Finnish Filmmakers Gave a Drone a Chainsaw

Finnish Filmmakers Gave a Drone a Chainsaw(popsci.com)

77 points by venti 10 years ago | 55 comments

As someone who has personally used a chainsaw for many years I saw that video with interest but realized quickly it's faked. It takes a substantial amount of force on a chainsaw to keep it cutting. A real chain saw is a relatively heavy device. I see no evidence in that video that the chainsaw is in fact cutting anything while only under the forces afforded by the drone. Every cutting shot is from closeup and I did not see a single shot of it cutting from a distance. Either it's very poor choice of editing since it doesn't show what the whole video purports or it's a fake.

johansch 10 years ago | |

That is a pretty substantial drone they are using - it looks like the kind that can carry RED ONE cameras, which are about the same weight as the light weight chainsaw they used in the video.

Regarding the amount of force required to cut things: they are only cutting snow and small tree branches.

I think you are being overly paranoid here.

fezz 10 years ago | | |

Red One with lens was about 13-15 lbs although I don't remember a Red One used on an octocopter. Red Epics were out by then which brought the weight down to under 10lbs.

Chain saws without blades are around 10 lbs?

wdmeldon 10 years ago | | |

And balloons. If this was fake, I'd imagine they would have made it more impressive.

oliwary 10 years ago | |

I also believe some scenes are faked - at 1:30 the chainsaw is turned sideways instantly, a maneuver which should not be possible with the gimbal setup they are using, and especially not without moving the center of mass way of balance.

Fun video nonetheless! :)

EDIT: Although, at 1:54 the rest of the copter can be seen after the cutting. Strange that they would not include any outside view of the cutting or even the chainsaw in a sideways position though.

debrangy 10 years ago | |

I believe they were using a DJI industrial, which as a takeoff weight of 11kg, which is more than enough power to carry a small chainsaw.

athenot 10 years ago |

This is something I often thought about, for the purposes of tree pruning. What if you could point a laser-like LED beam to the location you want cut on a 55ft-high pine tree, and have the drone-chainsaw cut that exact location? That would beat using cranes or bucket lifts to hoist a person with their chainsaw way up in the air.

(Of course the ground would still have to be cleared of people, as a branch would be falling down and in case the chainsaw/drone combo malfunctions.)

JoeAltmaier 10 years ago | |

Around here, they have used helicopters for years to prune trees away from high-line power lines. That chainsaw is like 10 feet long and hangs straight down from between the skids. The pilot hovers and inches forward alongside the lines, and the tree limbs fly!

Its got to be the coolest job ever - helicopter chainsaw operator. I put it above even wrecking ball operator.

danielvf 10 years ago | | |

Here's a video of the helicopter chainsaw

http://youtu.be/Mfz1YrpMbBg

cmdrfred 10 years ago | | |

Where do you put this then? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV8dk0XucNA

weld 10 years ago |

Combine this with a vulnerability that allows you to take over a professional drone and it could get messy.

https://www.blackhat.com/docs/asia-16/materials/asia-16-Rodd...

ldonley 10 years ago |

If anyone is interested in some more drone chainsaw action, they should check out when Jamie from Mythbusters attempted to make one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fe9IDx3vCs

He was unable to get it to work effectively or safely, though his drone was not as heavy-duty as the one from this thread.

maaaats 10 years ago | |

Could this video be fake, though? Hitting the snowmen in that speed should seriously alter the movement of the drone. And can you get enough force to actually cut through a branch from a drone?

ldonley 10 years ago | | |

Based on the video from Jamie, I would say yes, it is probably a fake. But that's just my thought.

eCa 10 years ago |

That's kind of the 21st century evolution of this[1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHuJGhe4oGw

cglace 10 years ago | |

I've done some pretty crazy things with a chainsaw but that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

PeterTMayer 10 years ago |

It is a dangerous experiment. Luckily it only hurt a snowman. :)

chris_wot 10 years ago |

This article is redirecting me to an error.

reustle 10 years ago | |

Here is a link directly to their video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Viwwetf0gU

prawn 10 years ago | |

If you're also in Australia, popsci.com has some idiotic redirects to popsci.com.au that throw errors when they can't find a localised version of the article you're trying to reach.

I don't think I've ever had one actually work.

chris_wot 10 years ago | | |

Seriously, this deserves an automatic penalty until they fix their issues. Business Insider do the same thing.

What's to localise though? We speak English!

dang... if you're reading this, anything you can do? Very frustrating for the many Australians who read articles on HN.

(a side note: when are U.S. sites going to stop treating Australians as second class citizens? We are a pretty wealthy nation filled with people willing to participate in the online world in a meaningful way, and yet we are constantly screwed over either in terms of pricing or just plain being blocked from stuff we are willing to actually pay good money for).

exabrial 10 years ago |

So, better than sharknado?

dsugarman 10 years ago |

the perfect weapon for the next zombie video game

afsina 10 years ago |

I really dislike filmmakers doing this kind of stupid stunts (Ok I admit I hate the film makers tries do deceive even more . Like the idiots who make eagle taking a child or flying wing man etc.). Why not put a Ak-47 or a hand grenade to the damn drone? You would get more attention.

exDM69 10 years ago | |

Some background from a Finnish news article [0]: these guys are experienced, professional RC and drone camera operators and the copter is a professional quality photography drone. They describe the copter as a "5 horsepower circular saw" which is "pretty dangerous even without a chainsaw attached". Indeed, you have to operate such machinery with caution and respect. All in all, it looks like they were operating with caution and in an isolated area without causing any risk to outsiders.

Silly and pointless? Yes. Reckless and stupid? Perhaps not. Fun to watch? Hell yes.

[0] http://nyt.fi/a1459480177666

fsloth 10 years ago | |

It is illegal for a civilian to possess automatic weapons or grenades in Finland. Chainsaws are quite legal.

wastedhours 10 years ago | |

I'm always 50/50 on these things. Fun to watch, and whilst I'd be wary of it giving ideas to people who might not be as responsible as the video makers, it also makes sure the general public/regulators know what's possible and how we might curb misuse in the future.

amelius 10 years ago |

Why did this have to be built and can't we just imagine things anymore?

zellyn 10 years ago | |

It appears you've accidentally wandered into hacker news. Welcome!

746F7475 10 years ago | |

remember this when you are building something next time

gagege 10 years ago | |

Oh, hello Ken M.

dustinupdyke 10 years ago | |

Build to think.

xiphias 10 years ago |

This should be illegal everywhere. I'm really afraid of the not too distant future when drones are cheap and autonomous enough so that they are able to be controlled by a small crazy group and used to harm lots of people. I don't think we as a society are prepared for it.

JoeAltmaier 10 years ago | |

Of course its illegal everywhere to kill people with chainsaws.

orbitingpluto 10 years ago | | |

Even Texas? (yes I know, I deserve to be downvoted, guilty pleasure)

SlipperySlope 10 years ago | |

Sorry, but you could have made your point in a more hackerish way by saying that the Islamic State is looking into using off the shelf drones to widely distribute Cesium 137 dust harvested from Medical X ray equipment. A devout martyr would have no issue with preparing the Cesium and assembling the device.

Such a weapon would cause great economic damage if used in an urban area, as the city would have to be evacuated until a thorough and expensive clean up was completed by thousands of workers in bunny hazmat suits.

theklub 10 years ago | |

I seriously want to start a drone defense company.

jonase 10 years ago | | |

Disney are apparently using drones to combat paparazzi drones when filming Star Wars VIII: http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/02/drones-are-patrolling-...

freyr 10 years ago | | |

Best options are probably Thors, missle turrets, photon cannons or void rays. Eventually war will be teenagers sitting at computers moving swarms of autonomous machines on a virtual map, and South Korea will take over the world.

Roboprog 10 years ago | | |

DoD won't appreciate the competition :-)

DanBC 10 years ago | | |

Defending people from drones?

Or using drones to defend people?

(Or both?)