Cardboard drones running open source flight software take off in Ukraine and beyond

An Australian engineering company has created a cardboard drone that runs on open source software, standard hardware, and can be assembled and flown with no prior experience. The Corvo Precision Payload Delivery System (PPDS) costs less than $3,500 apiece, a price made possible by the craft's use of FOSS and commercial-off-the …

[Neil Barnes]

costs less than $3,500 apiece

I wonder if it comes in two packs? The flatpack cardboard, and the electronics/motors/batteries?

I can see situations where removing the electronics from an airframe which is full of holes, has had a hard landing, or just plain too many flights through rain and has gone soggy, makes a lot of sense - and they already point out you can mix and match parts. The cost of the cardboard should be effectively two tenths of bugger all.

[Spanners]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

The youtube article I watched a couple of days ago had the very marginally under $1,000.

That seems closer to reasonable.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

But the youtuber wasn't having to employ a dozen ex-DoD people as non-exec directors at $1M salaries

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

"The cost of the cardboard should be effectively two tenths of bugger all."

True. But how much of the cost is the cardboard bits replacing and saving if they'd used something more robust in the first place? £3,500 still seems like quite a lot for a drone with an estimates service life of only 20 missions[*]

[*] that may even be optimistic in a war zone, but they are also targetting emergency responders too.

[Blank Reg]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

There's likely a lot of profit margin in that $3500. But it's not new idea. Back in the late 70s I built a cardboard RC biplane from plans in a magazine, The plane itself was essentially free having built it from free cardboard from a refrigerator box and some scrap wood. The only cost was the engine and rc system.

[midgepad]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

Your time?

[Robert Carnegie]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

The cardboard is the box that the electronic stuff comes in. Joking! :-)

But as some comments say already, if there is rain, then what?

[MrDamage]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

Use the same waxing/plasticising process they use on fruit boxes.

[Robert Carnegie]

Re: costs less than $3,500 apiece

Really spoils the flavour though :-)

[SW10]

All hail PARIS

Pioneer And Really Inspirational Spacecraft

[Joe W]

Re: All hail PARIS

Who the hell downvoted that? Likely a person who is new to ElReg...

Search for Paper Aircraft Released In Space by ElReg's SPB. As an Austrian politician once told a journalist "lernen's a bisserl Geschichte, Herr Reporter, dann werden's sehen, wie sich das [...] damals entwickelt hat." (learn some history, Mr journalist, then you will see how things developed back then)...

[Youngone]

Re: All hail PARIS

I think The Register has developed some sort of automatic downvote script that runs occasionally. Your comment has 4 downvotes for instance for some weird reason.

[Petalium]

Flat pack, paper, hmm when will IKEA release their version? Bönk, the anti tank UAV?

[lglethal]

Well Ukraine has form with the flat packs. They built a ton of cardboard Himar units that Russia kept wasting their precision missiles on trying to destroy.

One US official was quoted as saying Russia had claimed to destroy more Himars than we've actually sent. But they haven't actually hit a single one so far...

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

So an anti-Potemkin munition?

(I was just googling Potemkin villages, and they were alleged to have been placed along the banks of Dnipro, after the Russian conquest of Crimea. So there's a certain appropriateness in their use to fool the Russians - even if didn't happen the first time.)

[Jim Mitchell]

Poor Potemkin, a man known more for a political slander against him than for anything he actually did.

[stiine]

DIdn't he have a battleship named after him?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Ironically if you watch the footage - it all seems to have been faked on a sound stage

[Jim Mitchell]

That movie won awards back in 1958, couldn't have looked that bad.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Presumably not in the USA!

The director also won the prestigious 'not being sent to Siberia' award from Stalin

[I could be a dog really]

Well Ukraine has form with the flat packs. They built a ton of cardboard Himar units that Russia kept wasting their precision missiles on trying to destroy.

Nothing new, and a darned good technique.

This page lists some, but only in overview. Operation Bertram is described in much more detail on Wikipedia and is well worth a read - using the skills of a film maker and stage illusionist to deceive the enemy.

[Dr. Ellen]

There is a channel on YouTube called Flite Test. https://www.youtube.com/@FliteTest . Their specialty is making foamboard RC planes - some of which are amazingly improbable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=720HKxvyTEg . But from simplest on up, they make the plans https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=flite+test+plans available, and demonstrate putting them together.

the flight control gear is another matter: they set up for RC, often with on-board cameras. Drone hardware and software is probably the expensive part.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes, For greybeards of a certain age, you have to check out the working flying toaster. They actually did it!

[Dr. Ellen]

My favorite was when they made an Ikea chair fly -- well and gracefully.

[Adrian 4]

There were many more. Fake towns and industrial plants - just the lights, nothing else - were set up along the Humber to waste enemy bombs (and divert them from real targets).

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>Fake towns and industrial plants - just the lights, nothing else - were set up along the Humber to waste enemy bombs

Thus preserving Hull for future generations....

[xyz123]

Never, because they could be assembled in-store and used by unscrupulous customers to escape the IKEA maze. Very few customers ever make it to the treasure chest at the heart of every IKEA....

[Michael Wojcik]

The best part of shopping at IKEA (which I've only done a few times) is seeing who looked at the map to figure out which unlabeled doors to go through to shortcut the maze.

[anothercynic]

A shame though that German IKEAs don't have these secret doors (I checked the maps).

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

You need to have picked up the key from the dungeon on the first level

[Neil Barnes]

But the problem there is that the dungeon is in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike!

[An_Old_Dog]

Keys

*CHUNK-CHUNK* "You got the silver key!"

[Jellied Eel]

... which unlabeled doors to go through to shortcut the maze.

You have been eaten by a grue.

[An_Old_Dog]

Simple Methods

When we were kids, we would -- one at a time -- fly kites with TWO strings. Yanking the second string released a lightweight toy which helicoptered slowly down like a maple tree seed. Our goal was to hit as close as possible to the bull's-eye target we'd scratched into the gravel below.

[Potemkine!]

A DYI V1, just more precise. What a giant leap for humanity.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a bit better than that as you can aim this one via GPS. V1s were not exactly known for their targeting precision.

My main worry about these things is that we have seen an uptick in idiots who think it's a good idea to drive into a crowd with a car, bomb an office because they feel their chosen deity was insulted or empty clips of ammo into schools with little children, and this is all too easily converted into something furthering such twisted aims.

Nice idea from a technical perspective, but possible problematic deployments ahead.

[heyrick]

Yup, that's my worry too. Too little, low, and not enough metal to be spotted until it's dumping three kilos of something explodey on top of a nuclear reactor...

[Charlie Clark]

Three kilos of whatever wouldn't make any difference to any power station and nuclear ones are even tougher than the rest. They also have GPS exclusion zones that nearly all manufacturers adhere to. This is one of the reasons why none of the Russian missile attacks have been at any of Ukraine's nuclear power stations. It's easier to go after control systems or their own power supplies: if it can't run the cooling… But, also, blowing up nuclear power stations can have lots of very nasty and long-lasting unintended consequences. The explosion itself would be very local but the fallout would be anything but. Hence, the decision to harden them against things like plane crashes as only ideological zealots certain of their ticket to paradise would tend to go after them.

[stiine]

I hope you meant 'a tank farm' and not 'a nuclear reactor' because the nuclear reactor wouldn't be bothered by 3 kils of explosive, whereas a tank farm ...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

>whereas a tank farm ...

So that's why all the Ukrainian farmers were dragging Russian T72s with tractors = harvest time

[Anonymous Coward]

.. contains lots of stuff likely to amplify the xplosiveness of that 3kg payload a tad..

[Anonymous Coward]

> empty clips of ammo into schools with little children

Ban cardboard in schools

[Bebu]

No number 8 fencing wire to make it an ANZAC effort :)

I am surprised there wasn't a length of bailing twine included :)

With a 3 kg payload and accurate autonomous navigation enough of these beasties could inflict serious damage.

The accurate navigation wasn't the V1's forte. (Or the V2's either.)

Australia has some form in producing cheap effective munitions - the Owen submachine gun.

If one of these things were dropping something nasty on top of my position I don't think I would care much if it were GPL or CC-0 licensed but I might if it came with an Oracle licence as I would prefer not to have to pay Larry for the privilege of being blown to bits.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: No number 8 fencing wire to make it an ANZAC effort :)

Nobody noticed that Andrew Tridgell is one of the developers of ArduPilot then :)

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: No number 8 fencing wire to make it an ANZAC effort :)

Let the Emus try again, this time the Australian army are prepared

[xyz123]

Add 3KG of explosives. Allow corvo to be "captured" and when the camera detects nearby Russian soldiers....the device detonates destroying its tech AND the nearby child-murdering genocidal monsters.

[Lon24]

Unfortunately the chief child-murdering genocidal monster is safely ensconced many miles beyond its range. It's more likely to kill folks he sent unwillingly to the front who have been normalised to hate and massacre their former brothers-in-arms by the monstrous culture he created.

Plus taking out a tank or other pieces of ordnance and logistics is really the objective in a war. Without those the soldier is virtually naked in a snowstorm.

[Roland6]

I’m sure a swarm could be dropped from a weather balloon…

[Blank Reg]

The world record RC plane flight was over 2000km, so he could be in range, but you wouldn't likely be able to carry a 3kg payload that far.

[Charlie Clark]

You mean like a mine? Much easier and more reliable to target something, whether it's some grunts or a mobile radar station, or whatever, and go bang on impact.

[PhilipN]

Beaming with pride...

..in Man's ingenuity

Reminiscent of the Pringles tech which kicked off the modern wireless era.

[dmesg]

We've been here before ...

SPAD: Simple Plastic Airplane Design: https://spadtothebone.org/.

PCV downspout section for the body, corrugated plastic for the wings (why does Corvo use cardboard?) Put the engine and electronics on a narrow wood slat and slide it into the body. Secure components with rubber bands. At RC dogfight events, back in the air in 10 minutes after a prang. Airframe that's sturdy, long-lasting, and cheap, cheap, cheap. Or even free with a little dumpster diving around sign shops and residential construction.

[bombastic bob]

Re: We've been here before ...

I have to wonder what the radar signature of cardboard looks like when compared to plastic...

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: We've been here before ...

The density of Schedule 40 PVC is about 1.4 g/cm^3, and of corrugated cardboard about 0.2 g/cm^3. A factor of 7 in the weight of the airframe might be a reason.

Cardboard is also really easy to source and ship. And while it's combustible, it doesn't release toxic fumes when it burns, which PVC does.

Not saying PVC isn't a good choice for some use cases, but in this one I believe I understand why Corvo went with cardboard.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: We've been here before ...

Obviously they're thinking green: cardboard is a lot more biodegradable!

The green coat, obvs. --->

[stiine]

Re: We've been here before ...

Please tell me that you're f'n kidding. If you're concerned about some toxic fumes from a bomb's delivery system, you have your priorities in the wrong order.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: We've been here before ...

> If you're concerned about some toxic fumes from a bomb's delivery system, you have your priorities in the wrong order.

Not necessarily. Now that Iraq is a stable and prosperous democracy and our economic and political partner - it's a real problem that everywhere we would want to build iPhone factories is covered in toxic uranium rounds

[Roland6]

Re: We've been here before ...

Bomb delivery is just one potential use. There are a lot of other uses for what is effectively a relatively cheap single use and disposable drone.

[david 12]

covered in toxic uranium rounds

All heavy metals are toxic. Still, it's good that they used uranium rather than lead. Lead is more toxic than uranium.

If you're interested, there's been quite a bit of analysis published on PubMed.

[gotes]

Re: We've been here before ...

And of course those lithium cells release completely harmless emissions when they burn.

[david 12]

Re: We've been here before ...

I was wondering if perhaps cutting to shape is easier? I see a lot of cut cardboard in packaging, but I've only ever seen panels of coreflute plastic

[JohnTill123]

Re: We've been here before ...

There's a significant community of "makers" and model airplane fans who make model airplanes from cardboard and cheap foamboard, so the design requirements and useful tricks and methods to make a functional small airframe are established and available. Also, the use of cardboard makes it easy to repair and modify as mentioned in the article using locally available and inexpensive materials.

So cardboard is a really good design choice to enhance capability, reduce costs, and maximize availability.

[Roland6]

Re: We've been here before ...

Corrugated cardboard is light and strong - a few years back a cycle helmet was made out of readily available corrugated cardboard and not only was lighter than equivalent composite plastic cycle helmets but also gave significantly better protection. The design meant it was possible to make a bespoke helmet at the equivalent to a Photo Booth, which the user needed only to assemble from the laser cut flat pack cardboard, the main downside was its vulnerability to water (rain and sweat).

I see this being similarly useful, especially if the airframe can be DIY’d from locally sourced cardboard and the electronics can be readily reused.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: We've been here before ...

> especially if the airframe can be DIY’d from locally sourced cardboard and the electronics can be readily reused.

But I suspect this can be solved by requiring aerospace grade cardboard from an approved aerospace qualified supplier and assembled by a certified aerospace cardboard folding engineer - we'll soon have it upto a price that doesn't challenge any existing market players

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: We've been here before ...

And not forgetting the aerospace grade wax coating, otherwise it ain't flying in damp weather :-)

[david 12]

a cycle helmet was made out of readily available corrugated cardboard

The reason bicycle helmets were made with a hard shell was a legislated standard.

When the first legislated standards for bicycle helmets were introduced, they introduced a requirement for "intrusion protection", probably inherited from the motor cycle standard. It required the helmet to protect against pointy objects.

The old design was open, to allow cooling, and the new standards have reduced or removed the requirement. I've still got an old open bar 'helmet' from my dad, and I've got a new 'helmet' that is just expanded foam.

[martinusher]

The Ukrainians can make model aircraft, too

I fly model sailplanes for a hobby and some of the very best examples of high performance sailplanes, both in terms of aerodynamic performance and advanced construction techniques, are from "Vladimir's Model", a company based in Kharkov, Ukraine. They're not particularly cheap but they actually retail for rather less than the $3500 the flatpack costs.

Since a drone is just a model aircraft with a payload I'd guess that they're already being made. Cardboard is probably more stealthy than spun carbon fiber but the electronics is just readily available components and software.

[Tron]

Cheaper ones will follow.

Amazon (cardboard) and Ikea (flatpackery) could combine and make one for much less.

And you wouldn't need it to come with a tablet. Any used one off ebay would do.

How long before the US government ban this? They don't seem to be too keen on landing any punches on Putin, Russian MPs or Russian territory.

The sans-culottes had a go at Macron's favourite posh restaurant the other day, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are bans for all aspects of this tech breaking out across bits of Europe with unpopular governments, real soon. That will include us of course.

[Orv]

Re: Cheaper ones will follow.

The US government hasn't been keen on attacks in Russian territory that are traceable back to US-supplied weapons, because of the whole "maybe starting WWIII" problem. If Ukraine wants to develop their own drone capability, though, I don't see the US interfering.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Cheaper ones will follow.

>How long before the US government ban this?

If we classify them as munitions then the USA will make drones compulsory in schools

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Cheaper ones will follow.

"Amazon (cardboard) and Ikea (flatpackery) could combine and make one for much less."

But, but, but, Amazon already have form for delivering packages by drone. It'd be easier just to order the payload to the required "address" and let Amazon supply the drone. They may charge an additional shipping and handling fee if the drone doesn't return though.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Blue Peter

Today children we will be making ICBMs out of washing up liquid bottles and sticky back plastic

[stiine]

Re: Blue Peter

I sure hope so.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Blue Peter

You can always tell the American in the room.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Blue Peter

That's an episode I'd watch...

[Tams]

Re: Blue Peter

And here's one I made earlier.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Blue Peter

Get an adult to help you with the fission core

[vtcodger]

The last thing the world needs

100km range. Flies a predetermined course. 3kg payload. All that's missing is a terminal guidance system and there's probably something on Amazon or eBay that can handle that.

Sounds to me like everyman's cruise missile.

You young folks sure will be living in exciting times.

[John PM Chappell]

Re: The last thing the world needs

Guided missile, sure, 'Cruise' missile? Not so much. I still upvoted you, though. :)

[Neil Barnes]

Re: The last thing the world needs

An issue that arose when we were doing the PARIS and LOHAN stuff was that by agreement, domestic GPS receiver chips are designed not to work if they're moving too high and too fast, precisely to avoid their use in guided/cruise missile scenarios.

Since we needed one that would work at high altitude (though low speed) we had to find a chip where the maker had actually used 'AND' instead of 'OR' in their logic, which it seemed at the time many did.

[vtcodger]

Re: The last thing the world needs

Interesting, But real cruise missiles often fly slow (to increase range by decreasing drag) and low (to avoid radar). Not that these drones are likely to have much of a radar profile. High and fast sounds more like a ballistic missile.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: The last thing the world needs

"fast" and "slow" is relative. I suspect a jet engine powered cruise missile in "slow, fuel saving mode" is still quite quick in relation to a small, electric prop driven drone.

[spold]

Re: The last thing the world needs

Since it is cardboard at least you should be able to bring the thing down with a hosepipe rather than SAMs.

[Ken G]

Re: The last thing the world needs

I think the idea of a homemade one was discussed in 'The Moon Goddess and the Son' by Donald Kingsbury. I seem to remember an engineering students project turning a truck turbocharger into a radial compressor jet engine from around the same time. Probably all you'd need to add besides control actuators is a mobile phone, these days.

[bertkaye]

advice to hospitals

As long as the baby weighs less than 6.6 pounds, we have that stork completely beat.

[Ken G]

Open Source hardware too?

Presumably the next step would be to provide open-source cutting plans for the cardboard, can the PARIS team help?