Edinburgh company Flowcopter is trying to bridge a major problem in deploying UAV on extended offshore missions: Smaller craft have neither the heft nor battery life to handle the exacting conditions, while gas-powered engines aren’t well-suited to quick adjustments rotor flight requires. Its solution is a long-distance, heavy-lift drone equipped with hydraulic motors that effectively regulate spin rates.
Battery-driven UAVs have come a very long way over the past decade, and will doubtless continue developing toward being able to transport extremely weighty payloads in even ferocious conditions. But for now, they can’t perform challenging maintenance, inspection, surveying, and search and rescue missions in often inhospitable sea environments – especially far off coast. Awaiting the day they can, Flowcopter has developed a hydraulic motor that will allow heavy-lift drones to take on those kinds of offshore tasks, and remain reliably airborne using shifting…
