As a drone operator and firm proprietor myself, that signifies that I’m all the time looking for methods to extend my revenue margins for my drone enterprise.
A key a part of that is discovering one of the best drone on the lowest value, however that has all the time come on the expense of flight time. As a result of there are at the moment solely two choices.
- Choice 1: a less expensive business drone at about $12k (and above) to get any type of payload capability as much as 5 lbs and possibly half-hour of flight time.
- After which Choice 2: a business drone that makes use of unique supplies (and designs) for rather more flight time – maybe over an hour – however I have to fork over $50k to $100k+.
Choice 1 has all the time been the manageable alternative – regardless of all its inherent issues. Sure, I’ll purchase the additional batteries. I’ll fly forwards and backwards from the job web site shedding time to swap batteries. I’ll monitor and cost batteries in my workplace and in my SUV – and wherever I can discover a plug – in order that I’m not in panic mode on the job web site anxious about whether or not I’ve sufficient batteries to finish the job.
I’ll even purchase a number of drones and have completed so recurrently. Sure, I’m incurring prices (which additionally harm my revenue margins) however it nonetheless has been higher than the upfront value of Choice 2.
The co-founders of Modovolo, Erik, CTO, and Justin, CEO, have skilled the identical ache. Erik is an aerospace engineer, and former USAF Captain, however most significantly for the final 5 years, he’s been a business drone pilot. He noticed the identical points with Choice 1 and Choice 2 and he acknowledged the core issues with each.
“I spotted that the rationale for brief flight occasions in drones is their fixed-hub design. There’s numerous redundant and extreme construction. That provides numerous weight. And the propeller design and the the electrical motor RPMs are very inefficient. Once you add these issues collectively, it interprets to quick flight time.”
I’ve had comparable ideas. Drone design actually hasn’t advanced that a lot because the daybreak of drones over 15 years in the past.
However Erik went one step additional.
Erik explains, “Why do I would like to purchase a brand new drone for every utility? It was driving me nuts. I simply spent $12k on a drone that would carry 5 lbs of payload solely to seek out out later that for an additional job the payload was 7 lbs. However this meant I wanted to spend one other $18k to get a drone only for that payload. It’s completely loopy. Take into consideration if Dell required that we purchase one pc for phrase processing and one other pc for spreadsheets. We might by no means comply with that. Why will we comply with this for drones?”
I believe we’ve all had these comparable ideas however it’s not clear find out how to repair all of those issues with present drone design.
Justin feedback, “We knew we needed to re-think drone design from the underside up. An entire departure from what has been completed so far. We additionally knew that, to get the fee down – approach down – we wanted to keep away from not solely costly supplies but in addition something that will complicate the manufacturing course of.”
That is the place the hero enters the story, the bicycle wheel.
Erik explains, “We constructed many, many, many prototypes and nothing was working. We weren’t getting the breakthrough lightness we needed in order that we might obtain wonderful flight occasions. That’s when the proverbial mild bulb went off. I spotted that the bicycle wheel had all of the traits we wanted. Mild, sturdy, and rugged. It’s actually an underappreciated technological marvel and nobody had ever thought to make use of it in aerospace.”
That is additionally the place the Lego idea was born.
Erik continues, “We subsequent realized that the bicycle wheel had one more profit. It meant that we have been not constrained to at least one design. You’ll be able to join them collectively in any configuration you need for the mission at hand. Want extra thrust to carry a heavier payload or want extra flight time? Simply add extra Elevate Pods.”
After 2 ½ years of growth and submitting a bunch of patents to guard all points of the Elevate Pod and the modularity idea, the workforce got here out of stealth mode simply this March 2024 and launched a pre-order web site.
“We’re within the means of getting our first manufacturing manufacturing cell arrange and we’re providing a restricted run of 200 pre-orders. These clients will get assured manufacturing precedence, particular entry to our engineering workforce, a restricted version modovolo t-shirt, and get to direct what sorts of Utility Pods we’ll construct first.” Justin states.
You’ll be able to go to modovolo.com to study extra and get your pre-order in the present day.
