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Material Possiblities: A Flying Drone Built From Fungus
Nerval's Lobster writes What if you could construct an unmanned aerial vehicle out of biological material, specifically a lightweight-but-strong one known as mycelium? The vegetative part of a fungus, mycelium is already under consideration as a building material; other materials would include cellulose sheets, layered together into "leather," as well as starches worked into a "bioplastic." While a mushroom-made drone is probably years away from takeoff, a proposal for the device caught some attention at this year's International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. Designed by a team of students from Brown, Spelman, and Stanford Universities in conjunction with researchers from NASA, such a drone would (theoretically) offer a cheap and lightweight way to get a camera and other tools airborne. 'If we want to fly it over wildfires to see where it's spreading, or if there's a nuclear meltdown and we want to fly in to see what's going on with the radioactivity, we can send in the drone and it can send back data without returning,' Ian Hull, a Stanford sophomore involved in the project, told Fast Company.
This is a start!
It's this kind of thinking that will bring us closer to Vorlon tech, LEXX, or even Moya! =)
(did I miss any?)
Seriously, as others have pointed out, the most expensive valuable parts are not the airframe, but the motors/camera/radio/battery so stop the hippy-dippy crap and don't worry about making it out of biodegradable material.
But seriously, keep working/thinking in this direction.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
The idea that you could send one of these drones in a sensitive environment and leave it there seems off. Yeah, the air frame biodegrades, but not the motors, electronics, and the most toxic part the battery.
So they are trying to make a drone from a biological material?
Just 3d print it from PolyLactic acid, The stuff is made from corn and is biodegradable. On top of that it is only $18 a 2kg spool on ebay. :P
We've got flying cyborg undead fungus!
We would need to see comparisons against paper and wood. You can make a paper airplane for 2 cents or a balsawood plane with a rubber-band propeller for $2 at the dime store, as far as structural materials goes, they are proven.
Really, look at their website and see the entire scope of their work. The blurb makes it sound like just UAV but it's much more and farther reaching. Very cool indeed. This UAV part, is on their, but it's just an extension of their core work. Totally sci-fi in a way, maybe of things to come.