
Ask HN: Is there a renewable drone? - markrankin
I am looking to buy a drone made out of renewable materials. I understand the computer, battery and communication system cannot be renewable.<p>Thanks.
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buildflycrash
For those of us who have been builders for years this is a strikingly odd
request.

Before the mass production of flying things, it was considered quite normal
that - assuming you could retrieve the parts, everything you built was
renewable.

I’ve been building flying things for 30 years and counting - since I was a
young kid. Mostly planes, but also a couple of quad copters and other wacky
things.

I’ve become used to the following mantra in this hobby: “Build, fly, crash,
build, fly, crash..”

This is why it’s been fairly disappointing to see the AOL’ification of drone
flying in the last few years. You kids with your fancy plastic junk are
missing one of the most important aspects of the flight hobbyist world: build.

So it’s kind of a weird position to be answering this question, because I feel
it’s born of a kind of consumer ignorance for how things work.

It’s really not hard to build your own drone - and once you crash it, it’s
really not hard to build your own drone.. with a bit of flying in there too of
course, or at least one would hope.

If you want to learn this key aspect of the flying hobby, a great place to
start is that stalwart of flying things on the internet:
[http://rcgroups.com/](http://rcgroups.com/)

Build your own drone! Crash the thing! Build it again! That is the true value
of the hobby - the development of recovery and rejuvenation skills. With a bit
of flying in there as well...

~~~
markrankin
Thanks for your response. As drones crash, sometimes they create plastic
debris. I would love to build something myself but I don't have the resource
to do so at the moment.

I'm looking to fly a drone over the ocean and don't want it to litter in case
it crashes and I won't be able to retrieve it in time.

Hopefully there is demand for a drone like this.

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RobertDeNiro
What do you mean by renewable? Like recycled? Or do you mean modular, like
Project Ara but for drones?

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bad_alloc
Structural components can be built from light wood, like Balsa [1]. This migh
be possible for the rotors too. I'm not sure a ready-made drone exists, but
you could build this yourself.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWjhyCWBlk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWjhyCWBlk)

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DoreenMichele
[https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603552/these-paper-
drones...](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603552/these-paper-drones-are-
built-for-one-way-missions/)

