Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Automated Office Delivery with Helium Blimps

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wave-of-the-future dept.

Blimp Dude writes "Anyone who likes blimps might want to check out this automated blimp delivery service built by some guy at HP Labs. I personally think this is the future... Now I want WebBlimp to deliver groceries directly to my 29th floor apartment window."

5 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Save the server! by Sanity · · Score: 4, Informative

    The movie is cool, but if everyone grabs it from the web server, I doubt it will last long, so please grab it from Freenet rather than getting them from the website. I have mirrored it here (install and run Freenet before clicking on the link):

  2. Re:wimpy blimp by Sparr0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem is not actually the actual weight of the paper, its the weight of the paper relative to the power of the vertical motor/prop. The blimp itself might be capable of lifting 20g (thats grams, not gravities) of payload but if you actually balance the ballast with that much payload in mind then as soon as you take the payload off the blimp will immediately stick to the ceiling, unable to pull itself down. The limitation on variable payload is entirely in the capacity of the vertical thrust. You could, in theory, have a variable payload limit almost equal to the vertical thrust and then balance the ballast so that with no payload full down-thrust just barely descends, and with a full payload full up-thrust just barely lifts, but that would be EXTREMELY wasteful of power/fuel (yes, you can build a blimp this small that runs on fuel powered motors). So, in practice, your payload is limited to just under the vertical thrust, so with no payload you have neutral buoyancy and with full payload it takes almost full thrust to maintain a hover.

  3. Re:wimpy blimp by Sparr0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    err, the "theory" part should have said "almost equal to DOUBLE the vertical thrust"

  4. Re:A repeat of the Hindenburg? by ansible · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yup. The airplane dope they used back then (to strengthen and waterproof the fabric) was pretty flamable itself.

    And then if you coat it with powdered aluminum... Yikes.

    The hubub about hydrogen is all kind of silly, really. Sure, it is explosive if well mixed with oxygen, so you need to be a little more careful. But it's not that dangerous. It is also not that much more efficient than helium, which isn't so expensive anymore. If helium makes you feel safer, so be it.

  5. Re:Funky link by kix · · Score: 4, Informative

    ok, maybe I just have a really bad sense of humor, but whatever.

    the link is actually correct, once you've installed freenet on your machine. in fact, all requests to freenet point to 127.0.0.1, there's a daemon that creates a server listening on that port, that goes and downloads the content and feeds it back to your web-browser. it's pretty damn cool actually :)

    --
    I am SO cool I can keep meat fresh for a WEEK!!!!