Why settle for piloting a single drone when you can pilot a flying car made from 16 of 'em? Tired of marketing departments passing off work-in-progress hoverbikes as functioning prototypes, Dutch hobbyist extraordinaire Thorstin Crijin decided to use his quadcopters to build his own working hovercraft. The end result? A 16 motor and prop sexdecaptor that lifted young Crijin a good meter or so off the ground.
Made from lightweight 6060 aluminum, the entire rig weights a total of 110 pounds, which when combined with Crijn’s own 132 pound mass, weighs exactly 40 pounds below the 282 pound of static thrust generated by the machine’s own battery-powered motors. In theory, this is enough of a gradient to achieve lift-off; the only thing missing is a tool that adjusts the power on each motor to maintain balance and stability. Crijn used the well-known MultiWii Autopilot for this purposed, which after strapping it in, allowed him to levitate like a wizard.
Surrounding one’s self with 16 unobstructed rotors may not be the safest (or smartest) thing to do, but the project is quite an accomplishment considering it’s powered by lithium-ion batteries and build in someone’s backyard. At least the design isn’t as dangerous as the Malloy Aeronautic s’ hover, which features four uncovered rotors wells.
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