If you could design your dream drone...
1...what would it be? I was reading the marketing fuzz on the Lily drone website and found myself thinking "that's nice, but I would have...".
So if you could have your perfectly equipped drone... no concern for price, but be realistic on the tech... what key features would you want to see? And why?
I'll start with:
Six or eight motors. After flying a hex compared to a quad, stability is exceptionally superior with the hex. It's responsiveness and smoothness in self-correction, even in very windy conditions, is well superior to any of my quads.
Large, high voltage batteries to provide a minimum 30 min REAL WORLD flight time. 10ah, 22.2V maybe. Or is it time to step up to 48v? Someone with a better understanding of DC power and Lipo will have to ring in on the benefits/disadvantages. And unlike Lily, you NEED to be able to change the batteries. I also am SO OVER XT60 connectors. There's something better out there. Let's use it.
Dig it: TOUCHSCREEN TX. I want a TX with traditional sticks, PLUS a built-in 7 inch Super AMOLED touch screen display. No more left toggle, right toggle, five times, mode 1 plus switch A crap. It's a touch screen. You want to set the home position? Hold the little house icon on the screen until it turns green. You want to return home? Just touch the little house on the screen. Dialog box appears "Return to home? Yes, Cancel".
More on the TX: Of course this TX will have an integrated diversity 32ch FPV receiver. Watch your FPV image right there on the super bright, super crisp, touch screen TX with Super AMOLED display.
Even MORE on the TX: Integrated Mission Planner style ground station software with full two way telemetry support. Receive telem data from the drone, also control the drone, including uploading and executing auto pilot missions and "follow-me" mode, all on the fly directly from the touchscreen TX while your drone is in the air.
As long as I'm in the Super AMOLED kick... I want a color touch screen LED on the drone. No more memorizing of flashing LED patterns and colors. Was that three fast green, one slow green and a yellow? Is the drone is telling you it's just acquired GPS signal, or you've just set home position, or maybe you've just activated the Omega 13 protocol? Eff it. Just look at the modestly sized, but adequate 4" touch screen display on the top of your drone and read all about it. Of course all this data will be redundantly available on the TOUCHSCREEN TX with Super AMOLED display! :-)
How about a laser rangefinder for altitude? This would almost certainly give better feedback than a barometer for autonomous landings.
Sonar based collision avoidance sensors on every outrigger, plus one up and one down firing sensor. Six motors = eight sensors. Eight motors = ten sensors. Just like on your fancy schmancy S-class Mercedes, if the drone comes within a couple of feet of a tree, wall, person, whatever... the drone goes back where it just came from by a meter or so, then pauses and waits for the pilot to acknowledge the "Collision Avoidance System activated!" message on the TOUCHSCREEN TX with Super AMOLED display!
I want it to be water resistant. Maybe it should float like Lily? I don't think I need it to take off from water, but it would be nice if you were boating, and it ran out of juice, or you judged poorly and missed the boat... it could take a splash, be wiped off and ready for the next flight.
Hmm... I know there's more I would love to see, but I think that's a start.
Who else will imagineer their dream drone?
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One more thing I'd add... GPS capability on the TOUCHSCREEN TX with Super AMOLED display. Combine this with a failsafe "force home" mode. When force home mode is activated, the GPS location of the TX is uploaded to the drone as the new home location and the drone returns to the TOUCHSCREEN TX with Super AMOLED display GPS location.
One thing I'd like is proximity sensors on the edges with programming that indicates you're withing X inches of something and works it's way around it. So if you click on return to home and there's a building in the way it finds it's way around it rather than flying into it. Also needs to detect small objects flying at it. So say someone throws a rock/football/soccer ball/etc. at it, it detects the incoming object and evades being hit.
I want a quiet multirotor. Perhaps physics makes the impossible, but hey, if submarines can have stealthy propellors ... why not?
I think 20% of why regular folk are freaked out by these things as opposed to other airborn objects of distruction (like footballs and stunt kites) is that they sound like a nest of ANGRY BEES.
If we could make them not sound like that, I think that would make them less scary.
@zippyus Quieter is fairly easy. Higher torque, lower KV motors driving larger rotors. Step up to a 340KV motor pushing a CF 12 or 14 inch rotor and it's a totally different sound. Less rotor flex contributes to a more stable, less noisy rotor. The slower moving, more powerful motor pushing a larger rotor changes the pitch from angry bee to sleeping giant.
@ruouttaurmind
@zippyus Hey! That one sounded like wind noise! ;-)
@zippyus Skip to 01:00 to hear the takeoff.
quiet would be nice. My neighbor told me he heard me flying my drone and joked about shooting out of the sky lol. Another neighbor yelled a question and asked if it had a camera. It's very obvious when I'm flying it because it sounds like a modified weed wacker (according to that neighbor).
@garyhgaryh the people on the street behind my house were using an electric weedeater the other day and i kept looking for a quad, so I think your neighbor isn't too far off.
@djslack I didn't realize how loud it was until my wife also mention she heard me flying it after my neighbors said they also mentioned it earlier in the day. I think the guy who asked if I had a camera on it is worried about his privacy. I don't know the guy that well, but I can definitely see all my neighbor's yard. I have a friend who lives about 3 miles from me. He says his neighbor and his GF are always doing the wild thang in the backyard (they can see it from their 2nd story window). That would be a good way to use the drone (lol - but I'm sure it'll be too obvious). jk jk