this edible drone can help keep injured mountaineers alive while they wait for help to arrive

an edible drone that could save your life

A team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) has developed an edible drone to serve as life-sustaining food for people trapped in emergency situations. Two wings made of rice cakes are attached to a thin, rudimentary fuselage, a tail unit and a propeller unit, completing the innovation that could save the lives of adventurers who are lost, injured, or unable to move. Stranded hikers and climbers will be able to feed themselves while waiting for help to arrive and transport them back to safety.

two rice cake wings are attached to a thin, rudimentary fuselage, a tail unit and a propeller unit

all images courtesy of Infoscience – EPFL scientific publications

life-saving and environmentally conscious

Drones have proven to be useful aircraft for unmanned transport tasks such as delivering food and medical supplies to people in emergency situations. However, commercial drones can typically carry only 10% to 30% of their own mass as payload, which limits the amount of food delivered in a single flight. Taking matters into their own hands, the team at EPFL  (find more here) came up with a novel solution that increases the food-carrying ratio of a drone, by recreating its structures with edible materials. 

‘We thus propose a drone, which is no longer only a food transporting aircraft, but itself is partially edible, increasing its food-carrying mass ratio to 50%, owing to its edible wings.’ the researchers share. ‘Furthermore, should the edible drone be left behind in the environment after performing its task in an emergency situation, it will be more biodegradable than its non-edible counterpart, leaving less waste in the environment.’ The flight-capable prototype introduced by the scientists can provide 300 kcal and carry a payload of 80 g of water.

the flight-capable prototype introduced by the scientists can provide 300 kcal and carry a payload of 80 g of water

the first step to creating the edible wings is laser cutting the rice cookies

as a second step, the scientists formed a gelatin-water mix to create an edible glue

the rice cookies were then glued together

the final wing features a honeycomb-like pattern of rice cookies

project info: 

name: Towards edible drones for rescue missions: design and flight of nutritional wings
researchers: Kwak, Bokeon; Shintake, Jun; Zhang, lu; Floreano, Dario from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)