[Adam Woodworth] tries to build some kind of RC plane every month. He’s been at it for almost a decade, and he’s getting pretty damn good at it. By day, he’s a Hardware Engineer at Google, though he went to MIT for Aerospace Engineering. Coincidence? We think not.
His latest project is an Imperial Shuttle drone, or to be specific, a Lambda class imperial shuttle — the infamous Shuttle Tydirium. You have to watch this thing unfold.
Using paper model plans, [Adam] printed out the shuttle on a combination of 3mm and 6mm thick foam board (Depron), and then assembled it. This kept the model light enough that the set of quad rotors would have more than enough power to fly it around.
As for the wing mechanism, it wasn’t that simple. He finally got it working using a line driven system and a central pivot arm. When it worked for the first time… well, we’ll let him describe it to you.
The first time I cycled those wings in flight, I knew it was worth it. I just couldn’t stop smiling. As for how it handles, in the words of Han Solo, “uh…I don’t know…fly casual.”
As far as Star Wars drones go, this has gotta be one of the coolest we’ve seen yet. We want to see them altogether for a dogfight! Just check out this wicked Millennium Falcon we shared last year!
[Thanks Itay!]
Of course the cat is scared, this guy is on board!
http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/darth_vader_mouse_by_house_of_mouse-600×500.jpg
Nice shuttle though.
+1 for sheer awesomeness of the wings.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!
Indeed!
Very cool R/C craft, nicely done.
I like how the motors and rotors don’t really show up that well. My son looked over from across the room and wondered how the thing was hovering. Naturally, I told him, “Repulsorlifts.”
Imagine this: Get Xwings + Tiefighters + Deathstar + Imperial Star Destroyers All in a Stadium and recreate the space battles from the films. THAT WILL BE THE FUTURE.
That won’t be the future; that will be a long time ago.
I never comment here, but your comment deserves it!
Nice!
That thing’s fearsome! Love it.
I love the paint job! Look at the carbon scoring, this thing has seen some action.
To Hack-a-day: please add an edit comment link.
I thought the still images were awesome, then I saw the videos! OMG! The wings fold! And the engines light up! Please market this to some major hobby company like eFlite, it deserves the attention!
One problem… licensing. Star Wars licenses don’t come cheap IF you can get one at all.
Last Christmas I was a quad copter Millennium falcon at Bed Bath and Beyond , right next to the Darth Vader Toaster oven… And there is about 10 bb8 droids on the market right now…
Personally I’m a fan of the Home Made Snow Speeder that hovers off the floor in ground effect mode.
I bet lord Vader needs a bag now. On second thought, that mask comes off way to slow.
It looks really nice, but it needs more stability. And it should play the Vader’s march. On two floppy drives attached to it.
Must be weird for a google guy that they only have one evil empire in the star wars universe. What about <strike)faceb…. others?
(I’m just joking around, easy now.)
Awesome project. I wonder if the following changes could help….
1. Add accels to keep body level
2. Add ducted fans for forward flight
3. Add control services to each wing and the vertical stab (this will help with control and forward flight without eating up all of your control margin on the rotors.