And they're using what to power the thing? Sarium Krellide? Because a LiPo battery would last about as long as it takes your average mammal to pee.
And if you're hanging off the side of a cliff, I recon they'll be a right bitch to retrieve.
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And they're using what to power the thing? Sarium Krellide? Because a LiPo battery would last about as long as it takes your average mammal to pee.
And if you're hanging off the side of a cliff, I recon they'll be a right bitch to retrieve.
"And if you're hanging off the side of a cliff, I recon they'll be a right bitch to retrieve."
Quite. Apparently you should be able to catch it and place it back on your wrist - so when you're hanging off a cliff face, that's something which is going to stop you having three points of contact while you do it. Piss poor example.
Why - I catch it with my right hand (so I still have three points of contact) then put it on my right wrist (retaining those three points)
I can't be stretched out, because then I'd have been unable to take it off my left wrist in the first place.
I quite like the idea, although I'd suggest not trying it on anything other than a windless day
"And they're using what to power the thing? Sarium Krellide? Because a LiPo battery would last about as long as it takes your average mammal to pee."
what makes you say that ?
there are already similar sized FPV 'drones' out there.
The Hubsan 107D for instance - I have one.
You get about 6 minutes flight time.
You gotta' be kidding me. I can just see 10,000 people at a sporting event suddenly launching these things... Now where's the helmet icon cause those things are going to come down somewhere.
Now a wearable 3-D printer has potential. For what, I'm not sure but I'm curious and would like to see the application.
Probably not, too economically valuable, but what you can do with it already is. You really can't use these to go spy on Mrs. Robinson's bedroom.
You are also subject to lots of rules about where, when and how you manage the flight of these things, better be insured if you fly one into a car.
In general they are covered by the same flight rules that cover model aircraft, which I believe are all about keeping it in sight, yours, not the camera.
Drones are a bit different as they are far more aware of their surroundings, and are usually backed up by lots of other ground or airborne control tech. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Amazon if they go fully live with their drone delivery ideas.
"You are also subject to lots of rules about where, when and how you manage the flight of these things, better be insured if you fly one into a car."
Are you? I'm thinking of those tiny toy helicopters controlled by smartphone/bluetooth and the like with 5-10 minute flying times. Are they covered by the model aircraft regulations or are there exceptions for "toys"? This would appear to be of a similar size and weight and being flexible, about as dangerous. Or is the law strict, no exceptions?
Is this the best current technology permits? We have a way to go to catch up with nature. When will we build an artificial dragonfly with the same hours-long endurance? Small powered wings are presumably much more complex than rotors, but also much more efficient.
(They aren't around today, but the fossil record shows that the dragonfly design works at much larger sizes).
>(They aren't around today, but the fossil record shows that the dragonfly design works at much larger sizes).
There was once a lot more available oxygen in our atmosphere... it was this allowed very large insects to breathe. They don't have lungs, and rely on little tubes to take in oxygen, so its a surface area / volume thing.
"Small powered wings are presumably much more complex than rotors"
Ornithoptors. Oddly enough ,nothing man-carrying appears to be viable but there are many examples of small working models. ISTR seeing one not much larger than a large bumble bee. Not sure what it's duration was, not long I suspect.
Ornithopters ... Oddly enough ,nothing man-carrying appears to be viable
And won't be. Birds max out at bustard-size, somewhat under 20kg. I'd guess that there are wing strength/stiffness issues that prevent anything heavier from getting off the ground if that involves flapping its wings. Similarly at a larger scale, fixed-wing aircraft max out when the wings can't be both long enough to generate sufficient lift and stiff enough to support the weight.
Although large birds and insects both fly by powering their wings, the aerodynamics are very different. Insect-sized wings use the vortex generated at the tip of the wing to generate extra lift. This is the explanation of how a bumblebee manages to fly with such small wings. I suspect that it's also the most efficient form of flight for small creatures and devices (simply because if it weren't, nature would have evolved the alternative! )
Which may be rather less difficult than other Culture-level tech. Start by trying to make a dragonfly-drone. A micro fuel-cell is probably the biggest gap in our know-how. (DAK know if that's the path nature took - large flying insects first? )
I've just realized, IMB didn't specify the normal size of mosquitoes in that part of his universe. Some of the ones that bit me in the USA, the drone might have been rather larger than I was imagining when I read the book!