Pocket drone with a flight time of up to two hours

Anyone who has ever managed a quadrocopter, an Octocopter or a drone of some other kind will be greatly surprised by looking at the specifications of the baby Pocket Flyer from CyPhy Works. Dronchik, fit in your pocket, weighs only 80 grams, and at the same time able to stay in the air for up to two hours, continuously broadcasting HD-video! Where did such magical characteristics come from? According to the developers, the whole thing is in the microwire thread, by which the drone is connected to the user and through which it is supplied with energy and exchanges data.

At one time, many wondered why CyPhy Works was trying to use such an archaic thing for robotics as the power cord. After all, the ideal robot must be able to act energetically autonomously, from the battery. And for ground-based robots, this is generally considered the only correct option, because they do not have to spend a lot of energy to maintain themselves in the air. But for flying models, the duration of work is the most sore point. The vast majority of flying robots today are able to continuously be in flight for only 10-20 minutes.

The developers of CyPhy judged that since there is no possibility of drastically increasing the battery life of drones, you need to turn to the old forgotten technologies. So in their products began to be used coils with thread, unwinding in flight and used to power the motors and two-way exchange of information.
')
According to the authors, in the presence of a constant source of electricity, a microwire thread will allow drones to stay in the air for days. However, this is not its only advantage. Unlike transmitting a video stream using radio, wired broadcasting avoids lags. With this method of control, there can be many obstacles between the operator and the drone, which in the case of radio control would lead to a loss of signal. For the thread, all these obstacles are not terrible. There is one more important factor: the wired connection eliminates the possibility of the interception of the drone’s control by the attacker. Bad people can generate interference in the radio channel, which also leads to loss of communication with the drone.

The spool of thread is placed on the drone, its length reaches 76 meters. The coil is unwound as the drone moves, but this does not create a thread tension that would interfere with the flight. In this video, you can see the prototype of the pocket drone in action:



The company already produces a fairly wide range of drones, which can be seen in the video standing on the floor. Pocket Flyer is created for special forces, the fighters of which are especially important in saving weight and equipment.

And here is the full set. The folded drone fits entirely into the case on the left, and on the right is the same spool of thread.



The case also contains a battery for the drone and a control panel to which the thread is connected. Management is carried out from a smartphone or tablet, from under any OS. To do this, simply install the control application.