In Russia it is developing projects of unmanned air taxis. The prototyping centre of nust “MISIS” “Kinetics” completed Assembly of a functional prototype of the aircraft. This was told to the newspaper “Izvestia”.
The prototype created for the Russian project “Bartini”. It is a resident company of SKOLKOVO Technopark, established in 2015. The prototype has a scale of 1:2 and will allow you to test the aerodynamic characteristics and control system passenger drone in the real world.
The unmanned device is similar in appearance and quadcopter, but also got the “flying wing” and so-called convertiplane. Air taxi has got four engines, each of which rotates in opposite directions on two coaxial screws. Takeoff and landing are carried out automatically — the machine is programmed for a particular route. Taking off vertically like a quadcopter, the device accelerates in the horizontal plane. The screws are gradually turning until you take a vertical position, similar to the propellers of the aircraft. Further movement is due to the lift force of a flat body-wing in airplane mode.
The prototype reaches speeds of 200 km/h. it is Planned that the serial “Bartini” would reach the speed of 300 km/h the Device weighs about 60 kg, the body is made of polymer materials, axis steel, and powered by lithium batteries.