My girlfriend loves baking and chocolate and I love building and flying quadcopters. That probably makes us the perfect couple fulfilling all gender specific clichés ;-) Anyway, she came up with the idea to build a chocolate copter. I was skeptical at first. Chocolate is not as stable as aluminum or carbon - which are typically used for copter frames. Nor is it heat-resistant. As we all know from chocolate consumption, it already starts melting at body temperature. The battery, ESCs and motors, however, get rather hot while flying. So chocolate and copters definitely don't sound like the best combination, but you never know until you try!
First we made a silicone mold from a wooden prototype. The motors and the flight controller were mounted on extended steel spacers. ESCs and the battery were taped to Styrofoam spacers. This prevents the chocolate from direct contact with the hot components and helps increase the life expectancy of the copter.
The spacers of the motors were placed in position before the mold was filled with delicious, molten chocolate - this was probably the easiest way to attach the motors to the frame. After spending some hours in the fridge the frame was set and ready for the maiden flight. Needless to say the landing gear was made out of chocolate as well.
And it worked! It flew as stable and smooth as any other copter. So we have found a new way of building copters, without the need for drilling, milling or cutting! And best of all, when you get hungry during the flight sessions you always have something to nibble with you ;-)
You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!
Comments
What a delicious idea. I can't help but think that copters made out of chocolate and other edible materials may be a big hit here in the US.. especially if we can convince the authorities that they are regulated by the FDA instead of the FAA.
Perfect for search and rescue. Once it locates lost people they can eat it. Love the video, it tells the story well.
I had to think about which UAS application category was appropriate for a link to this blog post. I chose 'UAS for other applications', but a better, less used category could have been 'UAS for fun and food'. Maybe for some kinds of emergencies... Great video.
Crash it and you can drown your sorrow by Eating it ,well all but the "bones" :-))
" Now about your Crunchy Frog candy ,Does it have the bones in it ?"
"Why course ! If it did not it would not be crunchy ,Now would it !"
(Monty Python)
You could reduce the weight by adding Rice Crispies cereal to the chocolate ,increasing time aloft and a nice satisfying crunchy texture when it does crash and you consume it in grief :-(( LOL
Yes i poke fun but it really is an impressive feat , complements to the chef !!
Probably has good intrinsic vibration damping too.
Great idea!
Maybe you could mix in some hazelnuts next time to reduce weight, increase flight time and maximise overall deliciousness.
We all love hearts on our ESCs, but foil backed stickers covering the GPS antenna is a bit of a no no.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next