs.
to my mind this idea is useless, here is why: flying the aircraft is extremely expensive, so there is absolutely no point in trying to spare some drones, cause the biggest expenses come in operating planes, why would you fly for thousands of dollars/hour, to drop a 2kg parcel?
Have you heard the saying: "Nothing in the world is free"?! Yes it might not cost the country in need of help anything but someone got to pay for the extra expenses. A cheaper solution for cheaper aid process is in everyones favor.
Pretty awesome concept, but I think a simple parachute would be much easier/cheaper/faster, and if dropped at the right time, still accurate. But hey, this is still cool!
You could just use a biodegradable injection molded foam material - Like the foam used in those edible packing peanuts. It would save you from doing all that folding. also better surface finish for wings. Or, you could engineer biodegradable bags to the correct dimension, and inject the foam into the bags inside the mold, and have perfectly smooth finish. The same effect could be had by using a wax mold release film. Next step: If you're going biodegradable anyway, why not deliver the glider as a meal for the recipient?
Put the lipo on the nose, it will ignite on impact, so the food delivered will be cooked in no time. And the people will apreciate a nice warm fire during cold nights. Additional advanteges: degrades fast, helps search an rescue by illuminating the area and prevents missuse of the electronics.
You know what else is a brilliant and inexpensive solution to provide relief in hard to reach places? A large guided parachute. Carries hundreds of lbs more cargo in one flight, rather than multiple planes full of 2 lb gliders
A low-observable, cardboard glider that has roughly a one-kilo payload capacity? And can deliver to +/- 50' radius? Anyone thinking what I'm thinking? ;-)
wouldn't that make us you if we were thinking the same as you thinking. If to people have the exact same thoughts, they would have the exact same consusnes right?
I don't really see the point of the hull being biodegradable, since the electronics have to be disposed of properly. Interesting idea overall, but seems like parachutes will remain the most prevalent method of supplying emergency cargo drops, since the drop occurs completely passively, their lower cost and the fact they can carry much more mass.
Justin Anger - Firstly, if you actually watched the whole video, they explained that the cardboard was a prototype and that the final product utilises a mushroom-based material that it more biodegradable, and probably lighter. Secondly, IT’S A GLIDER and so the weight of the cardboard doesn’t matter too much as the gliding motion reduces the downward kinetic energy. Thirdly, they attach a small GPS and control to the glider to allow them to be guided, so it actually DOES have control. Overall, it does have quite a few weaknesses but is still an ok idea.
Ah the keyboard experts, you just got to love them! Thinking that the problems they point out after 2,5 Minutes of video, never crossed the designer`s minds who had been working on this concept for months. -.-
solokom I agree that people have no idea what they're taking about after watching a 2 minute video but they have a point, the shell of the drone is biodegradable but the internal components aren't such as the battery, the GPS system or the frame. The internal components are also not cheap. The basic idea of using a drone/glider is flawed, its a much better idea to use a parachute as that doesn't require any computer components and can be made entirely of biodegradable materials. The chute could be made of tencel, the string made of hemp and the box/crate to carry the supplies can be made of the mushroom based cardboard they're using. The parachute design is cheaper, more biodegradable and can have a bigger payload, it's better in every single way. I'm also studying product design encase you were thinking that I was just another person that has no idea what they're talking about.
Nice, but it might make more sense to develop a disposable system that can be released much like a dumb bomb over a target, allowed to free-fall most of the way to minimize wind drift, then deploy a biodegradable parachute just in time to slow the package down for a safe landing.
They could also be catapult launched. Preferably with wings stowed (then deployed at it's peak height), for maximum range. Still... rather than making rigid planes, it would be better to just make cheaper & biodegradable steerable parachutes instead. That way you can deliver even bigger loads, and use even less material.
Great if you're delivering a packet of band-aids but otherwise kind of pointless if its cargo limit is taken up primarily by the control/guidance system
For everyone complaining, If you guys didn’t catch on, they said it was originally a DARPA project....meaning there’s a high likelihood it’s actually not intended for humanitarian purposes but military....makes more sense to launch 1000 of these drones out of the back of a C-17 that each have 2 pounds of explosives inside. Oh and guess what? When it blows up, what little pieces are left biodegrade back into the environment. P.S. I was in the military AND now I’m a biomedical engineer...so I have extensive knowledge in both areas but you don’t have to believe me
I hate my engineering school even more now. I proposed this idea a year ago but with a powered plane to drop emergency supplies for my senior project and my professors told me it isn’t a good idea or a good product.
What's wrong with parachute boxes again? They don't have to be super precise, I mean what, are we landing them on the roofs of houses during floods? Even then, a brightly colored parachute box that floats would get the job done being cheaper+can hold more.
So the shell would be biodegreadeable but what about the electronics in the system, once the glider is decomposed the electronics are just sitting there
If the goal is a low cost mean to deliver supplies in humanitarian/disaster situation. Why wouldn't they consider a cheap parachute? Also, why use the word "drone" when referring to a cardboard flying wing?
Needs a mechanical guidance system because the electronics will be burned for precious metals. Can be done, just needs a guidance weight to keep drone's fins in lift operations to fly in a straight line where gravity is still higher then terminal velocity.
What about the electronics? Could the boards be made of paper or something, with conductive ink traces and conductive paste instead of solder, so that just the ICs and other components are left?
