Home: Temperature: Cooling
Personal tethered drone bed fan   (+10)  [vote for, against]
Just for you

Sometimes it's not warm enough to justify the aircon, but the breeze from a fan can make sleeping easier and more pleasant.

This solution is not, however, entirely free of problems.

A paddle fan on the ceiling may be too indiscriminate; often, one part of the bed is in the airflow while another stagnates. This is often accompanied by a persistant and irritating high-pitched whining sound that sounds very like "For heaven's sake turn that damned fan off ! "

A pedestal or desk fan can be much more directional, but also more localised.

What the canny consumer desires is clearly the new BorgCo drone fan.

First, attach the three self-adhesive reflectors to three roughly equidistant points on the ceiling, or high on the walls. Place the drone, on its base station, in the centre of the room - where it can see all three reflectors - and press the "learn" key on the remote.

Then turn it on. The drone will hover one metre above its base. Using the remote, fly the drone to the desired spot over the bed, and store the location. Then turn it off.

When the drone has landed, just place the base unit by the bed (ensuring the cable isn't tangled) and when cooling is desired, command it to move to any one of its preprogrammed positions. It can remain static, or execute a predefined or user-set flight path. A timer allows it to shut down once the user is asleep.

It can also be instructed to hunt flying insects.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 13 2016

Yes, but does the alarm clock function play the Ride of the Valkyries?
-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 13 2016


//the new BorgCo drone fan//

[+]'d after somehow getting past the picture of [8/7] standing at the foot of my bed, waving some palm fronds around.
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 13 2016


+1 you warm today [8th]?
-- po, Sep 13 2016


A speaker added to the drone could do the standard sleepytime noises as well, filtered to make the prop noise less or un noticeable.
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 13 2016


// does the alarm clock function play the Ride of the Valkyries? //

Not only that, it releases a powerful odour of hydrocarbons. After all, who doesn't love the smell if Napalm in the morning ?
-- 8th of 7, Sep 13 2016


Could it not go haywire and attack the sleeping person? That thought deserves a reward! [+]
-- xenzag, Sep 13 2016


If the tether was a power cord, you wouldn't have to worry about the batteries in the drone dying in the middle of your cool breeze, and falling on your face, cutting tissue indiscriminately. Unless, knowing the author of this Idea, that was a secondary purpose...
-- Vernon, Sep 13 2016


// If the tether was a power cord //

It is.

// a secondary purpose //

It is.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 13 2016


All of my quadcopters are far too loud for anyone to sleep through. In addition to the buzz of the motors (presumably the origin of the name 'drone') there's the whine of the PWM motor control, which is usually just high-pitched enough that only some people can hear it.

Perhaps trained owls could do the job better.
-- mitxela, Sep 13 2016


//too loud// as well as my aforementioned 'use speakers to mask the sound', since it's on a cord there's no need to be stingy with power so prop design can be tailored for quiet running.
-- FlyingToaster, Sep 14 2016


be sure to have two drones, that way you can use antinodal noise removal above the sleeper regardless of where the fandrone travels.
-- beanangel, Sep 15 2016


No, because I'm pretty sure the rotor noise is incoherent. You could, though, have the sleeper wear noise-canceling headphones. Maybe they already do.
-- notexactly, Aug 30 2019


[8th] Nice, You really do give a flying fan.

Safety could be shrouds or ceiling light fixture retractable cord.
-- wjt, Aug 31 2019



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