It looks a bit bit like an octocopter, however this solar-powered hovercraft is distinctly different from its free-flying brethren. It depends mainly on ground impact for operation as well as to get it just a bit into the air you requirement a quite big reflective rig nearby.
The vehicle needs to be even lighter than traditional quadcopters in order to function. It doesn’t bring any type of battery at all which provides a issue when trying to program the microcontroller board. For this it is linked to an outside battery, which is eliminated before flight to ensure that the manage can be powered from the solar array.
What’s not shown in the picture above is a mirror array utilized to focus more intense sunlight on the panels to bump up the offered electricity. Not much is stated about this, however there is one picture on the job page which shows the creator standing in front of the set of four mirrors (perhaps sheets of mylar?) strung up between a couple of trees.
Alas, we couldn’t discover a video of the aircraft in action. With such a delicate balsa wood frame we’re sure this thing is impacted by every air present that passes its way.
[Thanks Laimonas]