@Jack: (“Too bad he never mentioned how long it took to recharge between takes.”
Hard to know indeed, but could be less than an hour, possibly less that 1/2 an hour. Not to mention the fact they might have had several sets of batteries, in which case they could fly that baby almost continuously less time between battery swaps.
A guess, but in that other video Neistat mentions 81kw of maximum power available. That would correspond to about 5kw max per battery, which would roughly agree with the maximum power provided by 16 (20AH 24v/6S) batteries discharging at a reasonable 20c. (20, 22 and 24AH 6S “60C” batteries available OTC, e.g. Yabo Power).
In the behind the scenes video there's a power supply on a table that looks very similar to one I use, two 12v 750W computer server supplies ganged up in series that can provide up to 60A at 24V/6S. There are also some MeanWell supplies out there that look similar, some of which can provide 1600w or 30A at 48V/12S. In any case combine similar power supplies with something like an iCharger 4010Duo (or use a reasonably beefy gas generator for supplying power to that or equivalent charger), and one could charge two 20AH 6S batteries in under 30 minutes at 2C or 40 Amps. Using 4 of those combos would charge all those batteries in under one hour, using 8 of them would charge that baby in less than ½ an hour ...
Too bad he never mentioned how long it took to recharge between takes. Having the human underslung is the 1st practical arrangement. All the others had blades on the verge of slicing the human. He also got higher than anyone else.
It would be interesting to find the 360 degrees video mentionned in the video. "be sure to check out the 360 version of this video shot entirely on Samsung Gear 360 cameras".
Those are some very complex shots to fake. And if so they are the best fakes I have ever seen.
Today's batteries and motors makes getting enough lift just a matter of money. The impressive part as Rob mentioned is getting it to fly stable flying with large propellers. But the builder seem to be experienced, having done the right choices like making the build CG neutral (batteries evenly distributed on top and bottom) etc. Drone seem to be piloted (and built?) by http://www.droneworksvr.com/
Some scenes are true, like normal skiing with the drone, but some are very likely fake like the flying guy, or even the high speed climb on the hill.
*** But to me the biggest clue is that the guy who publishes the behind-the-scenes video is "PrankvsPrank", and has 10 millions followers. The video is sponsored by Samsung (marked at the end of the video), and he has many many multimullions views videos. At some point you get that his job is to make prank / hoax / buzz videos and make a living from sponsoring and google advertizing.
Anyway it's high class and very enjoyable video, it's just very likely partially fake.
And it has the "professional filming like an amateur" touch that's often the signature of the buzz videos.
Well, to give you an idea how expensive just the motors are, at00:55you can see the motor model "8218xf". This is a motor sold by KDE Direct for a cool $600 each (and is, unsurprisingly, their top of the line). Carbon fiber props of that size (~30 in) cost about $80 each, and the KDE Direct's recommended ESC costs a further $200. This mean thateachof the 16 motors costs about $1000 with all its parts. ($16000 total) Assuming the drone + 1 Neistat is about 140kg (314lb), with a gram/Watt thrust efficiency rating in the 6-10 range, those motors would consume about 17.5kW of power in a hover. If it can maintain that for say, 10 minutes with a 2 minute safety margin, then it would require about 3500Wh of battery capacity, or, in terms of weight, 20-30kg of batteries. Battery prices vary, but $1/Wh is a good order-of-magnitude estimate. The total is now about $19500. Estimate maybe $1000 for the frame materials and fabrication and another $1000 or so for the more fancy flight avionics. So you're looking at $22k+ for just the drone, ignoring the cost of their time. If you want to include cameras and other miscellany in your calculation, the 360 cameras are $350 a pop and the HD video downlink stations (of which they have at least two) are a staggering $1600 each.
Comments
@Jack: (“Too bad he never mentioned how long it took to recharge between takes.”
Hard to know indeed, but could be less than an hour, possibly less that 1/2 an hour. Not to mention the fact they might have had several sets of batteries, in which case they could fly that baby almost continuously less time between battery swaps.
A guess, but in that other video Neistat mentions 81kw of maximum power available. That would correspond to about 5kw max per battery, which would roughly agree with the maximum power provided by 16 (20AH 24v/6S) batteries discharging at a reasonable 20c. (20, 22 and 24AH 6S “60C” batteries available OTC, e.g. Yabo Power).
In the behind the scenes video there's a power supply on a table that looks very similar to one I use, two 12v 750W computer server supplies ganged up in series that can provide up to 60A at 24V/6S. There are also some MeanWell supplies out there that look similar, some of which can provide 1600w or 30A at 48V/12S. In any case combine similar power supplies with something like an iCharger 4010Duo (or use a reasonably beefy gas generator for supplying power to that or equivalent charger), and one could charge two 20AH 6S batteries in under 30 minutes at 2C or 40 Amps. Using 4 of those combos would charge all those batteries in under one hour, using 8 of them would charge that baby in less than ½ an hour ...
@John, when you have a $25 million dollar payday, and backing from Samsung, you can build pretty much anything you want...
Yeah, it's kinda funny that a viral video has currently more or less bested all of the commercial human lift projects.
Too bad he never mentioned how long it took to recharge between takes. Having the human underslung is the 1st practical arrangement. All the others had blades on the verge of slicing the human. He also got higher than anyone else.
It would be interesting to find the 360 degrees video mentionned in the video. "be sure to check out the 360 version of this video shot entirely on Samsung Gear 360 cameras".
Does someone have found this 360 video ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyUrqZBs2XA
Those are some very complex shots to fake. And if so they are the best fakes I have ever seen.
Today's batteries and motors makes getting enough lift just a matter of money. The impressive part as Rob mentioned is getting it to fly stable flying with large propellers. But the builder seem to be experienced, having done the right choices like making the build CG neutral (batteries evenly distributed on top and bottom) etc. Drone seem to be piloted (and built?) by http://www.droneworksvr.com/
And Rob, you got at least two 800E's flying now right? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77uK19KxMuI
Hmmm, I think it's partially fake.
Some scenes are true, like normal skiing with the drone, but some are very likely fake like the flying guy, or even the high speed climb on the hill.
*** But to me the biggest clue is that the guy who publishes the behind-the-scenes video is "PrankvsPrank", and has 10 millions followers. The video is sponsored by Samsung (marked at the end of the video), and he has many many multimullions views videos. At some point you get that his job is to make prank / hoax / buzz videos and make a living from sponsoring and google advertizing.
Anyway it's high class and very enjoyable video, it's just very likely partially fake.
And it has the "professional filming like an amateur" touch that's often the signature of the buzz videos.
One commentor posted this about the drone:
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