Unmanned aerial vehicles
First Claim
1. An unmanned aerial vehicle, whereinthe unmanned aerial vehicle comprises at least four rotors, each rotor having a plane of rotation,the at least four rotors are arranged such that the plane of rotation of each rotor is co-planar with a face of a notional polyhedron,each face of the notional polyhedron is co-planar with the plane of rotation of at least one rotor;
- andthe unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a substantially hollow main body in the form of an exoskeleton structure which provides a supporting structure for the unmanned aerial vehicle, the substantially hollow main body defining an open space at a center of the body which facilitates the flow of air to or from each of the rotors.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles (1), and methods of flying such, comprising at least four rotors (2) arranged such that the plane of rotation of each rotor (2) is co-planar with a face of a notional polyhedron, and wherein each face of the notional polyhedron is co-planar with the plane of rotation of at least one rotor (2). Such methods comprise: a first step of flying the vehicle (1) using a first rotor set (2a-c) to provide lift; and, a second step using a second rotor set (2d-f) to provide lift; wherein, the second rotor set (2d-f) includes at least one rotor (2) that is not used to provide lift in the first step or that operates so that airflow through the rotor (2) is in the opposite direction to that through the rotor (2) during the first step; and, wherein at least one of the first and second sets (2a-c, 2d-f) comprises a plurality of rotors (2).
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein
the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises at least four rotors, each rotor having a plane of rotation, the at least four rotors are arranged such that the plane of rotation of each rotor is co-planar with a face of a notional polyhedron, each face of the notional polyhedron is co-planar with the plane of rotation of at least one rotor; - and
the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises a substantially hollow main body in the form of an exoskeleton structure which provides a supporting structure for the unmanned aerial vehicle, the substantially hollow main body defining an open space at a center of the body which facilitates the flow of air to or from each of the rotors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17)
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14. A method of flying an unmanned aerial vehicle in order to capture data from an environment, the unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a plurality of sensors mounted at different locations on the vehicle to capture such data, wherein the method comprises a step of flying the vehicle so that it assumes a first orientation in space at which first data is captured by the sensors, rotating the vehicle by at least +90 degrees about a substantially horizontal axis so as to assume a second different orientation in space at which second data is captured by the sensors wherein
each of the plurality of sensors mounted at different locations is an imaging sensor, the method includes imaging an area using the unmanned aerial vehicle, the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises at least four rotors, each rotor having a plane of rotation, the at least four rotors are arranged such that the plane of rotation of each rotor is co-planar with a face of a notional polyhedron, each face of the notional polyhedron is co-planar with the plane of rotation of at least one rotor, each imaging sensor is located in the region of a vertex of the notional polyhedron.
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18. An unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein
the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises at least four rotors, each rotor having a plane of rotation, the at least four rotors are arranged such that the plane of rotation of each rotor is co-planar with a face of a notional polyhedron, each face of the notional polyhedron is co-planar with the plane of rotation of at least one rotor; - and
the unmanned aerial vehicle comprises at least four sensors, wherein each sensor is located in the region of a vertex of the notional polyhedron.
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Specification