At Aalborg University’s Drone Research Lab, a team devised an experimental setup, featuring a motorized catapult and high-speed camera to document what happens when a hobby drone hits objects or people.
Note: no humans were harmed in the making of this video. Instead, to measure the speed and force of drone impacts, researchers used the pork roast mom was saving for dinner.
The three meter-long catapult featured an electric motor, capable of accelerating a 1 kg drone up to 15 meters per second via an aluminum slide. The camera, which captured the drone-on-pig action, filmed the collision at 3,000 frames per second, enabling researchers to measure the force of impact over time.
Once the team nails down the setup, the plan is to upgrade the catapult to handle bigger drones and higher speeds.
Despite the fact that the experiment is intended to mimic what happens when one of these bad boys, you know, smashes into someone’s face, it’s oddly satisfying to watch the propeller pierce the pork like a drone-induced dinner kabob and the resulting ripples in the slab of meat.
Check out the two videos below, featuring the launch of the porcine projectile at normal speed and then slowed down to 25 frames per second.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)
