Abstract
Drones have been increasing in popularity and are able to cause skin injuries ranging from minor abrasions to severe lacerations. The objective of this study was to determine the aspects of drone blades that cause injuries, and to help manufacturers design safer drones by suggesting an injury threshold. The blade tip thickness, blade length, angular velocity, and blade tip speed of a variety of popular drones were measured. The injury caused by each drone blade contacting a fetal bovine skin surrogate at different speeds was recorded. Blade tip speed had the highest correlation to injury severity, while blade tip thickness, blade length, and rpm had little to no correlation with the resulting injury. Blade tip speeds above 25 m/s resulted in minor abrasions, and speeds above 60 m/s resulted in minor lacerations. To prevent severe injuries, drone manufacturers should design drones with blade tip speeds below the threshold of 60 m/s.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge and thank the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) for supporting this research.
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Associate Editor Thurmon E. Lockhart oversaw the review of this article.
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Duma, L.A., Begonia, M.T., Miller, B. et al. Proposed Injury Threshold for Drone Blade Lacerations. Ann Biomed Eng 49, 1125–1127 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-021-02759-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-021-02759-2