Mind you, this was no light matter. Titled 'Towards Edible Drones for Rescue Missions: Design and Flight of Nutritional Wings,' by Bokeon Kwak, Jun Shintake, Lu Zhang, and Dario Floreano from EPFL, the paper detailed a drone that could "boost its payload of food from 30 percent to 50 percent of its mass", according to a release.for those who are unable to access food.
The drone in question, however, will not only be able to reach the person but also provide sustenance right away, ensuring less waste. Whenever a drone is asked to transport anything, the bulk of what is moved is the drone. Most of them carry about 30 percent of their mass as payload, which comes in the form of 'useless' things like wings.The researchers used compressed puffed rice to design the wing of the partially edible drone.
"Achieving sufficient mechanical properties while maintaining low weight was the foremost design criteria in designing the edible wing. We can expand the design criteria to contain higher calories by using fat-based material—for example, edible wax; fat has higher calories per gram than proteins and carbohydrates," Kwak