Engineers and enthusiasts are finding all kinds of great uses for drones, but this one may top them all: there are now drones with edible wings that can reach and then feed people who are in need of rescue.
It’s not a new idea to send a drone to someone who’s, say, stuck on a mountain or in a collapsed building.
The trouble is, a typical drone can’t carry much in the way of necessities because it has to use most of its power just to fly itself around.
A research team based in Switzerland got around that problem by making their drone’s wings out of edible material.
The wings are mostly made of puffed rice, which is similar to the strong but lightweight foam that’s used in many traditional drone wings.
The difference is that the puffed rice wings are edible.
They’d be worth around 300 calories, so not a huge meal on their own, but in an emergency enough to keep someone alive.
And because they’re wings, they’re not part of the payload, which means the drone could carry water or medicine or other needed materials when it takes off.
The scientists are now trying to find ways to make the rest of the drone out of edible stuff.
Still, I don’t think you’re going to be able to request specific toppings anytime soon.
An artist known as Sunday Nobody just released a spicy new project.
He’s taken a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, covered it in resin and buried it in the Seattle area inside 3,000 pounds of concrete.
As one does.
Eat This Drone With wings made from rice cakes, this drone is designed to save your life (IEEE Spectrum)
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Photo by Florian Voggeneder, Ars Electronica via Flickr/Creative Commons