This underwater drone uses 6 propellers to freely move in any direction

Dubbed the SHARK, this waterborne drone is designed to dominate its environment by moving rapidly in any direction, much like its predator inspiration. The ROV (remotely operated vehicle) uses a novel arrangement of 6 propellers in a 3×3 formation that gives it better control underwater, allowing it to not just move forward or backward, but also move up and down with equal agility and even perform complex maneuvers like twisting and flipping in mid-water. “The six propellers enable free and stable motion, posture, and water depth maintenance,” says the designer.

Designer: JK Design

Made to explore the deep sea, the SHARK has a build that seems more robust and rugged than most. Its outer enclosure is simultaneously aerodynamic as well as robust, with the demeanor of a shark that’s swift yet imposing.

The front of the drone houses its camera array, sporting multiple smaller lenses and sensors for obstacle avoidance and environment scanning, and a larger primary lens for research and documentation. The drone is operated remotely by divers who can use it to explore areas that aren’t safe for humans to venture into. The remote control also sends back video transmission of what the SHARK sees, letting the pilot navigate it more efficiently.

A look at the drone’s underlying chassis, which features 6 propellers that can rotate 90° to face upwards or forwards.

The black body and the fins give the drone its shark-like demeanor

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The world’s first Sea-Air Integrated Drone blazes a new path towards oceanic sustainability and carbon neutrality

The Sea-Air Integrated Drone is the first drone of its kind to be able to fly in the air and swim underwater to perform various and complex tasks, leading a new path toward sustainable ocean economies and carbon neutrality.

Underwater robotics firm QYSEA recently teamed up with Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI to develop the world’s first sea-air integrated, remote-control-operated drone, which was constructed by the commercial drone manufacturer PRODRONE. The Sea-Air Integrated Drone was first unveiled during a flight showcase at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama. With sights set on modernizing “offshore and marine operations with its intelligent capabilities, high working efficiency, and minimized manpower required,” the drone will be the first of its kind to fly in the air and swim underwater.

Designers: QYSEA, KDDI, and PRODRONE

Known for an impressive catalog of underwater robotics and marine technology, QYSEA implemented the use of their industrial-class FIFISH PRO V6 PLUS ROV into the build of the heavy-duty aerial drone. Six years prior to its conception, KDDI first began “[combining] advanced mobile communication networks with drone technologies that would deliver extended flying distances and lengths.” Since then, KDDI and QYSEA have worked together to develop seamless drone operations between air and sea.

Defined by KDDI’s long-range mobile communication technology, operators can control the drone via remote from long distance ranges, whether the drone has submerged underwater or taken flight. Once the drone has landed in its designated location, the FIFISH ROV detaches and deploys to get to work, allowing the operator to remotely control the drone with the ROV from a safe distance. Describing the drone’s remote-controlled operations, the team at QYSEA notes,

“Without the need to leave their onshore working location, the operator can deliver inspections with real-time visual feedback and operate through underwater environments with a variety of sampling, measurement, and manipulation tools, as well as be able to live-stream operations for multi-person collaborations.”

In addition to the variety of operations the drone can manage, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone has shown its competency across additional marine-based industries. In offshore wind power plants, the drone can perform complex maintenance tasks.

In the world of aquaculture, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone can fly out to monitor livestock and crops, in addition to regular maintenance tasks. With further information to be released in early 2022, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone is sure to lead a new path toward the development of a sustainable ocean economy and the global goal of carbon neutrality.

The post The world’s first Sea-Air Integrated Drone blazes a new path towards oceanic sustainability and carbon neutrality first appeared on Yanko Design.

Whale-inspired underwater drone can carry out rescue operation where humans can’t reach!

Shipwrecks have become more frequent as the number of vessels in the oceans increases due to open trade policies between nations. Owning to their scope and location, shipwreck rescues can become logistically complicated and humanly dangerous to carry out. This is where underwater rescue robots such as the Saver Whale designed after the good sense of whales – that are known to helping people – come into the scene.

The Saver Whale is ideally a concept of an underwater drone designed to reach where human rescuers can’t – or shouldn’t – go. Lots of human live-saving deep water rescues happen in challenging, dangerous conditions which are difficult for diving squads to negotiate without risking injury or loss of life. Maritime rescue drones such as the Saver Whale can reach uncharted waters – reducing risk to human life – and work as scouts to deliver medical and equipment to liberate any trapped or sinking soul.

The Saver Whale, equipped with cameras, sonar, and radar for detection, and a radio system for communication, can be deployed from the helicopter, to venture into depths of the hostile waters of the ocean where sending human is riskier. The drone, on detecting a survivor or diseased and can instantly relay the message to the rescue team and request assistance. In addition to calling out for backup and relaying its live location, this versatile sub can equip the survivor with a life vest, rope, and other gear from the first aid kit onboard.

Interestingly, the Saver Whale is also conceptualized to shoot out a net on a dead body located, to fix its position, so it’s not lost in the water current. There are already a range of rescue robots that can crawl in the rubble, fly over fires, and swim in deep waters to help first responders in executing operations. Yet, Saver Whale with its payload carrying capacity and more organized approach can definitely go through improvisations to one day dive to the ocean beds in search of marine accident victims.

Designer: Lim do-hwi

 

 

10 Futuristic Drone Concepts & Designs

Technology has been moving so fast that new devices and machines emerged to better help people. Take for example, the evolution of communication devices — from pagers to candy bar phones to the many variations of smartphones and tablets we see today — brought better and better features and enhancements. 

And technology has moved far beyond than that: now, advanced technology mechanisms are used everywhere, such as in creating the likes of autonomous vehicles, in which the most popular at the moment are aerial vehicles we know today as drones. And now drones have become so popular that individuals and companies alike have found tons of possibles uses for then. Here are some of the drone ideas we found:

GoPro’s Karma Drone

Image via: GoPro

There had been a lot of camera drones out there in the market today. And of course, GoPro, the company famous for manufacturing action cameras, won’t allow itself to get left behind. GoPro just launched its Karma system, which it says is a compact and foldable drone system that can actually fit in the back pack that is included in the package. The company has begun to make the Karma system available on its website and in select sellers in Europe and is sold for €999.99, or €1399.99, if with HERO5.

Amazon’s Prime Air Delivery Drone

Image via: Amazon

I recently watched “Storks,” that animated film where storks (yes, the kind of bird) actually delivered packages to customers. Interesting idea, indeed, but we can’t expect storks to actually deliver us packages. But drones can. This e-commerce giant, Amazon, proves that they are aggressive in making delivery faster for each of its customers and decided to work on  drones that can deliver your orders in less than an hour. Currently, the drones are in private trial to select customers. We’ll just have to wait for this to fully rollout. After all, it already has begun its first delivery last December.

Natilus: Cargo Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

Another startup based in California, wants to make a similar attempt to that of Amazon, but bigger. The company, Natilus, came up with an idea of autonomous and amphibious drones that could transport upto 200,000 pounds cargo. Yes, it intends to operate similar to cargo planes at a much cheaper cost!

Jet Capsule’s UFO-inspired drone

Image via: Jet Capsule

This drone looks like a spacecraft that’s similar to those extraterrestrial films I’ve seen before. Though the company behind this idea, Jet Capsule, seems to project the drone as a ship-like vessel that would float on water.

This drone, called UFO, is intended to offer better amenities than your typical private jet, offering a transformable kitchen, a living and dining area, as well as a bedroom, within the two-storey architecture of the drone. This could also be our doomsday escape, if this eventually gets built out as it has a water generator that can covert rain and sea water into potable drinking water. 

Ehang 184 Autonomous Aerial Drone

Image via: http://www.ehang.com/ehang184/

We may also see a similar transportation service drone in Dubai soon. Called EHang 184, this drone is shaped like an egg and can carry a one person with a maximum weight of 220 pounds. That person can also carry a small suitcase or bag with him. Interestingly, this drone had already been tested to fly over Burj al-Arab and is expected to fly around in the Middle Eastern country in July.

Plan Bee Drone

Image via: Cnet

Meanwhile, this drone is made to grow your garden in style. Created by a college student, Plan Bee is a drone that’s intended to artificially pollinate flowers. Now, drones are not only replacing tasks of humans, but also of insects, huh?

Skeeter: Dragonfly biomimetric microdrone for surveillance

Image via: TechCrunch

Another participant in the animal-inspired drone is this biomimetric microdrone that is intended to look like a dragonfly. Conceptualized by British company Animal Dynamics, they wanted a drone that could mimic a dragonfly, including the wing-flapping movement the insect does. The tiny drone called Skeeter, which is expected to weigh just less than 30 grams, is intended cor covert surveillance  While still in testing phase, the company expects to have the machine fly in the next two to three months.

SkyOne: Oil Rig-Inspecting Drones

Image via: S

Drones are totally trying to address various problems across different industries. Another proof of that is Canadian company SkyX’s SkyOne craft, which is intended to inspect any damages gas and oil pipelines, thereby avoiding any catastrophic events, such as explosions from gas leaks. Something pipeline builders could definitely invest to.

DogDrones: Poo Scooper Drones
Image via: The Sun UK

Image via: The Sun UK

Too tired of cleaning up your dog’s mess? Here’s the drone for you! DogDrones consist of a fair of drones. First is the WatchDog 1, an aerial drone that has the capability to spot the dog poo through heat sensors, which would be detected by the installed camera. Once spotted, it will send signals to its tandem drone, Patroldog 1, which will move towards the poo and sweep it up. Problem solved! The drones are concepts of a Dutch based startup. While the idea is still in the early stages of development, all we have to do is wait and manually do the job for now.

Sea Lice-Killing Underwater Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

While most drones are built for aerial purposes, there are also a few ones made for under the water. This one’s especially tailored to solve a certain issue in salmon farming in Norway — sea lice. Apparently, salmon farmers have been spending tons of money to battle against these parasites. So, Stingray Marine Solutions developed an underwater drone to help solve their dilemma. The drone is built with an image-recognition technology to detect sea lice and to throw out a laser pulse that will eventually kill them. How cool is that?

If drones operated under water

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Meet ROV, a Remote Operated Vehicle! Most drones dominate the skies, but ROV’s cooler than most drones. It operates underwater! The ROV’s design is a classic blend of bio-mimicry and form-follows-function. It retains its drone-esque character while roughly emulating the way a fish moves from left to right to cut across the water. A drone would be incomplete with the visually dominant fans, and ROV has three of them towards the rear. The main fan triggers upwards and downwards movement, while the pair at the complete end are responsible for propulsion.While we’re on the subject of what drones would be incomplete without, the ROV also comes with a pretty nifty camera that allows one to not just navigate the drone, but also take some rather nifty underwater footage. Pool party or Nat Geo? Where do you see this being used the most?? 😀

Designer: Ron Ferencz

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