Dyson builds flying drones from vacuum parts

Dyson might be a company that's famous for sucking dust off the floor and blowing water off our hands, but it's also got a sterling reputation for invention. If you've ever wondered how it manages to foster that entrepreneurial spirit among its work force, then look no further than the challenge set to Dyson engineers, where they had to build flying drones out of vacuum parts.

From the way the challenge was described by “Rob” from Dyson, it sounds like this is a yearly thing, where engineers are given a specific challenge and encouraged to come up with a solution. This time around, it was to build a flying machine out of leftover vacuum parts and anything else that was lying around Dyson HQ and have it navigate across a short course – avoiding balloons as it goes. Here's how that turned out: [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x3bRn0I5AY']

Some interesting designs there and certainly cool to see something a bit different from the standard quad-copter drone design that is dominating the consumer market for that type of remote controlled technology. However, it is in-fact that very concept that stands out from the others, eventually taking the crown by avoiding all balloons and landing safely in the final circle.

Kitguru Says: This reminds me of one of the best times I ever had at school. We had to build a bridge from hot melt glue – I lost so much skin, it's ridiculous – card, string and balsa wood. Weights were then hung from each one, with the winner taking the most weight. Mine didn't do that great, but it was good fun. 

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