DJI’s “The Art of Form” video, even at only three minutes in length, provides a glimpse into the depth of detail and engineering exploration that was involved in creating such a compact and powerful drone.
From the narrative of the video, it seems that the designers and engineers were on the same page to create a device where none of the function was lost because of a need to satisfy the form. Instead, it was form that found it’s own point of arrival for the benefit of all of the features that DJI wanted in the Mavic Pro.
The Mavic Pro designers and engineers struggled with managing heat from the high performance motors and processors in the Mavic, so they added a magnesium alloy heatsink on the Mavic’s belly and fed it air with a fan positioned behind the gimbal.
The simplicity with which the Mavic’s arms fold flush to the drone body were a product of multiple trial-and-error prototypes. What they came up with is an integrated solution that uses form to it’s advantage instead of being it’s slave.
We can’t wait to see what comes next from Mavic. The singular focus that they put into making their products, whether it’s an Osmo Mobile or an Inspire 2 drone demonstrate that as far as technology and intelligent design are concerned, they are their own Apple.