Dauntless Drone Can Lift 200 Pounds

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

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Mobile Recon Systems have come out with what is quite possibly the largest quadcopter "drone" to date. In its base configuration, the quadcopter weighs just under 80 pounds and can lug over 100 pounds off the ground. But when configured as an octocopter, the UAV can reportedly lift over 200 pounds. Unlike your average drone, the Duantless is powered by a turbine driving 2 2,400 Watt generators that give it over 5 hours of flight time, but it also features lithium ion batteries as a backup system and options to add a sophisticated array of sensors. Unfortunately, there's not a video of this monster drone yet, but you should keep an eye on Michael Dowell's YouTube channel.

"Drones have proven to be great for videography. But, uses beyond that have been limited by low lift capacity, limited flight time, and narrow functional capability. With the Dauntless, that is no longer the case," says Mobile Recon Systems founder, Mike Dowell. Not only can the Dauntless carry up to 160 pounds of supplies in a climate-controlled transport box, it is a multi-functional platform. It can be outfitted with sensors, radiation detectors, radar, weather stations, multi-spectral, thermal, and infrared cameras, and many other devices. It can perform eight or more different functions at once. Plus, users can easily swap or combine devices to meet their needs.
 
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What makes this better than a normal helicopter that has been doing this type of stuff for ages now?
 
Rahh said:
What makes this better than a normal helicopter that has been doing this type of stuff for ages now?
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I would imagine cost. That is the primary reason for many drone programs. Also note that not all drones are small.

I would also imagine they are using a quadcopter here because of size and simplicity. If they were going to try and lift larger payloads, they would most likely use a more complicated helicopter design. There are certainly helicopter drones out there as well.
 
This will be great for those of us lighter weight folks who need to be rescued from the tops of burning buildings or mountains. Put one or three in every neighborhood here in the Sierra Nevada please.
 
So what we are heading towards is autonomous helicopters at this point...
Drones are smaller but they are getting bigger and carrying larger payloads. This is starting to get crazy.....
 
Rahh said:
What makes this better than a normal helicopter that has been doing this type of stuff for ages now?
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Cost, like mentioned above.

I think they mentioned a "low 6 digit" price, and that's for a trailblazer without much competition. Plus you don't necessarily have to pay a professional helicopter pilot, it's easy to haul around since it weighs less than a person, it probably uses less fuel, and it's presumably easy to automate since it's (more or less) a drone.
 
They really do need to do something about the noise also. These things are so loud! They used a drone "Picture Factory 8-rotor CineCopter" at a golf event recently and you could hear it in every shot...
 
AlphaAtlas said:
It can be outfitted with sensors, radiation detectors, radar, weather stations, multi-spectral, thermal, and infrared cameras, and many other devices.
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Such as squirt guns, slingshots, pea shooters, and potato pistols. And who knows what else.
 
serpretetsky said:
Wonder why turbine powers generator instead of turbines powering rotors directly?
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You would have to have a turbine for every rotor because they constantly vary speed. That is how it is able to turn, bank, and adjust to wind currents.

Also turbines are high speed low torque. They are not designed to go from 100% to 10% to 50% back to 10% and jump to 100% in a second or 2 like electric motors can.
 
Something for our future robot Overlords to carry us away with.

Good job science.
 
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KarsusTG said:
You would have to have a turbine for every rotor because they constantly vary speed. That is how it is able to turn, bank, and adjust to wind currents.

Also turbines are high speed low torque. They are not designed to go from 100% to 10% to 50% back to 10% and jump to 100% in a second or 2 like electric motors can.
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Yes, should have asked my original question better: Why not put a small turbine on every rotor? Also, i was aware that turbines do not respond quickly, is this a problem for a quadcopter?
 
Rahh said:
What makes this better than a normal helicopter that has been doing this type of stuff for ages now?
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A helicopter that can carry large sensors can cost as much as $5000 / hour
serpretetsky said:
To further my post: there are some neat RC engine solutions out there:
https://www.rchelicopterfun.com/cheap-turbine-rc-helicopter.html
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Helicopters don't vary rotor speed, they maneuver by adjusting the angle and banking of the rotors. That's why they can use turbines. It is much more complicated and have many more moving parts than a simple quadcopter that uses varying engine speeds.

THat said there are many drones that work like a regular helicopter. I think a decent one costs around $2.000.000 At lest that was the number in 2015 when I last checked. (Schiebel)
 
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serpretetsky said:
Yes, should have asked my original question better: Why not put a small turbine on every rotor? Also, i was aware that turbines do not respond quickly, is this a problem for a quadcopter?
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Ya, it's a real problem for the quadcopter. The fast response is how they are able to maneuver.


Edit: Also, that "cheap" motor is $5k and using them would have $20-30k just in the engines alone..
 
Cost? Why would a quad-rotor drone with all the more complex flight controls of a drone be cheaper than a helicopter?

 
So what you're saying is this thing could carry about 4 cases of beer and 10 pizzas in one trip.

Hmmm........
 
200lbs means you could possibly carry this to a location for rapid VIP extraction or even just use it for rapid resupply on an unconventional route. The noise is really the only thing that kills it honestly though 200lbs of quick lift in man-portable size is a very useful advance in drone science.
Jeez just on the civil side I can think of a dozen uses for this thing. The military probably has about a hundred cases for use just to keep the operator out of weapons range.
 
Microturbines are the way to go here, been thinking about it for a long time. Unfortunately constructing one is quite difficult for the average hobbyist. I'm sure the military is using them already.
 
Crystoff said:
When it gets shot down you don't lose the pilot?
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Multiple people have mentioned the pilot, and that's a big deal not just from a risk standpoint but also efficiency. If you don't need a trained helicopter pilot whom is expensive and has to get to the drone you can make your response time faster, reduce the energy required to lift. Think about it 1 pilot would consume the entire load of this drone. Remove the pilot and its 200 lbs less weight that needs to be lifted. Weight is a huge deal when you need to lift things into the air. That's why there are so many restrictions on luggage and even pretty rich people get limited when it comes to flying on how much they can move around.
 
rudy said:
Multiple people have mentioned the pilot, and that's a big deal not just from a risk standpoint but also efficiency. If you don't need a trained helicopter pilot whom is expensive and has to get to the drone you can make your response time faster, reduce the energy required to lift. Think about it 1 pilot would consume the entire load of this drone. Remove the pilot and its 200 lbs less weight that needs to be lifted. Weight is a huge deal when you need to lift things into the air. That's why there are so many restrictions on luggage and even pretty rich people get limited when it comes to flying on how much they can move around.
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Plus all the weight and space to accomodate the pilot like windshields, door, instrument panels and readout, seat for them to be comfortable, safety systems etc etc. Maybe even oxygen and pressure control depending on the height it flies in or environments.
 
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