Caleb James DeLisle on Nostr: DARPA Lift Challenge is over. Nobody managed to beat the 4 to 1 payload to weight ...
DARPA Lift Challenge is over.
Nobody managed to beat the 4 to 1 payload to weight ratio so the cash prize is halved.
Also nobody managed to upset the rankings today.
#1 Avidrone - drone helicopter
#2 Mtech - 6-rotor drone
#3 Xtreme Aerial - drone helicopter
Both Avidrone and Xtreme are almost identical helicopters.
Mtech's did a run today which was (I think) a world record for DISTANCE ran with over 4:1 ratio. This was after a wild drama of having the GPS unit FALL OFF of the drone and being forced to land. Running the battery packs to a charger to add whatever power they could, and cooling everything with a leaf blower before re-launching with less than 20 minutes remaining on the clock.
Definitely the most dramatic run of the entire event, and amazing that it seems to also be a world record. It's still not known why, but the drone entered a rapid uncontrolled descent at the 2.99 mile mark. They only had 1 more mile to go, one landing, and then 1 mile running empty and that would have made them the winner.
Published at
2026-08-09 19:49:05 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "DARPA Lift Challenge is over.\n\nNobody managed to beat the 4 to 1 payload to weight ratio so the cash prize is halved.\n\nAlso nobody managed to upset the rankings today.\n\n#1 Avidrone - drone helicopter\n#2 Mtech - 6-rotor drone\n#3 Xtreme Aerial - drone helicopter\n\nBoth Avidrone and Xtreme are almost identical helicopters.\n\nMtech's did a run today which was (I think) a world record for DISTANCE ran with over 4:1 ratio. This was after a wild drama of having the GPS unit FALL OFF of the drone and being forced to land. Running the battery packs to a charger to add whatever power they could, and cooling everything with a leaf blower before re-launching with less than 20 minutes remaining on the clock.\n\nDefinitely the most dramatic run of the entire event, and amazing that it seems to also be a world record. It's still not known why, but the drone entered a rapid uncontrolled descent at the 2.99 mile mark. They only had 1 more mile to go, one landing, and then 1 mile running empty and that would have made them the winner.\nhttps://pkteerium.xyz/media/c09ab4c57ff3cda37d69882e7b7d09d4fb779a949de18433fb4b883ea17f46ff.png\nhttps://pkteerium.xyz/media/0f0f992e4f28720da231e65f7c8c96b13130b506b6e662262cf3554694586666.png\nhttps://pkteerium.xyz/media/7c830291c79a6747050ac87a72539dfa701565860168ba6e54ec39bc9982424c.png\n",
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