Every year, in a competition we call Challenge Dyson, Dyson engineers are given a design brief outside their everyday job. It’s our way of encouraging engineers to stretch the bounds of their imagination and follow through on improbable ideas. It’s this “wrong thinking” approach that has led to Dyson’s most important inventions. This year’s brief: engineer a machine that can fly and navigate a course made from Dyson parts (looks similar to a drone!).
The overall winner in Dyson Malmesbury was a team called Beeline. Beeline is a quadcopter inspired by Ross Lovegrove’s engineering principle of “fat free design” which reduces the design to its minimal essential elements – function over form. The key to its success was keeping weight to a minimum including using brushless motors similar to Dyson’s digital motor. The stability and control provided by the four propellers and built in 3-axis gyro and accelerometer allowed pilot, Darren Lewis to steer the aircraft to victory.
You can learn more about Challenge Dyson on Twitter and Facebook using #Challenge Dyson.
Designers: Dyson – various
