I'm by no way an expert on this topic. I just skimmed over the wikipedia article[1] where I read the following:
First, quadcopters do not require mechanical linkages to vary the rotor blade pitch angle as they spin. This simplifies the design and maintenance of the vehicle.
As already mentioned I'm blatantly ignorant about this topic so it would be nice if someone who knows this stuff could chime in :)
small quadcopters basically speed up and slow down the motor itself to control how much lift is generated. As the size and weight of the blade increase, inertia makes that impractical, so you have to go to variable pitch for control.
For the hobby sized quads, it's simple enough to swap a motor. It is definitely easier to maintain since a spare is only 20 bucks and attaches in minutes with zip ties.
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I wouldn't say less maintenance, you've got 4 times as much motors running than a conventional helicopter.
I'm by no way an expert on this topic. I just skimmed over the wikipedia article[1] where I read the following:
As already mentioned I'm blatantly ignorant about this topic so it would be nice if someone who knows this stuff could chime in :)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadcopter
The advantage doesn't scale up well.
small quadcopters basically speed up and slow down the motor itself to control how much lift is generated. As the size and weight of the blade increase, inertia makes that impractical, so you have to go to variable pitch for control.
For the hobby sized quads, it's simple enough to swap a motor. It is definitely easier to maintain since a spare is only 20 bucks and attaches in minutes with zip ties.