r/interestingasfuck • u/Red_Lotus_Alchemist • 2d ago

/r/all A Chinese earthquake rescue team deployed drones to light up the night and aid search and rescue operations after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar.

62.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.5k

u/BrentButler 2d ago

That’s a straightforward and clever use of a new technology. I’m curious what the usable flight time would be.

1.6k

u/EmusOnly 2d ago

Looks like that wire is connected to a generator, that’s actually pretty neat

52

u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea 2d ago edited 1d ago

I can't wait for when wireless charging is able to extend multiple/hundreds of feet.

Wired drones are already capable of so much, and powering them wirelessly is going to be a civilizational game changer.

Edit: I'm talking high concept sci fi. The likes of which is probably outside of our reach but what we can strive towards. On par with Star Trek Transporters and Communicators from the 60s.

172

u/Jazz8680 1d ago

Wireless energy decays exponentially as distance increases. Wireless charging over hundreds of feet would require massive amounts of energy to the point it wouldn’t be worth it.

5

u/xenelef290 1d ago

Technically it decays geometrically a distance squared.

1

u/FieserMoep 1d ago

Wasn't it arithmetically degradation at longitude multiplied?

1

u/SpaceyFrontiers 1d ago

This thread sounds like it'll have 1k+ upvotes

0

u/xenelef290 1d ago

That is gibberish

26

u/AwesomeFama 1d ago

You can transfer a lot of energy wirelessly decently far. But aiming a high power laser at the drone is probably not the safest thing either, plus turning that energy back into electricity is not that easy either.

50

u/flukus 1d ago

At that point you're probably better off with a mirror on the bottom of the drone to provide light.

21

u/AwesomeFama 1d ago

Ahh, a disco ball perhaps?

26

u/S-r-ex 1d ago

For rescue parties.

4

u/xenelef290 1d ago

That is a good idea

2

u/dinosaur_from_Mars 1d ago

Just make a small reactor to generate energy on board.

1

u/pepinyourstep29 1d ago

Just no. Transferring electric wirelessly is like trying to drink water by licking moisture in the air. It just doesn't work and will never be practical.

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/AwesomeFama 1d ago

Transferring energy wirelessly is very easy. They had cannons that managed it quite well many centuries ago, and for example the catapult before that!

Transferring electricity wirelessly is much trickier though, you're right about that.

1

u/Throw-a-wizzle-acct 1d ago

Lasers or microwaves could direct energy much better

1

u/rouvas 1d ago

Nikola Tesla would like to know your location.

1

u/SixShoot3r 1d ago

Yup, just like any other radiation. Time, Distance and Protection.