Study project about airbags for drones - thoughts?

Discussion in 'Misc. Quadcopter & Multirotor discussions' started by GoodVibeAvionics, Dec 3, 2015.

  1. GoodVibeAvionics

    GoodVibeAvionics New Member

    Hi guys!

    We are a group of six people who, in the context of a university project, are developing a business idea that has to be related to drones. We are studying on the Technical/Engineering faculty University of Southern Denmark, and the course is called “Experts in Teams”, and is a semester long project, where we have to create business plan/idea, with a team consisting of different technical studylines. We chose the sub-course regarding drones. The team consists of two from Denmark (software/UX-hybrid), two from Finland (electrical) and two from Austria (eco energy).

    We came up with the idea to develop an airbag for drones - and in that way increase the security for both drones and humans during a loss-of-control situation.

    The idea is to attach airbags on the drones, which are capable of enveloping dangerous drone parts and reduce the potential physical impact and damage to humans. That way we also increase the security in urban environments - and not just in open fields. We believe that the drone use is going to increase dramatically in the next couple of years (and that the laws will open up for a freer use of drones), and therefore drone presence in the urban environments is something that we will see a lot more of. And that’s why we think it would be smart to prevent damage to humans and drones alike.

    As soon as a loss-of-control situation is realised by the software and sensors onboard, the airbag will deploy, possibly in cohort with a parachute, and then we can reduce the speed of descent and reduce damage to unsuspecting citizens below.

    We believe that our idea in together with other safety measures like advanced collision detection/echolocation systems and parachutes could be very useful.

    Our plan focuses on DJI Phantom drones at first (as they are widely used, has fragile wings and often a camera attached), and so far, we concluded that the airbag system would benefit the non-commercial drone users at first.

    And therefore we would like to get some feedback from people who uses drones :)

    What do you think of the idea? Do we have a potential user base? Would you buy it? Should we start a kickstarter? What would you pay?

    Thank you in advance,
    Good Vibe Avionics
     
    GoodVibeAvionics, Dec 3, 2015
    #1
  2. webman

    webman Administrator Staff Member

    I like it.......
    I thought of airbags as being a major component in a safer drone - a couple years back.

    I think the problem you will run into is that most drones don't fall on their operators so people don't really care enough to spend the money and time.

    If you were going to go ahead with something like this you'd have to believe you had something (smarts, capabilities, etc.) that the 1,000 of other engineers working on drones did not. If this is the case I might suggest not doing kickstarter and perhaps considering Venture Capital (Angellist, etc.)
     
    webman, Dec 3, 2015
    #2
  3. Joe grodis

    Joe grodis New Member

    Ducted props may be more reasonable. Airbags will add a fair amount of weight and really shorten the already short battery life. Now, with ducted props, you will add a little weight yet ducted props do increase prop efficiency. The duct on each prop will add a safety factor if your drone does come in human contact. So, going with duct may increase safety without killing flight time / battery life.

    Just my 2 cents.
     
    Joe grodis, Dec 8, 2015
    #3
  4. webman

    webman Administrator Staff Member

    Joe, ducted props may fix part of the "hit by blade" problems - but I think a bigger problem is the weight. I once calculated that a Phantom can injure you badly (falling) and a 3DR Solo can kill you (the weight is higher). That is from the falling of the heavy object.

    We'll have to see how the numbers go, but my take is that more drones are going to cause highway accidents as well as falling injuries...rather than prop cuts requiring hospitalization. Protecting the props is fairly easy...even the stock prop guards on most machines do a 1/2 decent job.

    It may be that reducing the overall weight of these things is #1 job in preventing injuries. Also, design...so that when they hit something the weight is not concentrated (bumpers, rounded surfaces, etc).

    I haven't thought it all out yet but airbags as well as wings (which pop out to create a small glide path) have popped into my head. Parachutes are somewhat old school but maybe someone can engineer a lighter one - it could be wing shaped so instead of slowing the unit too much it could steer it to a clear patch of earth (using sensors, google maps, etc.).

    I think each design will differ depending on the weight of the particular craft. A lightweight unit like the BeBop may be able to use just some foam padding- while units over a kg will have to use other means.

    To drive this market will require UL type standards which test each craft - I think this is something needed as more and more drones fill the skies.
     
    webman, Dec 8, 2015
    #4

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