(Before continuing, you may want to read the DroneSpeak term decoder page.)
What is a quadcopter?
In DroneSpeak, a small, civilian quadcopter typically:
- has 4 rotors or electric motor-driven propellers;
- travels through air;
- is a kind of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV): a vehicle that is primarily capable of propelling itself through an airspace, with no human pilot on board;
- may also be a “drone” as defined in DroneSpeak: an unmanned vehicle capable of purposeful movement without real time human guidance;
- can be seen as a multicopter with 4 rotors;
- is often called a “drone” by many in the general public: an aircraft or flying robot with no human pilot on board.
Similar terms, depending on who you ask, what you read, or when you search:
- quadrocopter (a blend of quad, rotor, and (heli)copter);
- quadrotor (a blend of quad and rotor);
- a multirotor/multicopter with 4 rotors, rotor blades or propellers;
- a rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft with 4 rotors, rotor blades or propellers;
- a micro air vehicle (MAV) with 4 rotors, rotor blades or propellers (see MAVLink);
- a quadrotor helicopter;
- a quad (a jargon or slang term).
Related terms:
- tricopter/trirotor; typically has 3 rotors, rotor blades or propellers;
- hexacopter/hexarotor; typically has 6 rotors, rotor blades or propellers;
- octocopter/octorotor; typically has 8 rotors, rotor blades or propellers;
- helicopter;
- VTOL quadcopter/quadrocopter/… (some prefer VTOL as an umbrella term for all multicopter/rotor vehicles)
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