Marcus King, a graduate from London’s Royal College of Art, designed a concept drone that can fly without propellers. Instead of using rotors and propeller blades like a traditional quadcopter, King’s UAV is equipped with impellers to produce thrust. King started the project to optimize safety for both the pilot and nearby people, but since it’s still in its early stage, it requires more development before it can even be compared to the likes of modern consumer quadcopters.
King’s concept drone flies without propellers.
“For the last 4.5 years, the number of drones have increased dramatically, the accidents involving drones have started to happen. People can be easily cut and hurt by a drone’s rotor blades. Hence, in order to solve this problem in an innovative way, I designed a drone without propellers,” said King in his RCA bio.
How does the concept drone lift off?
According to Dezeen, the concept drone is designed to pull air from its sides and channel it through an impeller system. Once air is accelerated, it pushes it out to the bottom of the UAV, which creates an upward thrust.
Photo credit: Dezeen
