SureFly Octocopter

[skypros]

I did a search for this here on MavicPilots.... and nothing came up

Here is the details about it..... Boy I wish I could afford one when they come out!!

CNBC story:
SureFly Octocopter pitched at Detroit auto show as the drone anyone can fly at $200,000

 

[Former Member]

Very cool! A coaxial, one handed helicopter with battery backup!

 

[Mavic Pro Platinum]

I did a search for this here on MavicPilots.... and nothing came up

Here is the details about it..... Boy I wish I could afford one when they come out!!

CNBC story:
SureFly Octocopter pitched at Detroit auto show as the drone anyone can fly at $200,000

That’s sick! Too bad it’s $200,000!

 

[Former Member]

That’s sick! Too bad it’s $200,000!

Well when you think about it, a Cessna 172 these days goes for over $300,00, this is a bargain.

 

[Level]

Looks shockingly unstable. Anything that needs safety landing gear is still a prototype, imo. Given available technolgy there's no reason whatsoever it can't be rock solid.
Looks like they've got a way to go in being ready for public lease, rent or purchase.

 

[Former Member]

Looks shockingly unstable. Anything that needs safety landing gear is still a prototype, imo. Given available technolgy there's no reason whatsoever it can't be rock solid.
Looks like they've got a way to go in being ready for public lease, rent or purchase.

Think so? It doesnt look like it pitched or rolled more than 10° in any direction, and he was able to yaw it without loss of altitude. Also, he didnt even need to use the training wheels at all during the hover. If I had just invested millions of dollars of an invention, I would have training wheels too. (and a diaper on)

 

[Level]

Ditto on the diaper. IGE is always a bit dicey to exit...would have thought four dual rotor systems would be substantially more stable. With electric motors and onboard gyro's there should be enough almost instantaneous thrust control to counteract negative effects of unstable air. It looks to me like they have approached the stability challenge like a conventional aircraft rather than what it appears to be; a dual (counter-rotating) quadcopter.

 

[Former Member]

Ditto on the diaper. IGE is always a bit dicey to exit...would have thought four dual rotor systems would be substantially more stable. With electric motors and onboard gyro's there should be enough almost instantaneous thrust control to counteract negative effects of unstable air. It looks to me like they have approached the stability challenge like a conventional aircraft rather than what it appears to be; a dual (counter-rotating) quadcopter.

Good point. It's really hard to judge a quadcopters forward flight capabilities by it's hover, but yes it could have been more stable but was still in its own wash. The W and B looks good, no terrible vibration, and the pilot hands werent shaking too badly after the test flight.

How would you approach the stability challenge differently? Im not sure this design is so revolutionary since coax's have been around for decades already, just not put to use on a personal multirotor.

 

[Level]

What seems obvious may be more problematic to implement....it's not clear to me why it wobbles in so similar a fashion to a single rotor / tail rotor configuration. Piezo gyro's revolutionized the flyability of pod and boom RC helis and quadcopters knocked it out of orbit altogether with unprecedented stability. Thus I'm wondering why we aren't seeing that degree of improvement with this particular craft.