Ridable QuadCopter

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
Don't get me wrong, this is ridiculous, but I live for the ridiculous. I would like to see you guys build a quadcopter, or octocopter, that is powerful enough to lift a human being up off the ground.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...Brushless_Outrunner_Motor_USA_Warehouse_.html

Using a static thrust calculator I found on the internet, specifically this one: http://personal.osi.hu/fuzesisz/strc_eng/ : it looks like that motor should produce about 71 pounds of thrust. Times four of them equals 284 pounds. I don't know how much the frame and motor and batteries and everything will weight, but that should be powerful enough to lift a 150 pound human being. You might need Josh Scott to be the pilot. :p

Of course there are safety concerns. What if a prop breaks? What if the Tx fails? What if it stops and drops to the ground? I think for safety all of the props need to be above, clearly above, any pilot that dares to take a ride. Not only will it keep the pilot clear of the props, but the pilot will then act like a weight to keep the craft centered; it'll make it harder to move around, especially if the weight is maxed out on the craft, but that's not fully the point. The point is to show that it could be done. This wouldn't be about flying around and flying high. Just simply getting ten feet off of the ground is all that is required. I think it would also be safer to not use a Tx. Then again, you'd want to load the craft with weight during tests and you'd need a Tx for that.

I know this won't be done. Not just for the safety concerns but because of the cost. The motors alone are $337. And you need four of them. If four isn't powerful enough, then you'd have to go with 6 or 8. Yikers that's a lot of money! Plus the speed controllers, the batteries! you'll need lots and lots of batteries!!!, building a frame strong enough to safely support all of the weight. Custom welding can be expensive. Not to mention that it might not be possible to simply use a KK2 board. Or if you'd want to at that point. Nothing against any of the controller boards, but I wouldn't trust my life to one.

Again, I know this won't be done. But how great would it be if it was?
 

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
So..um...err...yeah.... okay.... Flite Test hasn't done it. Just because something has already been done doesn't mean it couldn't be done again. If anything, it means it CAN be done again.

That video is pretty awesome.

I doubt Flite Test would do it because of the expense alone. But it would be nice to see the Flite Test crew do it too and see how they do it.
 

andy_spoo

Member
Have you been to there website lately. They've improved it. Looks kind of cool now:-

http://www.e-volo.com/ongoing-developement

timthumb.jpg




Germans already did it!


Thurmond
 

Johan

Senior Member
Imagine if something went wrong. That's a lot of large spinning blades to get chopped around in :-/

Yep, better wear a kevlar suit or one of those interlinked steel rings things the knights in the middle ages used to wear (don't know the English word for that)
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
Yep, better wear a kevlar suit or one of those interlinked steel rings things the knights in the middle ages used to wear (don't know the English word for that)

Chain mail, or shark bite suit for the modern era usage. Basically same technique as the knights chain mail but the rings are made from stainless steel. I guess in this case it could be renamed prop bite suit...
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
As nice as a prop-resistant suit might be, that bouncy ball won't help much from a drop of 20-30 ft