Design and fabrication of a 3D-printed drone-integrated winching system

Existing multi-rotor drone-based winching platforms can be expensive, complex, proprietary, and heavy. Here, an inexpensive, simple, effective, and lightweight drone winching platform named the CLARK-3 is described. This winching platform is suitable for payloads of up to 3 kg in its existing config...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: William Crowe, Benicio Costales, Kyle Luthy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:HardwareX
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067225000203
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Existing multi-rotor drone-based winching platforms can be expensive, complex, proprietary, and heavy. Here, an inexpensive, simple, effective, and lightweight drone winching platform named the CLARK-3 is described. This winching platform is suitable for payloads of up to 3 kg in its existing configuration and relies heavily on readily available standard parts and 3D printed components while being compatible with a variety of drone controllers. The CLARK-3 in its existing configuration weighs 0.8 kg, can hold up to 27 m of 130 N monofilament, and has a low power consumption at maximum load (∼16 W). Considerations were made during the design of the CLARK-3 to ensure field serviceability by reducing part count and simplifying disassembly.
ISSN:2468-0672