Quadcopter

SiFly says its drones fly 4X longer, 10X farther, 10X quieter and carry 5X more payload than the competition, while manufacturing in the USA at China-competitive prices. And they don't need parachutes. We asked how... Here's the secret sauce!

A new drone company has exploded out of stealth mode in the USA with incredible claims about its first product, saying it'll fly 4X longer, 10X further, 10X quieter and carry 5X more payload than leading competitors – while competing with China on cost.

Even the nimblest of quadcopters still struggle to halt their lateral momentum when moving fast, limiting their maneuverability. An experimental drone addresses that problem in a bio-inspired fashion, by extending flying-squirrel-like membranous wings as needed.

Sometimes a flashlight just isn't enough. The Flying Sun 1000 drone system was designed with that fact in mind, as it uses 288 airborne LEDs to light up the night like the alien mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

DJI's simple-but-capable Neo drone is kind of a big deal, but is it not quite capable enough for you? If so, you might want to check out the new DJI Flip. It sports a folding design, multiple autonomous flight modes, and a 31-minute battery life.

In a major jump into the era of eVTOL air taxis and multicopter cargo drones, the US FAA has issued new regulations that introduce the first new aircraft category, called "power-lift" aircraft, since modern helicopters were introduced in the 1940s.

Quadcopters may be agile but they're also relatively wide and delicate, limiting their potential uses. The Morphy drone addresses these drawbacks with flexible propeller arms which allow it to basically just "squish" its way through narrow spaces.

The Scottish company behind a novel heavy-lift utility UAV that uses an internal combustion engine and hydraulic motors has now frozen design plans and is preparing for production following successful flight tests in Denmark.

Last year, a mechanical engineer set a Guinness World Record for the fastest battery-powered RC quadcopter, which was clocked at 224 mph. Now that record has been smashed by a custom-made drone that clocked nearly 300 mph.

University of Manchester engineers set themselves the task of building and flying the biggest quadcopter drone in history, and to keep things legal with aviation authorities, they made some interesting materials choices.

In recent years, we've seen a few folding-wing drones that can be quickly and easily launched from a tube. The WASP M4-TL tactical UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) takes that same concept and applies it to a military-spec quadcopter.

Firefighters have a dangerous job at the best of times, but especially so when they're first entering burning buildings. A new flame-resistant drone could help, by scouting structures to let firefighters know what they'll be up against.