These Drones Can Haul a 20-Pound Load for 500 Miles and Land on a Moving Target

[Megalith]

The founder of start-up Volans-i claims that his company’s drones could have saved the Titanic, as they can travel for up to 500 miles carrying 20 pounds of cargo and take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform. The drones, which are powered by both batteries and fuel for propulsion, utilize fixed wings along with vertical-take-off-and-landing systems for flight.

Because the Volans-i drones can take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform, the company and its customers don't have to build any special infrastructure to make or take deliveries. Regulators are still figuring out how drones will be allowed to operate in lower airspace above the U.S. But Volans-i is one of a spate of companies that wants to become a next-generation, drone-based UPS, Maersk or FedEx.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

You.

The moving target is you.

The robots are practising.

 

[Probleminfected]

So many things could have saved the titanic... lol

I can think of the first thing... don’t use brittle metal.

 

[Red Falcon]

So many things could have saved the titanic... lol

I can think of the first thing... don’t use brittle metal.

Not to get off topic, but it wasn't necessarily that the metal on the Titanic was brittle, it was more because there wasn't enough it.
The company that made it went super cheap with the materials and illegally made the the thickness of the hull less than 50% of what it should have been in order to save costs on materials.

If the hull had been made to its actual specification, the Titanic would not have sunk as it would have just rebounded from the impact to the ice, and all of those lives would have been saved.
Apple does the same thing with the iPhone 6 (remember the bending?) to save on costs.

Lets hope these drones are made to actual spec and the materials aren't super cheap to save on costs because some CEO wants a bonus...

 

[Master_shake_]

Not to get off topic, but it wasn't necessarily that the metal on the Titanic was brittle, it was more because there wasn't enough it.
The company that made it went super cheap with the materials and illegally made the the thickness of the hull less than 50% of what it should have been in order to save costs on materials.

If the hull had been made to its actual specification, the Titanic would not have sunk as it would have just rebounded from the impact to the ice, and all of those lives would have been saved.
Apple does the same thing with the iPhone 6 (remember the bending?) to save on costs.

Lets hope these drones are made to actual spec and the materials aren't super cheap to save on costs because some CEO wants a bonus...

There was a fire in one of the coke or coal holds that weakened the hull more than cheap steel could have.

There's even reports of warpage from the crew.

 

[Eickst]

Sorry I see this as more of a drug smugglers dream. Fly 20lbs of pure uncut heroin across the border, land it on top of a moving box truck, unload it and send it back.

 

[Imhotep]

Red Falcon, Where did you get this info on the thickness of the Titanic's hull. This info is simply BS. Think about this. A ship with over 46,000 tons of weight.. (I don't even want to begin converting this to pounds.) Moving at 10 knots hits a iceberg that most likely was huge.
By that I mean it is few feet across above the surface of the water. Below they are 10 times their size (In other words what you see on the surface is really about 10 times its size while in the water.) Even if its hull were made of 2 inch steel it would not survive. It was an accident and no amount of steel would save it. Its sheer mass hitting the iceberg was also its greatest enemy.

Btw great drone cool tech.

 

[Red Falcon]

Red Falcon, Where did you get this info on the thickness of the Titanic's hull. This info is simply BS. Think about this. A ship with over 46,000 tons of weight.. (I don't even want to begin converting this to pounds.) Moving at 10 knots hits a iceberg that most likely was huge.

Ah, excuse me, I did remember it a bit incorrectly.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/09/25/the-secret-of-how-the-titanic-sunk
From the article:

Low quality. More than 70 years passed before scientists were able to study the first physical evidence of the wreck. As luck would have it, the first piece of steel pulled up from the bottom seemed to put an end to the mystery. When the steel was placed in ice water and hit with a hammer, it shattered. For much of the 1990s, scientists thought this "brittle" steel was responsible for the massive flooding. Only recently has testing on other, bigger pieces of the ship disproved this theory. The original piece, scientists discovered, had been unusually weak, while the rest of Titanic's steel passed the tests. "We know now there was nothing wrong with the steel," says William Garzke, chairman of a forensics panel formed by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers to investigate the wreck.

Experts looking for explanations landed on another potentially weak link: The more than 3 million rivets holding the ship together. McCarty and Foecke began examining 48 rivets brought up from the wreck and found they contained high concentrations of "slag," a residue of smelting that can make metal fracture prone. Researching in the Harland & Wolff archives, they discovered that the shipbuilder's ambitious plans to build three large ships at the same time had put a huge strain on its shipyard. "Not because of cost, but because of time pressures, they started using lower-quality material to fill the gaps," says Foecke. This substandard iron was pounded by hand into the ship's bow and stern, where the large machines required to pound in steel rivets didn't fit. Steel rivets, meanwhile, which are much stronger than iron, were put in the more-accessible middle of the ship.

Unfortunately, I can't find the article which did cite the reduced-costs reasons, which was found in the 2010s to be one of the reasons for the poorer (and lesser) materials used in the Titanic's construction.
If I can find it again, I will definitely post it.

EDIT:
This backs the cost-cutting portion that I stated:
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/20...-unsinkable-ship-_n_1395950.html?guccounter=1

This meant that, in practice, the region of the Titanic's hull that hit the iceberg was substantially weaker than the main body of the ship – Foecke and McCarty speculate that the poorer-quality materials were used as a cost-cutting exercise.

 

[Tweak42]

Sorry I see this as more of a drug smugglers dream. Fly 20lbs of pure uncut heroin across the border, land it on top of a moving box truck, unload it and send it back.

This was exactly what I was thinking. Though depending on the guidance system, I'm not sure how hard it would be for authorities to detect transmissions from it and follow it with their own drones.

Really it breaks down to cost. The cheaper they can make these things and it will be economically viable to start flying mass numbers of shipments of these overwhelming any kind of tracking systems budget limited border patrol could put up.

 

[kju1]

So many things could have saved the titanic... lol

I can think of the first thing... don’t use brittle metal.

Dont build it. That would save it too!

Anyway its easy to make grandiose claims like this. Show me the proof of it carrying that weight for that range and still landing on a moving platform 100 times in a row then I will believe it.

 

[katanaD]

im still trying to see how all this will work. I will look past the financial aspects for now and focus on logistics. Lets say that hundreds/thousands of these drones all take to the air delivering stuff. How are they going to coordinate them all so there are not flying into each other or other things? None of the drones i have heard about have such systems.

 

[Verge]

The founder of start-up Volans-i claims that his company’s drones could have saved the Titanic, as they can travel for up to 500 miles carrying 20 pounds of cargo and take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform. The drones, which are powered by both batteries and fuel for propulsion, utilize fixed wings along with vertical-take-off-and-landing systems for flight.

Because the Volans-i drones can take off or land on any flat 15-by-15 foot platform, the company and its customers don't have to build any special infrastructure to make or take deliveries. Regulators are still figuring out how drones will be allowed to operate in lower airspace above the U.S. But Volans-i is one of a spate of companies that wants to become a next-generation, drone-based UPS, Maersk or FedEx.

If you click the link, the picture from the company is of a drone with an ICE engine.


Not sure how they are getting 500 miles, even using fuel cells. Sounds like marketing to get some venture capital.

 

[likeman]

Titanic sank because it was going to fast in fog and the watch tower had no binoculars because the captain wanted them and they didn't have any more than one and when they come close to hitting the iceberg they haven't closed the watertight doors in between all sections, they tried to close the doors after Hull was hit, but they was deformed so they could not close all of them (they was electrically driven as well all they had to do was fro a Leaver before they'd hit the iceberg) which eventually lead to undamaged sections flooding

It was going to sink after it had hit it but if the bulkheads had been closed it would have stayed Afloat for a lot longer (and even longer if the watch tower had been able to see it or might of avoided it but unlikely due to speed they was going but less sections may have been hit)

 

[likeman]

Upto 500 mile range is still nice that makes it very versatile

 

[kju1]

Titanic sank because it was going to fast in fog and the watch tower had no binoculars because the captain wanted them and they didn't have any more than one and when they come close to hitting the iceberg they haven't closed the watertight doors in between all sections, they tried to close the doors after Hull was hit, but they was deformed so they could not close all of them (they was electrically driven as well all they had to do was fro a Leaver before they'd hit the iceberg) which eventually lead to undamaged sections flooding

It was going to sink after it had hit it but if the bulkheads had been closed it would have stayed Afloat for a lot longer (and even longer if the watch tower had been able to see it or might of avoided it but unlikely due to speed they was going but less sections may have been hit)

I read somewhere that if they hadnt tried to turn and had taken it full head on they wouldve been fine...

 

[Darunion]

I read somewhere that if they hadnt tried to turn and had taken it full head on they wouldve been fine...

Its like criticizing plays or first aid after the fact. It is always easier to analyze a situation and make a good decision when there is no adrenaline and no time limit to alter the decision making process.

 

[kju1]

Its like criticizing plays or first aid after the fact. It is always easier to analyze a situation and make a good decision when there is no adrenaline and no time limit to alter the decision making process.

Sure just like they do with all major accidents . The Captain arguably shouldve known better. But thats besides the fact as we are getting a bit off topic...

If you click the link, the picture from the company is of a drone with an ICE engine.


Not sure how they are getting 500 miles, even using fuel cells. Sounds like marketing to get some venture capital.

Marketing to get venture capital = making shit up you think you can do but have no reliable proof for. Just some snazzy pics/charts.

 

[Inacurate]

im still trying to see how all this will work. I will look past the financial aspects for now and focus on logistics. Lets say that hundreds/thousands of these drones all take to the air delivering stuff. How are they going to coordinate them all so there are not flying into each other or other things? None of the drones i have heard about have such systems.

I'm not a subject matter expert, but I imagine the drone would need to have an altimeter and be capable of following a pre-determined flight path at a certain height in one direction, and different height on the return trip?
Commercially speaking, outside of military and *possibly* for medical emergencies, delivering to a moving vehicle is just not very feasible.
There would be several concerns centered on a clear approach (if vehicle passes near any hanging lines, street lights, highway signs, etc.) among other issues for sure.

Definitely one of those areas where automation will be a large factor to overall success I imagine.