Heavy Lifting Copters Can Apparently Lift People

Online RC store Hobby King is once again encouraging people to push the limits of what quadcopters and other multirotor remote control vehicles can do. They call it the beerlift and the goal is simple: build a multirotor craft capable of carrying the greatest amount of beer (or water, everything is measured by weight).

The competition is over, but the results were spectacular. The vehicle with the largest lift capacity – pictured above – was built by [Olaf Frommann] and carried 58.7 kilograms, or nearly 128 pounds to a hover a few feet off the ground. Last year the biggest lift was a mere 47 kg with an eight-rotor craft.

It was still an impressive showing all around. The biggest lift in the 700 class – 700 mm from rotor to rotor – was done by [David Ditch] with 19.6 kg. You can check out some of the best entries below, including an amazing aerobatic quadcopter that can successfully loop carrying a cup of beer,

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpW_B9NHwaQ]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvI6M71Lvbo]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJdsci-46g]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJUuVK-6iw]

[via Hacked Gadgets]

32 thoughts on “Heavy Lifting Copters Can Apparently Lift People

  1. if a kit or build plan becomes online i could use something with that heavy lifting.

    in my line of work where i rummage dumpsters to salvage junk to recycle the metals a machine like that would be very useful for in a case where for example someone is uneasy about me rummaging their dumpster because of “the hot coffee effect” i.e i may get hurt and sue it could relieve them of liability.

    1. You might want to rethink what “the hot coffee effect” really is. The liability wasn’t on the consumer for a reason… if you get hurt doing something that is outside of the scope of business the company is in (i.e. getting in the dumpster,) that’s not analogous.

      1. It’s the performance of the camera that’s lacking, not the cameraman. Slow tracking during zooms, and crossing from many focus points (trees, ground) to one (the copter in empty sky). Expected performance for non-pro gear.

      2. He was intentionally going out of focus.
        When one disables the auto-focus on a video camera, the task of focusing falls upon one’s shoulders.
        As this video demonstrates, it matters not how much experience or lack thereof one has, the camera will always be able to perform the task of focusing much faster than the human operator. Especially if the camera is not equipped with convenient two handed operation which allows one had to zoom and the other to maintain focus.

        There are times however, when disabling auto-zoom is necessary to obtain a properly focused video. Such as zooming into a drummer going into a drum solo.
        I did this at a David and Goliath concert back in the late 90’s not thinking about it, and the camera got confused and tried to focus on the drum sticks which were moving so fast that the entire area the camera was pointing at blurred out for a brief second until the drummer slowed the sticks down a teensy tiny micro bit. Unintentional, but the effect looked really cool during play back.

  2. It’s magic not 200 year old science taught in grade/primary school that you can estimate on a basic calculator..

    FYI you can get 8 and 4 feet props off the net that support high RPM/lift/thrust. I think they are around $500 USD

    1. You must understand that engineering started out as beer brewing, not producing high alcohol-by-volume drinks, which is relatively easy.
      There are various reasons why creative people do not want simple strong drink, but complicated low alcohol beverages.

    1. Given that they couldn’t use 200 year old basic math to estimate the performance of their creation, this is probably wise..

      It’s actually annoying that this is hyped so much. Cost is the reason you haven’t see it flooding the net. Predicting lift and thrust is kiddy science and like I said can be done easily even on a basic calculator. Sorry if honesty and standards makes me a hater/troll..

      1. I wouldn’t call it kiddy science if you want an accurate number. Sure you can plug in density and diameter into a momentum estimate and get a number, but it’s a bit more involved to match tested results.

  3. Hi. I have a different application for a quad (or more) copter that can lift about 200 pounds. If there anybody, anywhere who thinks this can be done please contact houseraising@hotmailcom smiles and thanks in advance jim

    1. Of course it’s now 2019 and at least 10 companies have personal drones to carry up to 2 full size humans. For as little as 180k you can hop in your quadcopter ,program your destination and enjoy the ride. Many new model require no pilot license and can go up to 200 miles on one electric charge. Other models up to.500 miles with standard gasoline hybrids.. if your a millionaire you certainly can afford and have one.

  4. Hi I am building a Quad like yours but im not using it to lift. I used 3 /4″ square alluminun tubing for the supports and 2 aluminum plates in the center for the receiver,K22 board and batterys..my motors are about 24″ apart what I would like to do is use 10-4 props and they will be 4 bladed which should be the same as if the blades were 20″ the bare frame weights 6.500 lbs. what motors ,batterys, esc are you using. if you can please email me at sparkylatula@hotmail.com .thanks

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