7 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Chinese drones carry 180 tonnes of steel and concrete up mountain in pioneering feat
In an unprecedented show of China's advanced civilian
drone technology , a swarm of heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has carried 180 tonnes of construction materials up a remote mountain in the country's southwest, according to state media.
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State broadcaster CCTV reported last Thursday that the aerial operation had taken place in May at a
solar power project in Xichou county in Yunnan province, where rugged karst terrain and cliffs made traditional transport difficult.
The feat drew widespread attention online after news reports noted the labour-saving benefits of unmanned aerial systems, with headlines declaring that workers had moved the materials 'while reclining in lounge chairs'.
A fleet of 16 drones carried out precision flights along preset routes, delivering steel and concrete to build three electricity transmission towers at altitudes up to 1,650 metres (5,413 feet). The drones completed the task in just three days – a big improvement from the one month usually required to build cableways.
The aerial drone swarm method boosted efficiency by a factor of 10, according to CCTV.
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'The drones flew autonomously along preset routes without manual operation, achieving a precision comparable to aerial courier delivery,' said Wang Fangmin, a senior manager at Yunnan Power Grid Corporation's planning and construction centre, in comments aired by CCTV.
