RotorX has developed a fully autonomous heavy-lift unmanned hexacopter called the Palledrone that participated in the last two US Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments (AEWEs).
The Palledrone is a 3.2 m diameter autonomous resupply aircraft in the prototyping stages that is designed to carry up to 45 kg of cargo 8 km, and loads under 4.5 kg as far as 34 km. The aircraft can lift a payload of 36 kg for five minutes, and can fly with a full 45 kg payload for five minutes.
Jeremy Epps, RotorX co-founder, told Janes on 6 April that the company is looking to increase the Palledroneā€™s payload capacity to 68 kg. RotorX, he said, has tested the Palledrone carrying about 48 kg.
RotorXā€™s Palledrone autonomous heavy-lift unmanned hexacopter. The company is looking to increase the aircraftā€™s payload capacity to 68 kg. It has tested the Palledrone carrying about 48 kg. (RotorX)
RotorX designed the Palledrone for set-up within seven minutes. The Palledroneā€™s motors are designed to snap into place while the aircraft has foldable and retractable landing gear. After assembly, a user would only have to programme the aircraftā€™s flight path to be flying the Palledrone within seven minutes.
The Palledroneā€™s six-rotor design provides redundancy in case of motor failure as Epps said the aircraft can fly with four motors. This was tested at AEWE 2021, which took place from 5 February to 5 March at Fort Benning in Georgia. Dmitry Bershadsky, RotorX lead engineer and CEO, told Janes on 6 April that the aircraft lost an arm during the event and that the RotorX team did not have enough spares to replace it.
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