Lead Invention and Design by Yumian Deng (LeapX founder, former DJI R&D lead/Product manager), along with DJI internal team. IP belongs to DJI.
MAVIC PRO
A NEW DEFINITION OF CONSUMER DRONES
The DJI Mavic Pro is the most portable yet powerful drone on the market. With the most efficient folding design, it manages to deliver imagery, battery life, range, and autonomous intelligence that match up to drones 10 times its size.
With its unmatched portability and ease of use, Mavic quickly dominated the market and becomes the most popular drone in the world (and arguably the best drone for consumer/prosumers).
IT ALL STARTS WITH A SIMPLE IDEA : SIZE OF A WATER BOTTLE
It started when Yumian was hiking in Yosemite national park and pondering how to design the best foldable drone. When he got thirsty and take out the water bottle to take a sip, the idea struck: size of the water bottle is large enough to accommodate all the component of a quality drone, yet portable enough to take anywhere. Who doesn't bring a water bottle in the wild?
There are many design considerations for a folding drone: what's the best way to arrange all the components for folding? How to unfolded it quickly? How to maximize its flight performance and functionalities when its unfolded? Does it look good in both states? A good design need to address all these questions elegantly, and so we began our journey.
Minimize size, Maximize performance
Bringing professional drones to consumer level without compromising performance.
However, it requires one more hinge on the rear arm to flip the propellers, which compromises the structural integrity and flight performance of the flying machine.
So we look further for a more simple solution.
In geometry, multi-step rotation and translation of an object can be replaced by a simple rotation, is this true in
the sketches beneath shows original mechanical design of the world's first quick-release and foldable propellers by Yumian Deng
A reason for every details
Propellers stays flat with the beautifully folded body, gimbal integrated and protected. Semi-automatic hinge for easy and reliable folding/unfolding.
The most ingenious is the propeller, because the propeller itself is a sheet-like part, as long as it is attached to the other surface, it takes almost no volume, so we let the folding paddle fit smoothly above and below the fuselage. At this point, the folded form is perfect, the modules are all in their own places, compactly combined, there is almost no waste of space.
Photo by Ferdinand wolf
