New video: kinetically powered helicopter
Added 2025-03-04 01:10:22 +0000 UTCI had a simple idea for a simple project: try to spin one of those little propeller-on-a-stick toys really fast to see how high they can go. Of course one thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was building an extremely not simple helicopter, complete with collective pitch and an onboard computer and sensors to allow autonomous flight. I don't want to spoil it, but one very unfortunate and particularly bad oversight means there will almost certainly be a part two to this video 😉. If you have any questions feel free to discuss in the #smh-video-discussion channel on the discord. I hope you enjoy it!
Fig 1. The genesis of the project.
I was thinking about how projects like this make absolutely no sense from an engineering utility perspective, but at the same time how great it is that they can exist. Your support is instrumental in making them happen, so thank you!!
I’ll be doing a patron only directors commentary livestream in the near future to go through more of the details. I’ll share specifics on that soon.
-Shane
Comments
Thanks for sharing the failures along with the successes. Everyone has a few of both, but the former don't always turn into the latter, and too often we only share the latter. How about mounting the landing legs and control surfaces on a circular section that can counter-rotate about the main rotation axis? Joe Barnard of BPS.space used this to get stable video from model rockets that had significant rotation about the roll axis: https://youtu.be/nYl_D-bk3lg?si=6qP8E4PEUJ2JRbYz&t=346 You could couple this to the blade pitch servo with a swashplate, and even drive it in reverse with the legs fixed to the launch pad on the ground to bring the blades up to speed!
Kevin Vermeer
2025-03-05 20:48:39 +0000 UTC"projects like this make absolutely no sense from an engineering utility perspective, but at the same time how great it is that they can exist" : exactly that.
Estelle Comment
2025-03-04 08:32:09 +0000 UTC
