Skip to main content

Picoflyer - Worlds Smallest RC Helicopter

I found this while searching about helicopters.

Picoflyer


Petter Muren, a Norwegian engineer has invented world's smallest RC helicopter. With just a rotor diameter of 60mm and a weight of just 3.3 grams, the Picoflyer can take off from the palm of your hand.

While normal RC helicopters rely on gyros or sophisticated autopilot systems for stability, the Picoflyer uses a unique stability system (invented and patented also by Petter Muren). The Picoflyer relies on a passive-stability system that naturally tilts the ringed rotors to keeps the heli stable if it starts to lean one way. This new system adds no extra parts or weight to the heli.

parts of the Picoflyer

While intended to be a one-off prototype, the military, universities and hobby manufacturers have expressed their interest to it. The passive-stability system has already inspired a larger commercial RC helicopter named Bladerunner.

The Bladerunner


References 
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2006-03/you-built-what-tiny-helicopter
http://www.proxflyer.com/pi_meny.htm

Comments

  1. Thank you for taking to time to prepare such an informative and enlightening post.
    Thanks.

    Healthcoach here

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Selecting the Correct Gauge Wires for your RC Models

When we are building RC models (aircrafts, multicopters etc.), something we typically overlook is what type of wires to use to distribute power in them. Usually, we try to reduce the weight of the model, so we tend to go with smaller wires. But, we cant expect to put in small circuit-wires and have them handle the amount of power needed. If you look at the wires that comes in the output leads of a Li-Po, or the wires that comes on a standard XT Jack, you'll notice that they're quite huge. Large gauge wires on a Li-Po and XT connectors These need to be huge to handle the amount of amperage that goes through them. So, we should also consider the amperage, and the length of wire needed when selecting the size (gauge) of the wires.

What do the prop size numbers mean?

Have you been trying to shop for propellers - either online or at a hobby shop - and got confused of the numbering used to denote the size of the propellers? You see things like " 10 x 4.5 CW ", or " 8055 CCW ". What do these numbers mean? A 8 x 4.5 CW and CCW Propeller Set It's actually quite simple once you figure it out. The first number denotes the diameter of the prop (length from tip-to-tip). The second number denotes the pitch of the prop. Here, the pitch is denoted as a length, not a angle. Let's see how that works.

Make Your Own Jupmer Wires for Electronic Breadboard

Note: After starting the 'Tips and Tricks' section I wanted to do my own 'tutorial'. So, here's my first attempt of it. Hope you all find this useful, and sorry about the low quality of the photographs, my camera is just a 2MP. If you, like me, like to experiment with electronics, then you'd probably use an electronic breadboard (also known as protoboard or project-board). These allow you to construct and test circuits without the need to permanently soldering the components. The problem with these is that you have to use wires to connect the components across the bus lines. We normally use single core circuit wires for this purpose, but they tend to bend, break and get stuck in the breadboard when used repeatedly. This may cause short circuiting the bus lines and could be the failure of your circuit. A better option would be to buy a 'Breadboard Jumper Wire' kit, such as this. A Breadboard Jumper Wire Kit These have sets of wire of differ...