Quadcopters are versatile drones that can perform a wide range of activities, but are limited by their four arms. Today at UC Berkeley they may have solved the problem by developing a new experimental multipurpose drone A drone that literally transforms, with folding arms that open and close during flight.
The best part is that to 'transform' this drone the researchers have called Midair you do not need expensive (energetically) electronic actuators. The Berkeley prototype has hinges that open or close using gravity or reverse thrust.
Genius and sustainability
This configuration allows for a wide range of movements. If the drone needs to squeeze into a small vertical space while moving horizontally, it transforms like this: two opposing arms are reversed in the direction of thrust, both bending downwards. Once “slimmed” as a result of this transformation, it can now fit smoothly into a smaller space.
It also turns into a bellboy
The drone's arms can also be used to grab boxes and small weights, as if they were 'claws'. Objects that are picked up and placed in different positions.
Multipurpose means multipurpose
Midair's ability can be seen in the way it manages the situation while consuming as little energy as possible. The drone it can also come down through a narrow opening. In that case, he simply uses the fall to bend his arms. It literally falls, closing, only to reopen immediately afterwards and find an upward thrust.
Finished? One last trick: if the drone needs 'rest', it can close on a wire, a branch, a power line, also turning off its propellers. Its arms, dangling along the central body, lower the quadcopter's center of gravity below the contact point, keeping it in balance. Tightrope walker!
In other words, this brat has come a long way since, in 2019, its first prototype was presented in the scientific journal IEE Xplore. Who knows what he will be able to do in the coming months.
