Police lieutenant Cha Dae-seon (R) and police administrator Lee Tae-wook from the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency pose for a photo with their drone in the southeastern city of Ulsan on March 27, 2023. (Yonhap)
ULSAN, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Two South Korean police officers have acquired a patent for a so-called “unsinkable drone” from the Korea Intellectual Property Office.
The primary concept of the unsinkable drone proposed by lieutenant Cha Dae-seon and police administrator Lee Tae-wook from the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency is that when the drone is at risk of falling into the water, a parachute and inflatable device hidden inside the drone are deployed.
The parachute and inflatable device can be activated by the push of a button on the controller.
If the button is not pushed and the drone falls into the water, the flotation device inflates like an airbag, shoring up the main body of the drone so that it will not sink into the water.
Drones with a styrofoam buoy are already available in the market but they are vulnerable to wind, thus falling behind in precision of operation. Another weakness is shorter battery life.
It’s believed that the newly-proposed idea overcame the shortcomings since the inflatable device is hidden in normal operation and is made of a light material like plastic fabric or vinyl.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
