A New Hampshire company is recycling old helicopters into the world’s largest drones, hoping to create a new class of unmanned aerial vehicles. Rotor Technologies is adopting the Transformer-sounding names Airtruck and Sprayhawk for different markets.
Both massive drones are based on the Robinson R44 full-scale helicopter—the world’s best-seller—with a maximum takeoff weight of 2,500 pounds. Rotor CEO Hector Xu said the companies have collaborated on development and certification. “These two aircraft bear unprecedented capability that will be transformative for drone operators, who for many years have wanted longer flight times and larger payloads,” Xu said in a statement.
Xu, previously an academic, took helicopter flight lessons during Covid, which prompted him to start this business. “Covid hit, and it really changed my perspective,” Xu, 30, told The New York Times. “You ended up spending most of your time in front of your computer rather than in the lab, rather than interacting with people, going to conferences. And I think it made me really yearn to do something that was more impactful in the real world.”
The world’s largest drone designed to carry heavy cargo.
Rotor Technologies
The Airtruck is designed for lifting cargo for the construction and logistics industries, while the Sprayhawk is aimed mainly at agricultural world, with Rotor touting its operational advantages and lower operating costs.
The Sprayhawk, operated by a ground crew of two, can take off and land vertically. It also has a 120-gallon spray tank with 33-foot spray booms, an autonomous spray path, and camera and LIDAR sensors for detecting wires and avoiding obstacles. It can spray at over 80 mph. The Sprayhawk’s introductory list price is $990,00, with the first being delivered this year to a client in the Midwest.
The former helicopter turned drone has special technology and sensors for operation.
Rotor Technologies
While these may not be for recreational uses yet, it seems only a matter of time until they might be ferrying goods and cargo to base camps on remote stretches, transporting people across wildlife sanctuaries, or even ferrying guests to private islands from the main resort, much as smaller non-piloted eVTOLs will do in the next years.
“We’re excited to bring drone manufacturing back to the United States—by being bigger, bolder, and more innovative than our global competition,” said Xu.