B-Unstoppable: World’s First Tank Drone

B-Unstoppable: World’s First Tank Drone

A Product designer from UK, Witold Mielniczek developed a new vehicle with hybrid locomotion name B-Unstoppable. This vehicle got tank like tracks for movement on rough terrain and propellers for flying in air.

This vehicle is based on a 2013 patent “Propulsion system for a vehicle or a toy vehicle”.

From the patent, the present invention relates to propulsion systems for vehicles or toy vehicles, which have the capability of traveling on the ground or in the air.

It is known to provide a vehicle or aircraft that can travel on land as well as in the air. For example, vertical take-off and landing vehicles or craft such as the Harrier Jump Jet have good capabilities in the air, but are not suited to movement on rough terrain.

It is thus desirable to provide a vehicle having all-terrain capability on the ground as well as vertical take-off and landing and moving take-off and landing air capabilities. The present invention provides a propulsion system for a vehicle or toy vehicle comprising rotary drive means for driving the vehicle along the ground, the rotary drive means operating in a plane and having a peripheral ground- engagement part, the system further comprising a rotor comprising one or more rotor blades rotatable about a rotor axis for producing thrust, wherein the rotary drive means and the rotor are positioned relative to each other so that during rotation of the rotor, the rotor blades pass through the plane of the rotary drive means, inside the peripheral ground-engagement part.

Advantageously, the propulsion system according to the invention allows travel on the ground by virtue of the rotary drive means and travel in the air by virtue of the rotor.

The invention advantageously provides a compact arrangement by virtue of the rotor blades passing through the plane of the rotary drive means. Further, because the peripheral ground-engagement part extends around the rotor blades to some extent, it protects the blades from contacting external objects. In this regard, it is particularly advantageous if the rotor axis lies in the plane of the rotary drive means, because then the coverage of the blades by the peripheral ground-engagement part is maximised.

The present invention also provides a vehicle or a toy vehicle comprising a chassis and one or more propulsion systems as defined above connected to the chassis.

The invention finds use in many different areas. For example the invention can be used in the following industries:

Toy industry – Radio Control model

Defence industry – use as a spy drone in harsh environments (on land or in air)

Search and Rescue – as a first response vehicle for dangerous environments or natural disasters where many obstacles are present between casualties and rescue team

Film industry – interesting and unique camera perspectives can be achieved with a combination of driving, flying and climbing

Exploration – can get to hard to reach places on Earth or other planets where it may not have been possible to reach before.

The vehicle has several different modes of operation. Firstly, it can be simply driven along the ground. In this mode, the rear wheels are driven by the axle and the motors that power the rotors remain inactive. In a second mode, the vehicle can be driven along the ground and the rotors operated simultaneously allowing moving take-off and landing manoeuvres to be executed. By selecting the direction of rotation of the rotors, the thrust may be in an upward or downward direction relative to the vehicle. When the thrust acts to urge the vehicle in a downward direction, the rotor thrust can be used in combination with driving of the wheels to allow the vehicle to drive up very steep, even vertical surfaces, or even to drive upside down along a surface.

About B-Unstoppable

B-Unstoppable is the first in the World hybrid Tank drone. It can turn on the spot, which is extremely useful in limited space, which provides 360 view for on-board camera. When obstacles become too big, it can simply take-off and fly over them. The model weighs only 84 g, therefore it can be operated nearly everywhere, without the worry of falling down and causing damages to others or model itself.

B unstopable
B Unstoppable Drone (photo: kickstarter)

Features and Specs:

  • Power: 900 mAh Li-po battery with level indicators
  • Weight: only 84 g
  • Communication Link: with 2.4 GHz radio transmitter
  • Flying endurance: 9 min
  • Driving Endurance: 12-18 min
  • Combined: 12-15 min of fun
  • Payload: B-Unstoppable has a payload of 4-6 g, enough to carry a DVR or FPV camera.
  • DVR (Digital Video Recorder) camera
  • FPV (First-person view) camera
  • FPV version includes: 25 mW 5.8 GHz transmitter, CCD 720 camera, 5.8 GHz receiver, USB AV in adapter
Specification of B-unstoppable
Specification of B-unstoppable (Photo: kickstarter)

Videos:

 

The video below shows full flight endurance and the wind resistance. 

Reference: patent “ Propulsion system for a vehicle or a toy vehicle

Image/ Videos: Kickstarter                     Explore Further: kickstarter

 

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