DARPA Lift Challenge Won By Helicopter

We hoped for something revolutionary, something bizzare, something really, really cool– and there were absolutely entries on the field that met all of those superlatives. Unfortunately, sometimes conventional designs are the convention for a reason , and the overall winner by AVIDrone, Inc. was just a very well made electric helicopter. One big lift rotor, one little tail rotor– aside from clever details in the solid-state batteries and carbon-fiber construction, it is a totally normal aircraft… albeit one that could lift 3.84x its dry weight, or 112 lb of payload. Interestingly a battery-powered hexrotor drone took home second place with a 3.64:1 lift ratio. Perhaps the big shock was not seeing combustion engines until third place: another helicopter, this time with a turbine engine. So much for energy density!

camera pans to Robinson R66