When drone hobbyists say they want to build their own drones, this may not be what they had in mind. A Google engineer named Adam Woodworth has created – literally – a drone made of LEGOs. Woodworth in the past has created some amazing goodies. These include a fully functioning Podracer (the size of a toy, but still) from the Star Wars franchise. Not stopping there, he also created a drone recreation of the Millennium Falcon, another Star Wars icon.
LEGO Drone Taken to the Skies!
This time however, he was not reaching for machines from a galaxy far, far away. Now he wanted to create his drone from the ground up. LEGO creations are no longer just for kids. They can now fly like the birds in the sky.
The LEGO drone is just that – made to look like standard sized bricks of various colors and shapes. But don’t be fooled, it actually is just foam material. Apparently the drone can only carry so much. A heavy load like a compilation of LEGOs piled up on top of each other can really add up the weight. So Woodworth relied on a safer bet, a lighter material that emulated LEGO constructs. Cop out? Maybe, but hey, still works right?
The end product looks and acts like a tiny helicopter, with moving rotor blades and all. But the real power of the drone comes from its four propellers (two on each side) located at the landing gear. The big rotor blade at the top (made of LEGO material still) is in general, more on aesthetics than function. Same goes for the tail rotor located at the back of the drone-copter. They move, but only for the sole purpose of replicating helicopter movement. The rotors contribute absolutely zero effort on the flight. But as you can see in the video, the overall effect really makes it an amazing sight to see.
Removing the LEGO out of the equation, this one is a quadcopter. The creation may be disappointing to some (you didn’t really use LEGOs for the drone!) but it is still a marvelous feat. It looks good and it flies. Do you really need anything else?
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