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China Technology

Chinese Researchers Create Four-Gram Drone (theregister.com) 30

Simon Sharwood reports via The Register: Chinese researchers have created a drone that weighs just over four grams -- less than a sheet of printer paper -- and may be able to fly indefinitely. Documented in a paper published last week in Nature, the drone uses an electrostatic motor that weighs just 1.52 grams and is powered by solar cells that produce 4.5V. The paper asserts that the drone's design has a lift-to-power efficiency two to three times better than that found in traditional drones. The authors suggested that if rechargeable batteries can be added, the craft could be capable of 24-hour flying operations.
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Chinese Researchers Create Four-Gram Drone

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  • by bleedingobvious ( 6265230 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @05:05AM (#64648552)

    attempting to maintain course if used anywhere outside of a lab.

    Outdoors can be a challenge for something that light...

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @05:25AM (#64648570) Homepage Journal

      It doesn't appear to have any lateral control at all, it just hovers and for testing they restrained it to moving vertically.

      It's a paper, a proof of concept, not a practical vehicle.

      There are much larger solar powered aircraft, but they rely on high altitudes and fixed wings, i.e. the power goes into propelling them forwards, and they can gain free lift like a glider too. Drones expend most of their energy on lift, like a helicopter, with the advantage that they can hover and don't need to keep moving forwards to stay in the air. That's the key thing about this demonstration, such a vehicle that lifts itself with existing solar panel technology is feasible.

      • ...such a vehicle that lifts itself with existing solar panel technology is feasible.

        Until it encounters a light breeze... at which point it just tumbles.... so no longer technically flying, more accurately experiencing an uncontrolled descent event....

      • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @07:36AM (#64648786)

        I wouldnt say all drones. We run the risk of conflating quad copter with drone. A drone is a remote piloted unmanned vehicle. It could be a boat. It could be a submersible. It could be a fixed wing predator flying recon and first strike hellfire missiles. Unfortunately when someone now says drone, people immediately conjure up images of a quad copter. To avoid that, we should really specify them like VTOL drones or quad copter drones. Heck in this experiment im not even sure we should bestow the title drone. We dont call basic RC copters and cars drones. There typically needs some advanced feature like self leveling and maintaining altitude without operator intervention.

  • And a 9kV supply (Score:5, Interesting)

    by troon ( 724114 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @05:30AM (#64648580)

    More impressive to my mind, and omitted from the summary, is the step-up circuit from the solar cells' 4.5V to the 9kV required for the electrostatic motor, all within that tiny mass.

    • My thought too!

    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      Given the comparison to the mass of printer paper, imagine taking that same idea and changing the rotor from vertical to horizontal, to push an actual paper airplane.

  • Then they can fit it with a poison weapon and go after the prince.

    • ... with a poison[ed] weapon ...

      I was thinking of a camera/microphone, imitating those movies with insect-sized drones.

    • If that's a Dune reference, Paul Atreides isn't a prince. There's no particular word for the son of a duke.
      • by jaa101 ( 627731 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @08:15AM (#64648890)

        There's no particular word for the son of a duke.

        Although, in the UK, a duke's heir apparent is entitled to use one of his father's lesser titles as a courtesy (but the duke remains the substantive holder). For example, the Duke of Norfolk is also Earl of Arundel and Baron Maltravers. His eldest son is, therefore, styled "Earl of Arundel". So the eldest son of a duke could be styled (in descending order of precedence) a marquess, an earl, a viscount, or a baron, depending on the titles held by the duke.

    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      The poison alone, excluding the containment, would weigh more than the drone. This weighs less than a paper airplane.

    • by cstacy ( 534252 )

      Surely you must mean the Duke's son.

      I see wheels within wheels.

  • That's quite a feat of engineering, but I wouldn't it have difficulty flying except when conditions were ideal? For something with so little mass, I'd think even a half-decent fart could be a problem.

  • The smaller the drone the more affected by wind it is, so it may operate better as a kite at that point because it can only travel with the wind
  • I wonder if insecticides will take it out.

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