That little quadcopter of yours may be fine for shooting cool videos, but when it comes to industrial applications, a beefier drone is often required. That's where the Acecore Noa comes in, as it can lift up to 20 kg (44 lb).
Manufactured by Dutch firm Acecore Technologies, the Noa is a hexacopter featuring six 28-inch (711-mm) reinforced carbon fiber propellers and a carbon monocoque frame.
In order to keep the rain out, its six motors are mounted upside-down (i.e: pointing downwards). As a result, it can reportedly fly in downpours of up to 9 mm (0.4 in) per hour. Additionally, its hollow propeller arms are designed to facilitate a cooling airflow throughout the aircraft. This system lets it remain in use at ambient temperatures as high as 50 ºC (122 ºF).
Both the arms and the props can be removed by hand for transportation and storage. Additionally, the copter's four-legged landing gear retracts while it's in flight, in order not to get in the way of cameras or other tools.
The drone takes a total of four rechargeable lithium battery packs, giving it a claimed flight time of one hour with no payload. That figure drops to around 40 minutes when carrying a relatively light payload, such as a gimbal-mounted DSLR camera. It can still manage 25 minutes when equipped with a 12-kg (26.5-lb) package aimed at feature film-making – this setup includes a RED Weapon 6K camera, Sigma 50-100 T2 cine lens, and DJI Ronin 2 gimbal.
Movie producers, land surveyors, power line inspectors and other prospective clients can order the Noa now, via the Acecore website. The drone can be seen in action, in the video below.
And if you've got a really heavy load to lift, check out the Griff 300, Volodrone and Skyf multicopters, all of which can reportedly carry at least 200 kg (440 lb).
Source: Acecore Technologies
