It's more complex than a regular tiltwing, which only requires one hinge. The advantage of this might be a smaller footprint on the ground. Not sure how valuable that is.
@@freetrade8830 as Icesphere pointed out there's only one hinge angled at 45° inside the wing, seen briefly in the video. Additionally I guess tilting the wings backwards results in more VTOL stability, as the rotors form a square shape instead of a straight line (looking at the drone from above).
@@freetrade8830 It's only one hinge per wing and the original purpose of this design (it's copied from WW2 era Grumman aircraft but with the wing folded leading edge up instead of down) was indeed to reduce footprint for the carrier aircraft
Stable transition? I was just going to comment how glitchy and unstable the transition looked. The craft was bouncing fore and aft pretty intensely. I'm sure they will iron that out though. I do like the concept.
@@theobserver9131it doesn't need to be scaled up significantly though as it is intended as a drone. At this scale I am not sure of the need for VTOL though (possibly for package delivery drones).
The masterpiece in my eyes is the full stability during every moment of the transition. What would further interest me is the distance the transition takes from full speed ahead to full stop.
It is , by far, the best VTOL system I have seen to date ! With a moving C.G. to adapt to configuration and a minimum complexity, it should dominate the industry.
@@ekadana1328 Osprey had decades of engineering hardships to iron out. The larger you go the more non-linearly expensive and difficult VTOL gets. The vortex issues, engine power, weight balance, reliability. That's just with 2 engines, imagine 4. There's a reason the osprey only tilts the engines and not the wings themselves like this.
I can see why it looks like the cg is moving but its not, thats the magic. Its able to move its wings like counter weights along its cg in such a way i assume it does not change. Differential thrust can help stabilize this. As i would like to see how it copes in windy conditions? If the cg changed its body would tilt fw or backw etc. Clever how it does it, but if there was a strong side wind is where differental thrust would be cruial.😊
That looks like a winner in the VTOL market - compact when folded, simple robust mechanism, dual purpose motors, smooth fast transition. What’s not to like. Good luck.
@@thedandy6765 Not so much… On the Osprey the engines rotate, not the wings, not to mention a host of other differences. Aside from them both being vtol aircraft there’s not a lot of similarity on closer examination. The Osprey could best be characterised as a helicopter with wings! This has more the attributes of a “fixed wing” aircraft that can take of vertically.
@@robinhodgkinson actually the osprey also has wigns that turn but for storage purpose and the osprey could carry a humvee and troops and its technically both an airplane and helicopter cus it has to take off like a helicopter but can fly as a plane. i do feel like if theyh could enlarge that system for troop carry aswell it would be a very good vehicle since itll be in and out real quick like a normal helicopter but i can reacher higher top speeds. theres loads of uses for the new design and im wondering where itll go maybe even island hopping would be usefull
Almost all innovations are that. Putting ideas into practice, no matter how straightforward they might be, should never be underestimated. It needs to be done by someone, and if you are the first you deserve to be able to reap the rewards.
@@johnhopkins6260 The Osprey has many unstable regimes, that's why they crash so often when attempting a semi-aerobatic maneuver. A Quad copter would be much safer.
It is small, but major change it has that extra angle of motion in the twisting of its wings. 1. It now has vertical thrust in each corner instead of all in a row. 2. It can now have full length wings without taking up a lot of space.
This is the best approach to small VTOL UAV design I've seen. Congratulations and I wish your company great success in that market! Have you found the increased weight from the wing folding mechanism to be a substantial improvement in regards to range and payload capacity when compared to designs with separate lift motors?
Keep in mind that in more advanced models the mechanism to articulate the wings could fit inside the wing itself... and by doing without the mechanism inside the fuselage they not only save weight, but also cargo volume.
@@animatek6171 It is probably just a linear screw that draws the bars back in unison to unfold the wings; light weight and simple. This ensures the wings deploy in exact synchronicity and then the bars can act as a structural brace in concert with the pivot point. If it was all in the pivot points you would have to make them much stronger (i.e. heavier) while running the risk of the wings deploying out of sequence or one not at all.
All the lockheed, northrop, and amazon drone guys are seriously facepalming right now. This truly fits the definition of Brilliant and Elegant. Wonderful design, wishing your company all the best. -Sincerely, A farmer.
While this is obviously aimed at the defense market, I could see this being extremely useful in the wildland firefighting space. Having something we can launch from a remote helispot with the ability to loiter for long periods as an “eye in the sky” would be incredibly useful to increase effectiveness of boots on the ground as well as increase overall safety
describe to me how this is more useful than the standard fixed wing UAVs we toss into the air with bungee slingshots every day? Unless the scale is enormous and it doubles as a sky crane, this is all just a dumpster full of money burning.
@@ZennExile it isn't. At least not yet. The venture capital for sUAS died out shortly after 107 came out due to FAA's overregulation. Then, UAM/UTM/AAM/EVTOL became the new buzzwords and more venture capital was thrown into the fire. Drone amplified is offering the most realistic use case for sUAS in firefighting by integrating EO/IR and paintballs filled with agent that allows setting of controlled burns remotely.
You know, I've seen a lot of drone companies' videos that show their drones transition from rotor to fixed wing mode, but yours is the first I've seen where the drone demonstrates changing from fixed to rotor. It definitely shows your confidence in its design, and I for one am sold on it.
I am Pilot and Flight Instructor for more than 40 years now .. and I thought i've seen it all. But this is the most genious attempt for VTOL i have ever seen. Well done boys .. WELL DONE !!!
This VSTOL configuration is possible because 1) no mechanical power transmission needed thus not interfere with wing pivoting ( power linkage for more than one rotor type) 2) unmanned vehicle so deleting all the human incorporating factors out. The folded position will obviously obstruct pilot's and passenger 's around view whether static or in helicopter flight mode. Somebody might think of it before but old technology and objective ( manned vehicle ) blocked them from implementation.
It looks neat, but it's probably way, way more cost effective to just use ICE engines lol. And getting this going with 4 ICE engines would be interesting..
Like everyone, I am amazingly impressed. Such an elegant way to transition. Interesting moment there at 2:20 as it transitions from forward flight to vtol. As the wings are in mid transition, can see the moment that the pid controller is trying to take control, and there is a herky jerky moment there. I can totally see the struggle to smooth that out must be the most complex pid tune ever.
The pivoting of the wings is going t generate significant increases to both lift and drag. Its the equivalent of trying to from no flaps to full landing flaps while also activating a lifting fan and reversing your control inputs. It has to be one of the most difficult low-alt/low-speed flight regimes design for.
@@zj6074 Indeed - and the airflow is going to get very weird for a while. Interesting engineering challenges, but it sure looks like they have it under control - really impressive!
Generally during transition you have both sets of cascade PIDs running simultaneously. The ones for fixed wing flight of which there are 3-4 per axis The ones for quadcopter flight of which again there are 3-4 per axis Then you blend the output of each together based on the current angle of the wing as it transitions. Tuning VTOLs in general is a lot of work as you said.
Looks like something they need to get a shitload of data for and test empirically in a myriad of conditions. Figuring that out probably requires close to rocket science.
Why would AI hunt us down? AI is not capable of mining all the materials needed to make AI. Its not capable of plugging its own power cord back in when you trip over it. Keep in mind that humanity has never made an electronic technology that can survive 15 years before its integrated circuits start to degrade from quantum tunneling whereas human beings can live for 70 plus years with no maintenance, no spare parts and by eating stuff that sprouts from the dirt all by itself. Any AI smart enough to even comprehend that we exist and what we are would realize its entire existence is predicated on Human economic and productive activity. If anything AI would act to ensure our survival because without human beings needing to generate electricity, AI ceases to exist.
All too many want to crap on electric, but you have got to love the amount of innovation in flight that is happening at this moment. From UA-camrs builds to this company, just too cool.
Thanks for the kind words Drew. Out team worked very hard on this project. A lot of longs days spent testing in the hot desert sun, sweat cascading down ballsacks
I like the fact that it can also be efficient by turning off the other 2 motors when in fixed wing mode. Also that transition at the end is just so seamless. I love it!
The fact it gets such a large wingspan with four prop engines into such a small on the ground footprint is fantastic, I can't wait to see the flight stats like overall fuel efficiency and payload capacity.
That is a really sleek looking design. the VTOL capability is huge, eliminating the need for a runway. Is this the final size, or are there plans to upscale it at all? Remarkably stable during transition. Love this.
I really like y’all’s solution to the tilt mechanism. The strength to weight must be pretty good. Seems a logical combination of spar and landing gear type linkages. I can’t imagine how much adjusting had to be done to get that last few inches of movement right, in both directions. Very impressive.
It’s cool how it can just transition so smoothly without losing altitude I expected it to dip in altitude but I guess as long as the props are at constant speed it remains in forward and level flight
My guess is that software modulates the rotary speed and increases it during the beginning of transition as some of the vertical thrust is converted to horizontal.
You can design a control mechanism that can fix that. It would take quite a bit of tweaking. Not sure if they use some form of neural network, MPC, of just PID.
Why has no one thought of this design before now? Now that I see it it's so damn simple. What a brilliant way to combine drone technology with a proven twin-engine aircraft design. So awesome how the geometry allows the wings to Pivot and allows you to get in to the nose down position to start moving forward to gain lift.
It looks simple but it isn't. The joint is more complicated since the wing has to rotate on two axis instead of just one and also the transition unstable. You can actually see the wobble when you go from lift from the wings to thrust from the motors. It doesn't matter for an unmanned drone and you can fix that with the right flight system but this method is not without its drawbacks. Best of luck to them.
I am just shocked at how smooth the transition is while folding or unfolding the wing !!!! It almost seems that it should crash due to stall, CG movement, but nooooo... it just go it's merry way and if nothing happen. Brilliant design. It almost seems this would obsolete any attempt by big and small companies to have quad-type copters as taxis and or short hop type service. It also seems it should scale up to large planes too... with the ability to land horizontal or vertically if needed. Excellent design. Kudos guys!
Really clever design, guys. Well done!! A truly original and creative solution to the transition problem. Robustness/reliability of the mechanism is , of course, key, but I'm sure you've been thinking about that.
That is so cool!!! Reminds me a little bit of the folding wing system that Grumman used for the F4F and F6F during world war 2. Of course, that was for storage aboard carriers, not for flight. I can really see a future for this.
@@danmallery9142 and since you bring up the patent. Grumman folding wing was leading edge down when folded back. This system is leading edge UP! (face palm... why didn't I think of that)
That's clever in how the flight transition appears to be inherently smooth to some extent, although I bet that pivot point must be one of the most stressed components on that aircraft in the way the type of loading its under changes from torsion to levering and back.
That's a fabulous concept. The folding mechanism takes care of the transition so perfectly. The Achilles Heel is that in any full size machine the torque on the folding joint will be insane.
Thought the same thing, but proposing a fifth "lifting-only" toroidal prop above the body to take "weight" off the hinges during transition may be an option. All the props should possibly be toroidal as well for an increase in speed, noise, and economy. I LOVE this thing.
amazing i made a vtol drone in my final year engineering project but this is the next level what a ingenious design kudos to your talented designers and engineers
What's also very neat, is that takes up a smaller foot print, so you can park more of them together on a carrier, also eliminating the need for a runway, saving even more space, it's 2 stack.
I am stunned by this design. In retrospect, it’s so obvious a solution to hybridizing quad-rotor principle with traditional forward flight, it’s a wonder this isn’t a more common approach by now. My concern is the forces on the outboard engines when transitioning. At model scale, these are negligible, but at full scale there will be some interesting problems to solve.
I take it you mean the forces pulling at the wing joints during the transition? If that's the case I'm not sure if this style of joint can be scaled up by much without astronomically increasing maintenance costs.. 😅
@@Squee7e It would probably at minimum have to be on par with the pivot mechanism of the F-14 Tomcat on a full-size aircraft in terms of robustness requirements, because not only does the functionality depend on mechanism action but the type of loading and stresses changes between flight modes.
I'd love to fly in a full scale model! Best of both worlds - EVTOL and winged flight. Are we going to see more videos as your model progresses? Any plans to make a passenger carrying model? Congratulations on your prototype!
I love those self-deploying props. I've seen them before and are used to great effect! Some smart people thought up and made this tech a reality! We stand on the shoulders of giants.
@@animatek6171 Yes, but I doubt it will scale. These transformer type designs rarely scale in a fashion that makes them competitive versus existing designs w similar functionality. They already have helicopters.
@@wageslave387 right but look at what the military did with the osprey, and now the new bell valor. There's clearly a need for compact transforming aircraft. One of the biggest criticizations of the Bell Valor is how much space it takes up, this design solves that
@@wageslave387 It's true, I don't see this design scaling well (though I hope I'm wrong), but the military is every more reliant on drones now so scaling isn't needed really
Awesome design !! I'd like to see a future video going 'in-depth' with the design process and to learn how strong the wings are. It looks very delicate having those large wings pivot on a single point. How do they lock in place during conventional flight?
Another thing to try building in KSP
JUST DO IT!
Ha! You are such a big kid Scott! LOL!!!
Sod KSB, I want a RC version to fly around my home lol
I went on the internet today, and I found this! 😂
They launder money well
That looks like a ridiculously simple and elegant approach to the wing reconfiguration mechanism. Well done on the innovation.
It's more complex than a regular tiltwing, which only requires one hinge.
The advantage of this might be a smaller footprint on the ground. Not sure how valuable that is.
@@freetrade8830 It looks like it only uses one hinge in the video as well
@@freetrade8830 as Icesphere pointed out there's only one hinge angled at 45° inside the wing, seen briefly in the video.
Additionally I guess tilting the wings backwards results in more VTOL stability, as the rotors form a square shape instead of a straight line (looking at the drone from above).
@@freetrade8830 This is still one hinge, it's just placed at a ~45° angle.
@@freetrade8830 It's only one hinge per wing and the original purpose of this design (it's copied from WW2 era Grumman aircraft but with the wing folded leading edge up instead of down) was indeed to reduce footprint for the carrier aircraft
That looks SO cool! Would love to see the flight controller programming that allows for such a stable transition!
What's up man I love your voice impressions dude and ur channel
Stable transition? I was just going to comment how glitchy and unstable the transition looked. The craft was bouncing fore and aft pretty intensely. I'm sure they will iron that out though. I do like the concept.
If this was scaled up, they would need some amazing material for the wing supports. Lot of stress during transition.
Who cares what you think.
@@theobserver9131it doesn't need to be scaled up significantly though as it is intended as a drone. At this scale I am not sure of the need for VTOL though (possibly for package delivery drones).
The masterpiece in my eyes is the full stability during every moment of the transition. What would further interest me is the distance the transition takes from full speed ahead to full stop.
It is , by far, the best VTOL system I have seen to date ! With a moving C.G. to adapt to configuration and a minimum complexity, it should dominate the industry.
for sub scale field drones
@@elijahf111why this limit?
@@elijahf111 I think it can be developed to be like the Osprey & Bell aircraft.
@@ekadana1328 Osprey had decades of engineering hardships to iron out. The larger you go the more non-linearly expensive and difficult VTOL gets. The vortex issues, engine power, weight balance, reliability. That's just with 2 engines, imagine 4. There's a reason the osprey only tilts the engines and not the wings themselves like this.
I can see why it looks like the cg is moving but its not, thats the magic. Its able to move its wings like counter weights along its cg in such a way i assume it does not change. Differential thrust can help stabilize this. As i would like to see how it copes in windy conditions? If the cg changed its body would tilt fw or backw etc. Clever how it does it, but if there was a strong side wind is where differental thrust would be cruial.😊
That looks like a winner in the VTOL market - compact when folded, simple robust mechanism, dual purpose motors, smooth fast transition. What’s not to like. Good luck.
so like the v22 osprey? which was made over 30 years ago
@@thedandy6765 Not so much… On the Osprey the engines rotate, not the wings, not to mention a host of other differences. Aside from them both being vtol aircraft there’s not a lot of similarity on closer examination. The Osprey could best be characterised as a helicopter with wings! This has more the attributes of a “fixed wing” aircraft that can take of vertically.
@@robinhodgkinson actually the osprey also has wigns that turn but for storage purpose and the osprey could carry a humvee and troops
and its technically both an airplane and helicopter cus it has to take off like a helicopter but can fly as a plane.
i do feel like if theyh could enlarge that system for troop carry aswell it would be a very good vehicle since itll be in and out real quick like a normal helicopter but i can reacher higher top speeds.
theres loads of uses for the new design and im wondering where itll go
maybe even island hopping would be usefull
Its a drone the weight and difficulty of scaling the wing hinges is probably not viable to make it much larger.
@@jackdburyes its a whole new ball game at a bigger scale. Especially with much larger engines hanging off those wings.
Whoever came up with this simplistic yet extremely functional design is a genius. 👏 👏 👏
Glad to see the p3 mechanism was refined to what looks like a super reliable system. Keep up the awesome work.
This is such a "Why didn't I think of that!" moment.
Brilliant design. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of these in the future.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey
Almost all innovations are that. Putting ideas into practice, no matter how straightforward they might be, should never be underestimated. It needs to be done by someone, and if you are the first you deserve to be able to reap the rewards.
@@johnhopkins6260 The Osprey has many unstable regimes, that's why they crash so often when attempting a semi-aerobatic maneuver. A Quad copter would be much safer.
wonder why they have music playing, these are incredibly lound and will not be able to enter civilian airspace
It is small, but major change it has that extra angle of motion in the twisting of its wings.
1. It now has vertical thrust in each corner instead of all in a row.
2. It can now have full length wings without taking up a lot of space.
This is the best approach to small VTOL UAV design I've seen. Congratulations and I wish your company great success in that market!
Have you found the increased weight from the wing folding mechanism to be a substantial improvement in regards to range and payload capacity when compared to designs with separate lift motors?
Right
^^^
Keep in mind that in more advanced models the mechanism to articulate the wings could fit inside the wing itself... and by doing without the mechanism inside the fuselage they not only save weight, but also cargo volume.
@@animatek6171 That's true, assuming the actuators fit within the wings themselves also l. Otherwise you'd have the opposite affect.
@@animatek6171 It is probably just a linear screw that draws the bars back in unison to unfold the wings; light weight and simple. This ensures the wings deploy in exact synchronicity and then the bars can act as a structural brace in concert with the pivot point. If it was all in the pivot points you would have to make them much stronger (i.e. heavier) while running the risk of the wings deploying out of sequence or one not at all.
All the lockheed, northrop, and amazon drone guys are seriously facepalming right now. This truly fits the definition of Brilliant and Elegant. Wonderful design, wishing your company all the best.
-Sincerely, A farmer.
I am amazed that it seems to slow down just as fast as it sped up during its transition/transformation. Great out of the box thinking!
That may be the most elegant design of a VTOL plane i have ever seen.
While this is obviously aimed at the defense market, I could see this being extremely useful in the wildland firefighting space. Having something we can launch from a remote helispot with the ability to loiter for long periods as an “eye in the sky” would be incredibly useful to increase effectiveness of boots on the ground as well as increase overall safety
I can imagine how it might find use in package delivery, too.
jeepers, i just want this in a small FPV drone
Imagine 4 of these instead of the police helicopter. That should save some money
describe to me how this is more useful than the standard fixed wing UAVs we toss into the air with bungee slingshots every day? Unless the scale is enormous and it doubles as a sky crane, this is all just a dumpster full of money burning.
@@ZennExile it isn't. At least not yet. The venture capital for sUAS died out shortly after 107 came out due to FAA's overregulation. Then, UAM/UTM/AAM/EVTOL became the new buzzwords and more venture capital was thrown into the fire.
Drone amplified is offering the most realistic use case for sUAS in firefighting by integrating EO/IR and paintballs filled with agent that allows setting of controlled burns remotely.
Beautiful design! Such an elegant transition. Great job!!
You know, I've seen a lot of drone companies' videos that show their drones transition from rotor to fixed wing mode, but yours is the first I've seen where the drone demonstrates changing from fixed to rotor. It definitely shows your confidence in its design, and I for one am sold on it.
I am Pilot and Flight Instructor for more than 40 years now .. and I thought i've seen it all. But this is the most genious attempt for VTOL i have ever seen. Well done boys .. WELL DONE !!!
This VSTOL configuration is possible because 1) no mechanical power transmission needed thus not interfere with wing pivoting ( power linkage for more than one rotor type) 2) unmanned vehicle so deleting all the human incorporating factors out.
The folded position will obviously obstruct pilot's and passenger 's around view whether static or in helicopter flight mode. Somebody might think of it before but old technology and objective ( manned vehicle ) blocked them from implementation.
You are a liar. Prove that you are a "flight instructor". Liar.
Genious?
It’s beautiful
This has easily the most simple and stable transition I've seen. I love it.
Have you seen many? At back-transition it’s only an inch away from breaking apart…
@@steffenschaeuf6759 Metric, please.
There's a point in this vid where the gopro view gets shaky during transition
Wauw!!! What an AWESOME design!!!
This looks scary capable. One of the best designs I have seen.
Best designed VTOL so far! Excellent transition.
I love this design, so clever and nothing is wasted, so efficient.
i do like how the landing gear is the tips of the engine making it dual purpose and getting rid of the need for landing gear
Not true-- the props optimizsed for lifting and bad for cruising, and vice versa
Also.. motors for wing movement are dead weight
@@geegee101 well, true, but i meant in comparison to other VTOL designs
Very simple and even more innovative. Brilliant to watch.
Beautiful plane!!!
You guys crushed it. So many dynamical problems solved so elegantly!
It looks neat, but it's probably way, way more cost effective to just use ICE engines lol. And getting this going with 4 ICE engines would be interesting..
Like everyone, I am amazingly impressed. Such an elegant way to transition.
Interesting moment there at 2:20 as it transitions from forward flight to vtol. As the wings are in mid transition, can see the moment that the pid controller is trying to take control, and there is a herky jerky moment there. I can totally see the struggle to smooth that out must be the most complex pid tune ever.
The pivoting of the wings is going t generate significant increases to both lift and drag. Its the equivalent of trying to from no flaps to full landing flaps while also activating a lifting fan and reversing your control inputs. It has to be one of the most difficult low-alt/low-speed flight regimes design for.
@@zj6074 Indeed - and the airflow is going to get very weird for a while. Interesting engineering challenges, but it sure looks like they have it under control - really impressive!
That is an acceptable amount of herky jerky for a prototype IMO! Just for fun I’d like to see it try with some wind shear to see how it fights.
Generally during transition you have both sets of cascade PIDs running simultaneously.
The ones for fixed wing flight of which there are 3-4 per axis
The ones for quadcopter flight of which again there are 3-4 per axis
Then you blend the output of each together based on the current angle of the wing as it transitions.
Tuning VTOLs in general is a lot of work as you said.
Looks like something they need to get a shitload of data for and test empirically in a myriad of conditions. Figuring that out probably requires close to rocket science.
That folding wing design is very innovative!! I love seeing new ideas that work!
VERY NICE! OUTSTANDING DESIGN!
This is really cool, until you realize in 10 years these things will be powered by AI and hunting us down 😰
I'd dare say, we've less than 10 years the way the liberal hive mind is going. Population control by whatever means required is high on the agenda.
Why would AI hunt us down? AI is not capable of mining all the materials needed to make AI. Its not capable of plugging its own power cord back in when you trip over it. Keep in mind that humanity has never made an electronic technology that can survive 15 years before its integrated circuits start to degrade from quantum tunneling whereas human beings can live for 70 plus years with no maintenance, no spare parts and by eating stuff that sprouts from the dirt all by itself. Any AI smart enough to even comprehend that we exist and what we are would realize its entire existence is predicated on Human economic and productive activity. If anything AI would act to ensure our survival because without human beings needing to generate electricity, AI ceases to exist.
😂😂😂 funny but true
I don’t think it will be that long
Stop scaring people
crazy how transwing evolved i remeber the first concept and the test in the garden. Keep it up :)
Glad to see you here, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
All too many want to crap on electric, but you have got to love the amount of innovation in flight that is happening at this moment. From UA-camrs builds to this company, just too cool.
this is such a cool and simple design, kudos to anyone involved in this.
As an aviation enthusiast it's such a pleasure to witness innovations such as this. Well done. Congratulations!
As a non-planetary moon onion this is neat
Thanks for the kind words Drew. Out team worked very hard on this project. A lot of longs days spent testing in the hot desert sun, sweat cascading down ballsacks
As a genious overqualified for MENSA, this is esthetically a masterpiece in my eyes. LOL
wait till it drops bombs on some 3rd world arab country..
Same here!
Now THAT is freakin' awesome. Look how smoothly it transitions, even the flow of the engines isn't really disturbed.
incredible engineering!😯
Perfect design. Congratulations.
Looks good! Finally an intelligent, practical design.
Not very practical, I don't think it's good for battle, needs improvement.
Fast blowing winds can rip it's wings apart.
@@blackpanthar906 Wonder if there will be comments from a troll gamer kid who is expert on aerodynamic structures? Oh, wait...
@@shazam6274 and that's coming from someone with a profile name of "shazam", real mature..
@@shazam6274 Know the difference between a prototype and a battle ready model first before you start talking nonsense.
@@blackpanthar906 You might want to check the spelling of "Panther"
I like the fact that it can also be efficient by turning off the other 2 motors when in fixed wing mode. Also that transition at the end is just so seamless. I love it!
Great tech... also the music selection was a banger.
This is the most brilliant transition design I have ever seen and Iv seen 100s
The fact it gets such a large wingspan with four prop engines into such a small on the ground footprint is fantastic, I can't wait to see the flight stats like overall fuel efficiency and payload capacity.
Stealth it up and you've got one hell of a good drone or 'cruise missile.'
It should be possible to make the wings even longer - these wings seem short to me :/
@@InfiltrateIndustries not for it's weight
Best piece of aero engineering I've seen in a LONG time.
latest really cool aero engineered vehicle mustve been the v22 osprey
That is a really sleek looking design. the VTOL capability is huge, eliminating the need for a runway. Is this the final size, or are there plans to upscale it at all? Remarkably stable during transition. Love this.
Nice design nice configuration. Thank you,
I really like y’all’s solution to the tilt mechanism. The strength to weight must be pretty good. Seems a logical combination of spar and landing gear type linkages. I can’t imagine how much adjusting had to be done to get that last few inches of movement right, in both directions. Very impressive.
“We believe in making the world a better place” shows a weapons platform and selling it to the military less than 30 seconds later.
what you'll say when this shit get into your window
They said better, not peaceful lol
Peace through superior firepower, bitches
glad I am not the only one perceiving it that way
Better for shareholders. lol. Orwell would be proud, maybe
Simply Brilliant!!!
This may be the most Terminator looking drone to date! Well done PteroDynamics!... on bringing us one step closer to the robopocalypse.
It’s cool how it can just transition so smoothly without losing altitude I expected it to dip in altitude but I guess as long as the props are at constant speed it remains in forward and level flight
With GPS data, it could be I a loop control, where the motor controllers adjust the speed of the propellers, to keep the set altitude.
My guess is that software modulates the rotary speed and increases it during the beginning of transition as some of the vertical thrust is converted to horizontal.
I wonder how difficult the transition back to landing is.
Constant prop speed is probably not how it does that.
You can design a control mechanism that can fix that. It would take quite a bit of tweaking. Not sure if they use some form of neural network, MPC, of just PID.
Why has no one thought of this design before now? Now that I see it it's so damn simple. What a brilliant way to combine drone technology with a proven twin-engine aircraft design. So awesome how the geometry allows the wings to Pivot and allows you to get in to the nose down position to start moving forward to gain lift.
It looks simple but it isn't. The joint is more complicated since the wing has to rotate on two axis instead of just one and also the transition unstable. You can actually see the wobble when you go from lift from the wings to thrust from the motors. It doesn't matter for an unmanned drone and you can fix that with the right flight system but this method is not without its drawbacks. Best of luck to them.
You guys easily have the coolest job out there. Well done.
What a fascinating and promising design, well done Ptero!
Love the transition from vtol to fixed wing, besides, it looks just stunning !!
That is such a simple and elegant mechanism for the wings. Great work!
That's just beautiful.
A real example of “ if it looks right, it’ll fly right” well done.
I saw the first prototype Harriers take off and was amazed then and looking at this I must SAY the potential is going to be staggering !
I am just shocked at how smooth the transition is while folding or unfolding the wing !!!!
It almost seems that it should crash due to stall, CG movement, but nooooo... it just go it's merry way and if nothing happen.
Brilliant design.
It almost seems this would obsolete any attempt by big and small companies to have quad-type copters as taxis and or short hop type service.
It also seems it should scale up to large planes too... with the ability to land horizontal or vertically if needed.
Excellent design. Kudos guys!
i mean over 30 years ago they made the v22 osprey which does the exact same
compact when folded fully
which also didnt stall when transitioning
As a guy who flys a TON of FPV drone and Fixed wing aircraft as a hobby this is AMAAAAAAAAZING. GENIUS DESIGN!
Beautiful bird.
it's nice to see the team behind the project, and also, nice to understand the scale of the craft. Very cool design.
OMG this thing is awesome. You guys have designed and built something tremendous. I wish I worked for a company innovating like this.
This is amazing. Can’t wait to see more out in the wild!
Pretty cool, I would like to see a complete Uninterrupted video of the reconfiguration to land!
Awesome
Incredible stuff. Amazing to see how material and motor advancements make such innovative designs like this possible!
Really clever design, guys. Well done!! A truly original and creative solution to the transition problem. Robustness/reliability of the mechanism is , of course, key, but I'm sure you've been thinking about that.
It is incredible how stable it is in the transition state
That really is purebred. The whole aesthetics, tiny landing feet integrated into the tail cones from engines is 🔥
That is so cool!!! Reminds me a little bit of the folding wing system that Grumman used for the F4F and F6F during world war 2. Of course, that was for storage aboard carriers, not for flight. I can really see a future for this.
My thought exactly
I was thinking TBM Avenger
@@maker-matt Yes, TBM as well. It was a Grumman patented system.
@@danmallery9142 and since you bring up the patent. Grumman folding wing was leading edge down when folded back. This system is leading edge UP! (face palm... why didn't I think of that)
That's Grumman's Sto-Wing. It was also used for the E-1 Tracer and is still used for the E-2 Hawkeye and C-2A Greyhound.
That's clever in how the flight transition appears to be inherently smooth to some extent, although I bet that pivot point must be one of the most stressed components on that aircraft in the way the type of loading its under changes from torsion to levering and back.
This is one of the coolest aircraft concepts I’ve ever seen
So cool. I need one for christmas
That's a fabulous concept. The folding mechanism takes care of the transition so perfectly. The Achilles Heel is that in any full size machine the torque on the folding joint will be insane.
Thought the same thing, but proposing a fifth "lifting-only" toroidal prop above the body to take "weight" off the hinges during transition may be an option. All the props should possibly be toroidal as well for an increase in speed, noise, and economy. I LOVE this thing.
This design looked ridiculous on the thumbnail and I didnt believe it woked! Looks so good, and works amazingly!
Brilliant.
Amazing, cool 👍👍
Really glad to see Ptero take off! No pun intended😉😍.
これほどシンプルな機構で美しい動作を実現しているのは本当に素晴らしいです。変形中の挙動を制御できているのが奇跡を見ているような気分！
素晴らしい設計🎉
Lovely!
amazing i made a vtol drone in my final year engineering project but this is the next level what a ingenious design kudos to your talented designers and engineers
What's also very neat, is that takes up a smaller foot print, so you can park more of them together on a carrier, also eliminating the need for a runway, saving even more space, it's 2 stack.
I am stunned by this design. In retrospect, it’s so obvious a solution to hybridizing quad-rotor principle with traditional forward flight, it’s a wonder this isn’t a more common approach by now. My concern is the forces on the outboard engines when transitioning. At model scale, these are negligible, but at full scale there will be some interesting problems to solve.
I take it you mean the forces pulling at the wing joints during the transition?
If that's the case I'm not sure if this style of joint can be scaled up by much without astronomically increasing maintenance costs.. 😅
@@Squee7e It would probably at minimum have to be on par with the pivot mechanism of the F-14 Tomcat on a full-size aircraft in terms of robustness requirements, because not only does the functionality depend on mechanism action but the type of loading and stresses changes between flight modes.
Titanium.
Didn't expect such simple and effective design in 2023, form follows function!!
That is simply sensational. What a superb piece of engineering design. I wish you every success.
Never seen anything like it. This is innovative and super interesting.
Beautiful engineering.... best of luck to your team!
This is beautiful. One day I'll invite you guys to my country to do a display for the coast guard.
This shape is truly nice
I'd love to fly in a full scale model! Best of both worlds - EVTOL and winged flight. Are we going to see more videos as your model progresses? Any plans to make a passenger carrying model? Congratulations on your prototype!
I love those self-deploying props. I've seen them before and are used to great effect! Some smart people thought up and made this tech a reality! We stand on the shoulders of giants.
Thanks so much, Tim!
Awesome!!
I love it already. Can't wait for scaled-up manned concepts taking to the sky.
how incredibly cool. I really hope this gets picked up by a big contract.
This is incredibly cool. i hope you guys much success so that maybe one day this design will be in general aviation
Doubt this design will scale well or be competitive with an Osprey type design.
@@wageslave387 the clear advantage of this design is how compact it becomes... imagine it as a tanker on an aircraft carrier like the USS Wasp-Class
@@animatek6171 Yes, but I doubt it will scale. These transformer type designs rarely scale in a fashion that makes them competitive versus existing designs w similar functionality. They already have helicopters.
@@wageslave387 right but look at what the military did with the osprey, and now the new bell valor. There's clearly a need for compact transforming aircraft. One of the biggest criticizations of the Bell Valor is how much space it takes up, this design solves that
@@wageslave387 It's true, I don't see this design scaling well (though I hope I'm wrong), but the military is every more reliant on drones now so scaling isn't needed really
Simply wonderful design! Congratulations!
Amazing job!Congratulations to the team!!!
Brillant engineering, impressive! Can't wait to this concept in big scale doing Navy COD missions or else what
Awesome design !! I'd like to see a future video going 'in-depth' with the design process and to learn how strong the wings are. It looks very delicate having those large wings pivot on a single point. How do they lock in place during conventional flight?
Fantastic innovation!
The fact that it is aerodynamic in both configurations is amazing