Interesting Drone concept with 360° cameras looks like a magical floating orb from a sci-fi movie

Posted on 24/08/2021 by Sarang Sheth

The reason the drone archetype exists is because it’s a tried and tested format. Four propellers on either corner (or six if you’re lucky) and a relatively aerodynamic design with legs for taking off and landing. Throw in a few cameras and sensors and you’ve got yourself a drone that’s easy to recognize. However, break this archetype and you’ve got yourself something quite unrecognizable – like the Jupiter drone concept by Anton Weaver.

Weaver’s drone has a monolithic orb-esque form that defies both gravity as well as the ‘rules’ of drone design. It uses a large single propeller, and what I imagine is an internal gyroscope to move around in the air, stay upright, and even twist and turn while in mid-air. The drone’s unusual design is further characterized by the presence of fisheye lens cameras that allow it to capture everything it sees, sort of like a levitating GoPro.

Weaver’s design focuses more on shock-value than actual physics or aerodynamics, which is precisely what makes the Jupiter drone concept fun to analyze from a design sense. The drone’s strange shape almost gives it the appearance of an all-seeing eyeball that levitates around everywhere, and according to Weaver’s visualizations, it’s the kind of drone you’d use to film the action around you – thanks to the presence of dual fisheye 4K cameras that can capture in 360°.

It comes with the battery mounted on the top (weighing a commendable 400g) and has sensors at the bottom that detect proximity, allowing it to nail the landing – because without any bumpers or feet, the Jupiter can only take-off and land on your palm. The fact that the outer shell protects the internal propeller so well makes it perfect for this, as well as acting as a general buffer as the drone flies around filming the world around you!

Designer: Anton Weaver

In an unusual case of bio-mimicry, this drone is inspired by the shape of a hammerhead shark

Posted on 28/05/2021 by Sarang Sheth

It’s not entirely common for a water-borne animal to be a strong source of inspiration for an air-borne product. Sure, the penguin or the kingfisher have provided design cues that have helped understand fluid and aerodynamics, but Anton Weaver’s Hammerhead Drone takes inspiration from the popular shark almost as a visual tribute, as opposed to nature-inspired design mimicry. The Hammerhead Drone comes with a quad-propeller design and a frame that creates protective rings around each propeller. Its silhouette resembles that of the hammerhead shark rather well, with the propellers looking like the familiar offset eyes of the large carnivorous fish.

For over a century, scientists have speculated why hammerheads evolved such an odd shape and whether having eyes so far apart would enhance their vision. It was speculated (and eventually even tested) that the sharks, which first made their appearance 450 million years ago, had much better binocular vision thanks to their massively offset eyes. It would help them zero down on the location of prey with much more accuracy than other sharks, and the highly offset nostrils helped them even identify the direction of enticing odors. That history lesson aside, the Hammerhead Drone recreates that same visual appearance of the shark with the way its body projects outwards to form protective rings around each propeller. This makes the drone much more resilient during flight, allowing it to easily recover after bumping into an object.

Aside from providing a physical system to prevent hardware damage to the drone’s propellers, the Hammerhead Drone comes with a bunch of other fail-safes that help it avoid collisions. The drone comes equipped with multiple cameras and sensors on every side that help it autonomously avoid obstacles. Red LED strips on the front and back help illuminate the areas too, and allow you to easily spot the drone from a distance. For video recording, the drone comes equipped with a primary action-camera mounted on a 3-axis stabilizer – a common detail with most drones. The rear houses a removable battery pack that powers the entire unit, and the drone even comes with unique landing gears that help cushion impact as the drone makes a descent towards the ground. A handheld remote control lets you operate the Hammerhead from a distance, and you can view what the drone’s main camera sees using a companion viewfinder app or program on your smartphone.

Designer: Anton Weaver

This aerial drone for NASA will help discover prospective landing sites on Mars

Posted on 21/10/2020 by Gaurav Sood

As planet Earth grows too chaotic for habitation in the near future, the next frontier is definitely Mars. NASA has been working hard on Mars missions currently underway and the ones that are lined-up for the future, and the dream doesn’t look too distant when humans will set foot on the planet. The final destination being to colonize the red planet just like ours. The surface of the hostile planet is a challenge to explore and an aerial vehicle that can survey the surface of the planet in close proximity for the ground units to zero-in on the hot spots to scan on priority makes complete sense.

The Mars Aerial Exploratory Drone 2030 which is the brain-child of 3D Generalist Anton Weaver aims to be the lead aerial surveillance vehicle that helps in tracking out the key habitat zones or detect any unknown threats in advance with its vantage position up in the air. The drone is inspired by the NASA Mars Helicopter which is planned for use with the scouting tasks for the future Mars rovers. According to Anton, the drone is more advanced than NASA’s iteration, with “bigger, smarter, and more utility.” It has soft landing pads for any surface on the planet and runs on the solar power of the sun.

That said the primary objective of the drone will be to identify the points of interest for the research team and detect sites that’ll be of interest to the ground team. The aerial vehicle can also perform drilling tasks to bring back samples if the identified zone is too tough for the rovers to tackle. The idea by Anton is quite future-forward and if a prototype of this concept vehicle is designed, who knows, it could actually scout the Mars surface come year 2030!

Designer: Anton Weaver

This V-shaped aircraft is energy efficient and has double the cabin space!

Posted on 12/03/2020 by Sarang Sheth

Eliminating the distinction between a plane’s cabin and its wings, the Flying-V by Justus Benad assumes a unique V-shaped aircraft design that integrates the passenger cabin, the cargo hold, and the fuel tanks right into the wings.

Created as a part of his thesis project, TU Delft student Justus Benad designed the Flying-V to be a highly energy-efficient long-distance airplane. The Flying-V relies on a wider wing-span than most traditional aircrafts, but offers double the cabin space in the process. Think of it as having the same wing-span and seating capacity as an Airbus A350, but being only half as long. Its improved aerodynamic design helps reduce the aircraft’s overall weight, bringing down its fuel consumption by as much as 20%, making the Flying-V incredibly efficient for its capacity!

The interiors of the Flying-V are mindfully designed for its 314 passengers. The V-shaped cabin space comes with an unusually wide cross-section towards the front, quite similar to the MAVERIC concept from Airbus. Designed to help distribute weight efficiently, the cabin is fitted with experimental lightweight fixtures that provide a comfortable experience for the passengers. The cabin’s unique V-shape also provides the ability to introduce as many as 4 seating options: lounge chairs, group seating, individual seats and collapsible beds.

A team of engineers, technicians, and students at TU Delft built a scale model of the Flying-V with a wingspan of 3.06 meters with the plan to test-fly it during the year to measure its stability when cruising at low speeds and to calculate the right angle for take-off and landing.

Designer: Justus Benad (TU Delft)