According to the same source at Interesting Engineering, the unnamed individual who built the wooden drone started with the most basic possible components: a few rotors, an engine, some wiring, and a handful of wooden sticks. A video shared by drone expert Samuel Bendett shows the result — a perfectly functional DIY drone achieving level and responsive flight.
A DIY copter made in Yemen from sticks and a simple motor. Talk about drone proliferation – this is about as simple as it gets. https://t.co/ZijUdQnxRM pic.twitter.com/1Kk6lvqwXf
— Samuel Bendett (@SamBendett) October 28, 2022
This DIY wooden drone isn’t the only instance of brilliant engineers using unusual materials to overcome the limitations of the marketplace. Per Spectrum IEEE, a publication of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, experts from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne submitted a paper in November 2022 proposing a drone with wings made of rice cakes, complete with a working model. The goal, the engineering team said, was to deliver a drone design dedicated to addressing famine and other crisis situations, minimizing cost and maximizing calories delivered to those in need of food.
