News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to ship everyday items. Parent comment

Re:Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to... by jacquesm on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @02:20PM (#15809917)
No, they won't be much quieter. The noise is a function of the shape of the propellors, their diameter and the speed of the air flowing through them. The typical drone blade has to run at 7K rpm in order to just hover the drone, 12K and up to maneuver. That's very much in the audible range and the speed with which the air flows through and the fact that the air flows downwards through them pretty much guarantees a very loud presence.

A couple of these at all times and you'll be ready to start target practice.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to... by mrfusion on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @02:27PM (#15810009)
We should design them to have owl like wings. Owls fly very quietly.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to... by jacquesm on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @02:29PM (#15810022)
You should definitely watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVo3wEkyci4

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnR8fDW3Ilo

Also, while birds are really good at using their wings to glide and provide propulsion flapping designs that need to lift much more than their own weight have so far not worked very well. So I don't really see them as viable for packages.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to... by mrfusion on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @03:35PM (#15810593)
Interesting. Seems like some birds can lift a lot of weight though like a hawk carrying a rabbit.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Mercedes-Benz conducting the biggest test using drones to... by jacquesm on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @04:07PM (#15810852)
Yes, but for a given weight in flight so far nature seems to be doing much better than batteries or fuel when it comes to carrying capacity. That's not to say that will not change, but for now biology has the edge, especially when you compound the problem such as limit the noise emitted.
[ Parent | on HN ]