Merciful Kod This thing....

[daniel l.]

http://www.popsci.com/festo-floating-gripping-drone-orb-comes-in-peace-probably

 

Creepy as hell, Equally awesome.

[RainDreamer]

I thought it is pretty cute.

[Nuke]

congratulations, you invented the blimp!

[James Kerman]

I'm thinking "Beer Drone".

[mikegarrison]

Wow, how lazy would you have to be to have a drone bring you drinks from a few meters away?

[daniel l.]

1 hour ago, mikegarrison said:

Wow, how lazy would you have to be to have a drone bring you drinks from a few meters away?

It was a test. Real use would be for much further distances.

[Scotius]

I predict lots of hilarity when that blimp-drone gets hit by the first gust of wind. Also, reactions of unsuspecting onlookers

[RainDreamer]

I wonder if these drones are cheaper than the quad copter ones, so they are more viable as toys. 

Also, they are much cuter, being these bubbly slow moving drones. Suddenly I want to dress one up as a zerg overlords from starcraft

[lajoswinkler]

I like how it poops the bottle into his hand. Nothing like a refreshing drink pooped from a plastic anus straight into your hand. 

[KerbonautInTraining]

1 hour ago, lajoswinkler said:

[Stuff]

I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to say it...

[magnemoe]

8 hours ago, RainDreamer said:

I wonder if these drones are cheaper than the quad copter ones, so they are more viable as toys. 

Also, they are much cuter, being these bubbly slow moving drones. Suddenly I want to dress one up as a zerg overlords from starcraft

They will be very vulnerable for wind. Benefit is that they are quieter they are also less dangerous on fail so they might make sense indoor or protected areas like an stadion.  

[Nuke]

15 hours ago, RainDreamer said:

I wonder if these drones are cheaper than the quad copter ones, so they are more viable as toys. 

Also, they are much cuter, being these bubbly slow moving drones. Suddenly I want to dress one up as a zerg overlords from starcraft

the problem with quad copters is they are a very brute force approach to flight. they are very inefficient. 20 minutes of battery life is a common number. adding blimp elements would make longer duration flights possible. but then you have a bunch of blimp problems, being draggy, slow, and subject to cross winds. or at least give the blimp a more oblong gas bag so it can benefit from a smaller cross section (less drag, higher speed, but more susceptible to cross windage). one advantage of having helium is you can shut down all the power hungry bits while in flight, drift with the wind or even recharge batteries with thin film solar cells. i actually think what we should really be after are fixed wing vtol drones like nasa's greased lightning drone. to you fixed wing range and the ability to land anywhere. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by Nuke

[James Kerman]

23 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

Wow, how lazy would you have to be to have a drone bring you drinks from a few meters away?

Lol - quite lazy... and thirsty.  I was thinking in a social environment like a party or a pub.

[mikegarrison]

8 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

Lol - quite lazy... and thirsty.  I was thinking in a social environment like a party or a pub.

There was a restaurant in Seattle that used to send the meals to the tables via model trains. That was fun, when I was a kid.