ROTOR TECHNOLOGIES: TACKLING THE DULL, DIRTY & DANGEROUS


CEO and cofounder Hector Xu started Rotor after several years conducting post-


doctoral research in aerospace engineering. (Rotor Technologies Photo)


in the field to change batteries and refill hoppers, and “labor’s hard to find in agriculture,” Moore says. “A lot of people don’t want to do that work. Sometimes it’s hard work, with hot, humid, long days.” Another issue benefiting fixed-


wing and rotary-wing aircraft in the agricultural-application industry is “a century of testing and calibrating and understanding how manned aircraft work in terms of how to position the boom, how and where it sits in relation to the wings or rotors, how to drop the boom,” Moore says. “There’s been testing done on spray


efficacy, testing done on drift potential, and there are models on how to set up your aircraft to maximize efficacy and mitigate drift,” Moore explains. “With drones, they’re still working on how to model all that, how to set it up properly, how to maximize efficacy.” He goes on to point out that the Sprayhawk ben- efits from its R44 platform, which has been modeled and tested. “They know how that’s going to work.”


Anticipating Market Evolution The true economics of large, remotely piloted VTOLs will resolve themselves only as the industry scales, VAI’s Martino says, pointing to the many questions the market will address over time. For example, how will maintenance


costs in the future compare between remotely piloted helicopters and manned aircraft? Will the remotely piloted vehicle operate with a single ground pilot, or will it need a team of pilots? Do operator rest and fatigue rules make ground-based helicopter


46 POWER UP SEP 2024


pilots more efficient? Will flying from the ground affect pilots’ wages? “A lot of folks think UAVs will replace


manned helicopters. They’re not going to replace helicopters,” Martino says. “It’s completely foreseeable that for the future of legacy helicopter opera- tions, operators are not only going to have helicopters, they’re also going to have some unmanned systems. It will provide more capability for them to meet their customers’ needs.” Utility work using UAVs has become


common across the United States and the United Kingdom (UK), with compa- nies such as Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, Entergy, and the UK’s National Grid Group all flying UAVs for various inspection missions. It’s easy to foresee that an operator


with 15 to 20 traditional aircraft today may in the future operate with 10 tra- ditional aircraft and 20 UASs, Martino says. “It comes down to the work that can be done by those unmanned sys- tems and how that can help offset the manned side of the house,” he says. Beyond agricultural applications,


Rotor sees plenty of market space for an unmanned helicopter to operate in wildfires as both a surveillance tool and to drop water or fire retardants. A Rotor UAV or its successors could inspect utility lines and wind turbines or ferry parts and other supplies to oil rigs offshore. As the technology continues to


evolve, the future of VTOLs almost inevitably will involve more vehicles piloted remotely—if not by themselves one day. “I think the key for us is how to


save some lives, sell some unmanned helicopters, and make some money, not to be crass about it,” says Xu, a London native who has settled in New Hampshire after years in Boston as an MIT student and post-doctoral researcher studying aerospace engi- neering and plasma physics. “I’m very grateful we’ve taken this path that is more focused on the near-term market places, because it allows us to build a lot of maturity.” Justin Bachman is a professional writer specializing in aviation news and analysis.


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