FreeBird One Scrapes Snow From Roof With Front Attachment
We mounted a "scraper" to the front of FreeBird One's frame, giving it the ability to dig into 12 inches of frozen-over snow on a roof top.
We show this as a demonstration of some of the unconventional uses that FreeBird One is capable of.
Our scraper was a first-iteration attempt at fabricating a tool like this. It was designed and 3D-printed with carbon fiber all in just a couple of hours.
As is typically the case when we design a new attachment like this, we learn from observing its performance and revise the design. Over 3-4 iterations, we could make this much more effective.
Our goal here is not to perfect snow scraping but rather to demonstrate the toughness of the frame, precision maneuvering, stability control by the autopilot while experiencing unusual forces on the airframe (holding one end up while the other end is angled against the roof), and the ability to sustain collisions without destroying the drone or property.