There are now a number of heavy-lift cargo drones on the market, and they pretty much all incorporate six to eight horizontal propellers. The Avidrone 210TL is different, though, in that it goes with two sets of full rotor blades.
Manufactured by Canadian startup Avidrone Aerospace, the 210TL essentially takes the form of two miniature unmanned helicopters that are joined together at the tail by a horizontal boom. It's sort of like a drone version of Boeing's Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. The user starts by hooking their cargo onto the boom's rails – clients can opt for a custom attachment system that's configured to the unique size and shape of their cargo, or they can go with a standard system that incorporates pre-supplied cargo boxes of different sizes. Next, utilizing a tablet or laptop that's running Avidrone's house-brand G4 autopilot system, they program in a flightpath for the drone to follow. From there, it's pretty much just a matter of launching the aircraft. It will proceed to autonomously fly to and land at its destination, release the cargo by raising its boom rail hooks, then fly back to its point of take-off (or wherever it's been instructed to go next).
According to the company, one 1.3-hour charge of the 210TL's lithium battery pack should be good for a range of 120 km (75 miles). The drone can carry up to 25 kg (55 lb) and has a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
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