Update July 9th, 2015: YouTuber Otto Dieffenbach has uploaded footage of an R2-D2 drone. I’ve included it below.
Star Wars’ best ships — and R2-D2 — have been recreated as drones
These are the drones you’re looking for
These are the drones you’re looking for
Last month we saw a Millennium Falcon-inspired drone, and today we get footage of a quadcopter modded to look like the Speeder Bike from Return of the Jedi. By the time Disney releases the new Star Wars film, we may have an entire galactic fleet.
The Speeder Bike, shown above, is the creation of Google hardware engineer Adam Woodworth, who took a 12-inch Hasbro toy and designed a custom rotor layout that retains the general look, while still providing enough lift. Woodworth wrote a detailed explanation of his process, and included a number of helpful photos showing his work at Make.
Along with aesthetic modifications, Star Wars has also, in some part, inspired the drone racing community, documented in the following videos. The first video features our own Ben Popper.
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