Full-scale Modular eVTOL prototype features ground robot and exchangeable pods

A full-scale prototype of the Sigma-6 modular eVTOL aircraft platform from Detroit’s Airspace Experience Technologies has been unveiled. This ground-breaking aircraft has interchangeable cargo and passenger pods as well as a working skateboard robot to load and unload them.

A full-size eVTOL aircraft with a detachable passenger/cargo cabin has been prototyped by ASX, together with an autonomous ground logistics system that can load and unload these compartments physically. Technology Knowledge Aerospace.

Over the past few years, electric convertible VTOL aircraft designs have proliferated all over the place, but the majority of these designs have been straightforward lift-and-cruise designs with distinct thrust and lateral thrust systems, or thrust vector designs that tilt their propulsion systems independently of their wings.

Perhaps because of worries that the directional blades might hypothetically pick up too much wind in a hovering condition and make the aircraft work harder to keep up speed and hold its position, tilt-wing designs are ecologically less expensive.

In any case, ASX based its Sigma 6 on the tilt-wing theory, and it’s unquestionably an intriguing Oriental. The passenger area and aft deck were intended to be separated by the aircraft’s 43-foot (11.6-м) broad inclined wings and V-tail arrangement, six enormous diameter supports, and a set of aft landing gear. A clamp is located at the bottom of the cargo compartment.

If the Sigma 6 eVTOL concept were to become a reality, it would undoubtedly be a breathtaking sight.

In light of the expanding eVTOL market, the groupings are fairly big. With a top airspeed of 250 mph (400 kph), the passenger compartment can hold six to eight passengers and the cargo compartment can carry a rated weight of 2,000 lb (907 kilograms). The pods of the Sigma 6 separate from the aircraft after landing and roll around on a small motorized skateboard chassis with four-wheel steering and unidirectional wheels. If necessary, the identical skateboard robot can raise and maneuver the entire aircraft.

Even while all of this might seem a little bit far-fetched, ASX has gone further than most with this concept. In fact, the business even prototyped and scaled up this ground logistics system before testing it. whole tissue See the skateboard robot maneuver the cocoon, place it below the airframe, hoist it, and lock it in the video down below.

The pods, not the airframe, will house the 200-kWh battery packs. Each one, according to ASX, has a flight range of about 150 miles (240 km), but because the pods are interchangeable, there’s no need to leave the airframe idling away while the battery charges, wasting money. Change the one in there, and you’re off.

The sixth-generation ASX prototype is this. Although the wing and six-prop VTOL system appear to have performed some tethered hovering, it has not yet been put into flight.

The company has received roughly US$4.1 million in capital to this point, but it is still in need of funding. In fact, it is even looking for small-scale public investors through a crowdfunding site, which isn’t a good look. It has letters of intent (LOIs) from the Department of Navy Future Air Mobility Command and a few potential clients for 100 aircraft, but it’s difficult to determine the true value of such correspondence.

The entire six-prop VTOL system is supported by the 43-foot tilting wing created by Aerospace Experience Technologies.

According to a recent announcement, the AFWERX Agility Prime team has given ASX permission to move on to phase 3 of its “Innovation Capabilities Opening” process. This means that the AFWERX team will accept and take into account a complete written proposal that could result in ASX receiving funding from the government to construct and present a prototype.

ASX intends to start mass producing these machines in 2025, with 100 aircraft to be made by outside vendors while it constructs its own plant for mass manufacturing, which will start in 2027 with 500 units. Naturally, the corporation will need access to some substantial funds in order to go through the protracted, arduous, and expensive process of FAA certification in order to reach that stage.

One interesting thing you might be able to accomplish with a pod-on-wheels-or-wings notion is to have the ground robots handle last-mile transfers at either end of the voyage, taking passengers door-to-door in their bubbles. This kind of device, though, would be a pain to certify; you’d need to have the thing certified as both a fully autonomous road vehicle and as a commercial aircraft, as we explored looking at a similar, earlier-stage modular eVTOL plan by Node Air and JetX last month.

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