Landing Pods

grabcad

05-SEP: Added photos of FDM-compatible Landing Pod 3D-printed on Makerbot Rep 2 at 75% scale (1 hour to print). No support material needed, but included a raft since the base was narrow. -------------------- 05-AUG: Added a version (ORANGE) that is more suited for a single-filament FDM printer. Will attempt to print as time permits. -------------------- 03-AUG: Added a Horus-specific version. It is a relatively small drone, so I made the Landing Pod tubes solid instead of hollow. The diameter of the tubes could be adjusted depending on the intent of the Pod (sacrificial vs. flexible). I have shown the Pods mounted onto the existing Landing Gear, but a custom version would improve stability. -------------------- Watching my kids play with their toy quadcopter, I saw 3 concerns: 1) Hard landings on sidewalks and parking lots 2) Staying away from water (not water resistant) 3) Staying away from trees on a windy day The proposed accessory is Landing Pods made up of hollow tubular members that can be 3D-printed as a single unit. An internal bladder can also be 3D-printed for drones designed for water landings. Several embodiments of the Landing Pods are shown: 1) To minimize damage from hard landings, the Landing Pods (BLUE) can be designed to break (rigid sacrificial part) or to flex (lower durometer). They can also be 3D-printed with different durometers (i.e., rigid connectors, softer beams) to better absorb the landing loads. 2) For water landings, a Bladder (GREEN) could be 3D-printed as part of the Pod. 3) Windy conditions make maneuvering difficult, so a Bladder could be remotely inflated (like an airbag or life jacket) only when needed (YELLOW). Another application of an "inflatable bladder in a frame" is a Rescue Buoy used by Lifeguards. Here, windy conditions may require a more expensive drone to handle a full size Buoy, so a Buoy consisting of a lightweight, hollow frame (RED) with a remotely-inflated Bladder (YELLOW) could allow smaller and less expensive drones to be deployed in more places. NOTE: The models were drawn with no particular drone in mind, so they would need to be scaled and modified for attachment accordingly.