1218 Its Alive!

Everyone gripped their controllers and found their corresponding drones.

Of course, even though they held onto things tightly, they handled them with care as if they were holding a baby.

At the moment, their feeling was one they couldn't describe yet.

It was like a child getting their Christmas present, playing around merrily.

Minister Gordon from the Ministry of National Defence couldn't help swallowing hard while staring at Bailey: "So we press this button to turn it on?"

"Yes, Minister. Once the button has been turned on, the propeller will spin, making it levitate." Bailey said before turning her attention to everyone else in the room: "As you all will know, some of you control very different drone types with different designs and number of propellers."

Today, they weren't here to test how the drones would capture images since that would get done in the future.

No... What they were focused on was getting the bad boy in the air and assessing the different modes and models for each drive flight type.

Why were they designed the way they are? What are the pros and cons of each design type? Why are some faster in movement than others? And which drones are better suited for various lines of operation?

Bailey looked at the excited group and gestured towards a particular set of drones: "As I mentioned earlier, we will begin with the single propeller design. So those with Drones marked 1A~1G, please turn on your drones and fly them."

On hearing Bailey, those who had to control other drone models couldn't help frowning in annoyance.

It wasn't fair! They so badly wanted to control the friend now, okay?

(:Y^Y:)

.

A single propeller drone.

To put it simply, it had a single propeller attached at the top of the drone. And looked very much like a helicopter.

Of course, there were several internal design structures too. Yes. Even though the outer plastic covering hadn't been placed on them, the metal skeletons already had specific looks that made it easier to guess how they would end up being.

Some had the shape of a dome, sphere, rockets, helicopters or any other forms too.

But no matter how their skeletal frames looked, they all had a single propeller above them.

~Vrm-Vrm-Vrm-Vrm~

The propeller began rotating slowly before spinning very fast.

And this move alone made everyone's heart jump in glee, so much so that they had forgotten their identities and started acting like children.

"Hahahahahahah! It's alive! It's alive! Old boy, they've done it!"

"Awesome! Too awesome! After listening to all the presentations about this and even talking about it for close to a year, seeing the initial stages completed only makes me believe more and more in the project."

"It's good to see that the nation's money didn't go down the drain. Wait! Do they have enough funding for this?"

"Dammit! My old heart was shocked silly when the thing's wings started spinning hard. Oh, my ancestors! Don't these people know that at 32-years of age, my old heart could explode from this alone? Good surprise! Good surprise!"

(^_^)

...

Without a doubt, everyone was too impressed seeing it come to life. It was so futuristic and might even be the greatest military project of the year!

An 'A+ grade' was what they felt like giving these people now.

Bravo. Bravo... Too amazing!

As for those who turned on the drones, they were so excited after seeing the drones move up and down continuously.

To them, just this little action was the most exciting thing they had done all year round... And this was coming from people who regularly vacationed too.

But who could blame them?

It was like a person suddenly gaining superpowers. No moment was more remarkable than now.

Like so, Bailey began talking about all she knew about the Single Propeller Drone. It might seem like a waste of time to go through all the details, but amongst the audience, were also the Council of research technicians from the Ministry of National Defence.

And from her dealings with them, they would question and test every little thing if she didn't go into detail... After all, they were all here to critique today's show.

That's why it was best to go deep into things and never skimp on anything.

With that, Bailey pushed her glasses in.

(*□^□)

Time to get serious.

.

"The one propeller drones provide enough lift force to keep the drones hovering in the air... As you all can see from the spinning propellers. But as of now, there is no other way to control the drone in other directions. That's why the controls for these particular drones just have the on and off bottoms on them, and after different form the other drive controllers too."

Eh?

Can't control it?

Everyone quickly compared their controllers and found that some of them had totally different controllers from the rest. So this alone showed that each drone was unique and indeed different.

But if the drone could only go up and down, then they could still use it for periphery checks instead.

The soldiers would release the drone into the air, and it would capture everything and then hover downwards again.

Now they were wondering if in the future, there could be a sort of camera that could course everything in all directions (360-degree camera.)

That sort of camera would be suitable for things like this.

Of course, they would also try to get to the bottom of why the drone couldn't move in any other direction. Why not go left or right? Why only upwards and downwards?

Everyone's expression was a little sullen.

Bailey better explain it to them, or they would drill a hole in her head with countless questions.

.

At the same time, Bailey also brought up another interesting point about Single Propeller Drones that seemed to crush their questions in an instant.

"Everyone, another issue with this drone is that its body will keep rotating opposite to the propeller."

Ding!

The Researchers and technicians in the audience felt like someone had turned on the light bulbs in their brains.

Yes! Yes! This explained it all.

Maybe this was the reason why it was hard to control the drone.

As the Propeller spun, the drone's body would rotate in the opposite direction. So it will be turning around in the same spot as if it were a person just twirling around instead in the Same position.

So how can one control if it moves around on its own?

Bailey held the drone in her hand and tried to explain as detailed as she could.

She began by detaching the propeller from the drone's body.

"The fact that the drone rotates on its own is a consequence of Newton's 3rd law of motion. Looking at the drone, we can see that it supplies the propeller with the necessary torque (force) to make it soon clockwise... But according to the third law of motion: Whenever one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite on the first. So, what does this mean?"

Everyone looked on like eager students, listening to Bailey.

Yes, Bailey. What does it mean?

"This means that since the Torque/force applied on the propeller makes it move clockwise, an opposite and equal force would be sent back to the drone, making its body rotate anti-clockwise instead. This is the flaw with the One propeller design. But as the number of propellers on each drone increases, we can calculate, balance and gain control over the drones!"

...

Like so, Bailey went through all major designs when concerning drones. Of course, she was also able to shut down countless questions before they could get asked.

She showed that they were very confident with their work this time, and overall, everyone was still extremely pleased with the progress rate of things.

No doubt, by next year, these bad guys would be ready for use.

But of course, there were still some major concerns when it came to these drones.

Minister Gonovich caressed his smooth black beard with a furrowed forehead: "Supervisor Bailey, with the 2, 3, 4 and 6-propeller drones that we can control, what would happen if we lose signal of them? You said that if the drones get too far away from their controllers, they will lose signal. So what do we do then? We sure as hell can't let the enemy get our precious drones. Our technology must not be let out. So what then?"

Good question!

Bailey looked at the stern expressions on everyone's face and smiled calmly: "Everyone, the drone has an emergency factor installed in it. You see, if the drone's signal is being lost by 90%, the safety trigger will turn on, and the drone will automatically fly back to the remote's location. "

Her response was good, but still, the audience was not satisfied.

Captain Lilian frowned: "And let's say that the soldier holding the remote has been captured, or the situation is risky... Then wouldn't the drone just fly back to the enemy instead?"

Bailey nodded: "This could indeed happen. But that's why we are also working on a self-destruct option too."

"Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah~"

....