The world of miniaturization has given us the possibility of being able to have increasingly smaller and lighter technological elements, even so, there are still engineers who seek to go a little further, as is the case of several components of the ModLab Laboratory belonging to the University of Pennsylvania, United States, who have been able to create a drone of only 3,5 centimeters.
Undoubtedly a new project that demonstrates the enormous capabilities and possibilities that a technology like 3D printing can bring. As the people in charge of the project have published, this drone, baptized by themselves as picolissimo, has been listed as the smallest drone in the world.
Picolissimo, the smallest drone in the world.
Going into a little more detail, we must not only stop at its size of only 3,5 centimeters, but also it only weighs 2,5 grams. To achieve these heights, a body had to be designed that could only be manufactured using 3D printing since, as the engineers say, following traditional techniques it would have been practically impossible, due to the high costs, to carry out the project.
Inside this small body made by 3D printing we find in Picolissimo a small propeller that acts as a propeller. These two components have been designed to rotate in opposite directions at different speeds, specifically the body rotates at 40 revolutions per second while the propeller does so at 800 revolutions per second. Without a doubt, a new sample of what two technologies as innovative as these can create if designers are to unleash all their creativity.