Hello folks,
My name is Erik Johnson and I'm a long time lurker and have been lurking around pretty much since the beginning of DIYDrones.
My team and I have finished developing a fully protected multi-rotor propeller guard system that we feel is going to bring multirotors to the next level of safety, yet retain much of the awesome characteristics of multi-rotor craft for autonomous projects, FPV, and hobby flying.
After numerous injuries to myself over the years and reading about and seeing others injuries (some too severe to even be able to bear looking at the pics), I felt that attempts should be made at creating a lightweight, aerodynamic housing that keeps these spinning knife-blades away from people, fingers, trees, bushes, and so on. See below:
Some basic technical info:
For initial simplicity, our limited production Quadcopter kit is based around the rcexplorer.se tricopter electronics and motors. Tricopter and Hexacopter kits are under development, as well as modular ring/screen kits for folks to mount up to their existing machines.
The current kit is in the 1Kg class, sized for 10" propellers, with other sizes on the roadmap. The kit will accept most FC's and will feature a larger FPV fuselage than displayed that holds plenty of gear. Universal motor mounts are under development and will be available on the kit when it is released.
Current specs (approximate and subject to change):
All Up Weight with battery: 1050g (37oz)
Frame weight empty (no electronics, motors, or battery): 400g (14oz)
Flight time with 3s 2200mah lipo: 8 minutes
We are currently taking pre-orders and - based on interest - will aim to launch a limited production run of 1000 QuadCopter kits Sept 1st, 2012.
Please don't hesitate to comment and ask questions or submit questions through the site. http://safeflightcopters.com
Erik
Replies
Really nice design in all ways.
In order to get to the next level of public acceptance we need these to be much safer than our flying lawnmowers.
You can go small and light like Traxxas, Blade and even Parrot, but to have multicopters that can actually do stuff you need bigger ones.
And this removes the main objection safety wise.
It can still fall on your head, but with SONAR it could easily have a low and slow mode.
Great work and your listed prices on your web site are very reasonable, basically for the price of an ordinary airframe you can have one that is a lot safer.
All the luck in the world to you and I hope you get your business working properly so that these can become commonly available.
I personally would like to see 3DR pick them up if possible.
Hi folks. While it looks like we've been quiet, I can assure you there is a lot happening behind the scenes that we cannot talk about until the products are ready. We are evaluating scheduling and will have an update on our website ASAP, likely by this week or next.
Thanks for your support.
How did you come to use a 15 degree offset on the rotors? Also, will the mount be able to hold something larger than a 2200 battery? Finally, can you give any details on the go pro mount?
Thanks again.
That's a great looking design! Congrats. Great idea.
A little bit Starship Enterprise inspired?