DARPA heavy lift challenge ends with winner at a 3.84:1 payload to weight ratio

The prize terms are neat. To incentivize not sabotaging other teams in some way? You would win more if someone were to win.

YouTube playlist linked on DARPA site: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wMum5UsYvbuxFAptr9LYCnd...

A nearly 4:1 ratio makes a 25kg drone very interesting from a personal mobility perspective. Something you could fly a few miles with and then easily roll around an office. Sadly scaling in aerodynamics is notoriously non-linear.

Interesting event, annoyingly bad written AI article

I assume blimps or lighter than air components where illegal? Or is it just too hard to fly the larger volume around the course?

Every post on this website looks AI generated but at least most of it doesn't feel like complete fluff.

Winning $ 1.25 million is great - but I wonder how they feel about not getting the full $ 2.5 million prize because they missed the 4:1 target by 4% ?

Hunh so for pure lifting our standard helicopter design is apparently the best. How did we stumble on the perfect design half a century ago? Was it sheer luck and constraints or can you actually do the math for this to work it out?

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