Quadcopter

It was just a year ago that DJI announced its compact-but-capable Mavic Air 2 quadcopter. Now, the company has shortened the name and doubled the image sensor size, with the 5.4K/30fps-capable Air 2S.

Although it's getting more common to see swarms of illuminated drones being used for aerial light shows, simultaneously charging and launching all of those drones can still be tricky. That's where the Flying Drone Blanket is intended to come in.

If one of the motors conks out on a quadcopter drone, the aircraft usually just crashes. Thanks to new research, however, such disabled drones could soon not only remain airborne, but even complete their trip.

Although quadcopter drones may offer relatively good battery life, their hexa- and octocopter counterparts can lift heavier loads. The xFold drone can go either way, however, with extra propeller arms that can be attached or detached as needed.

With perhaps a few exceptions, battery-electric multicopter drones typically can't fly for longer than about 30 minutes. Such is not the case, however, with their hybrid counterparts – one of which recently broke its own endurance record.

Multicopter drones are becoming increasingly useful, but their exposed whirling propellers can get damaged in collisions, and inflict injuries on bystanders. A new prototype drone addresses that problem, by copying the pufferfish.

If you've ever tried flying a cheap quadcopter indoors, you'll know how easily they can crash into walls. Now imagine trying the same with a much more expensive industrial drone. That's why the new Aertos 130IR is built to be tough.

If there's one thing that all types of first responders have in common, it's the fact that they put a premium on speed. The Recruit quadcopter was created for such users, as it can reportedly fly at 140 mph and has a claimed 3-hour flight time.

Quadcopter drones certainly can come in handy, but those exposed propellers make them unsuitable for work in close quarters. Flyability's Elios drone doesn't have that problem, so it was recently used to explore deep ice caves in Greenland.

Vertical take-off and landing drones, or VTOLs, have some big advantages, but there's also a trade-off, which the Latvian-made Fixar is designed to address.

Active volcanic craters are something that people generally don't want to get very close to – even if they're dedicated volcanologists. With that in mind, German scientists recently had success using a drone to do the job.

Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has today unveiled its new Mavic Air 2 foldable quadcopter, with a greatly improved camera, a bigger battery, an enormous 10-km (6.2-mi) control range and the capability to detect and warn you about other aircraft.