Airplane type drone "APSARA" carries supplies that save people's lives and finally returns to nature

Transport packages to the eaves by skipping drone from the home delivery truckAs the trial began, expectations are gathered as a role to expand the means of transport of goods to drone. Meanwhile, the aircraft type drone "APSARA" developed by San Francisco startup can glide to the destination by reliance on the GPS and surely deliver the goods, and finally it is decomposed scientifically We are going to have the advantage of returning to.

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I can understand exactly what kind of drone APSARA is under development as it is developed, by seeing the following movie.

This Drone is Designed to Save Lives Then Disappear | WIRED - YouTube


A man who assembles cardboard and assemble something like a box.


When you paste each part with gummedap ... ...


An airplane with wings was completed. This is naturally returning drone, APSARA.


San Francisco startup "OtherlabStar Simpson, who is a project engineer at the company "Everfly" who spun out from there, says, "This is like a wing-shaped pizza box." Otherlab is AmericanDARPA(National Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).


APSARA has a cargo space in the center of the fuselage, and it is possible to fly with a maximum of 2 pounds (900 grams) of baggage on it.


Its appearance is a stealth bomber operated by the US Air ForceB-2"As. However, this aircraft is not a bomb but is used to drop food and medicines.


APSARA does not have a power propeller as you can tell by looking at the aircraft. Therefore, when you transport goods, you carry hundreds or thousands of APSARA to the site with a large airplane or the like, drop it from the sky and glide like a glider. At that time, a mechanism is adopted to guide the aircraft to the position of the designated coordinates by using the GPS sensor built in the main body and the motor that operates the wings.


The greatest purpose is to save the trouble of collecting the aircraft and lower the operation cost. For this reason, no expensive plastic or metal is used for the aircraft, and ultimately materials based on the mushroom fibrous structure "Michelium" will be used.


It is considered to be used in the field such as disaster rescue and humanitarian aid.


Everfly project leader Mikkel Taylor said, "After fulfilling the task of delivering supplies, APSARA gradually decomposes the aircraft made from natural materials, returning it to the earth to minimize its impact on the environment It will be that. "


If you just transport goods, you can not quantitatively win more parachutes with much load. However, the parachute is basically "leave the wind", and the falling point may become the bottom of the cliff, inside the river, deep inside the forest, and so on.


APSARA realizes precise control by electronic control. As a result, it will be possible to accurately guide you to the point you wanted with GPS and deliver goods reliably. By the way, although general electronic components are used at the present time, DARPA is proceeding with another project to develop electronic circuits that leave no trace after use. By combining these technologies, it may be possible to realize a drone that returns to nature after use and loses the trace.


There is also an advantage in making it like an origami in an assembly style.


It is also possible to significantly reduce transportation costs by transporting it in sheet form and incorporating the method of assembling on site.


The company already carries out flight test of APSARA made of cardboard. In the test, it seems that the verification that the APSARA is suspended in the drone of the multicopter as follows, it separates in the sky and guides it to the target point.


Although only one aircraft is dropped in the test, the real use scene considered is to drop supplies of thousands of APSARA from the sky to deliver supplies. And after arrival APSARA will return naturally in a few days, which means that it will be a means of transport less burdensome to the environment.