Why bacon is tastier and more aerodynamic than your drone (or alt title: How motors create drag)

We’re big fans of creating crazy click-bait titles – and the title for this post is no exception. Sure, bacon has nothing to do with drones whatsoever but at least you know that this wasn’t written by ChatGPT.  Yet perhaps this title isn’t as crazy or click-bait-y as it first appears. First, bacon is tasty.…

The Problem with Skinny Props (or alt title: The Beauty of Beefy Props)

If you’re like me, you often think about skinny drone propellers. Things like: All of these are important and compelling questions for sure, but let’s get serious here with some science and math…and Victorians.  And that means we need to first talk about the “Reynolds Number” – which has nothing to do with aluminum foil,…

How does the Ford Model T predict the future of drones?

Industries have very predictable life cycles.  It starts with the “Pioneer Stage”: Dozens (if not hundreds) of manufacturers all try and promote different designs of a new product category.   Then the “Adoption Stage”: The market starts selecting the dominant designs and features and there is a refinement of those designs and features.  Next, the “Consolidation…

Why the ancient Romans had better drones than we do

The Ancient Romans. Over several centuries they went from a small collection of villages along the banks of the River Tiber to conquering all of the Mediterranean basin.  For sure many a doctoral dissertation has been written on how and why that happened. But I think all of those well-heeled scholarly types have all missed…