Skybridge 无人直升机 by Chen Xu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award 银奖 in 未来主义设计 Competition Category.

银未来主义· 2025

Skybridge 无人直升机

by Chen Xu

Client: Beihang University

A' Design Award 银奖 Winner in 未来主义 Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #170590

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Skybridge 无人直升机

Skybridge是一款专为从船舶向无港口岛屿运送货物而设计的无人直升机。机身采用仿海洋生物的流线型形态，以降低阻力与能耗。机身外壳由复合材料一体成型，内部结构采用碳纤维材质，实现减重32%。多挂点吊挂系统与起落架绞盘使其可在最高6000米海拔、12米/秒风速条件下运载260公斤载荷。操作人员在保障船上通过机载摄像头与传感器的画面与数据进行远程操控。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 银奖

Skybridge 无人直升机是 A' Design Award 银奖得主，这是授予顶级、华美而令人印象深刻的设计的极为崇高的认可。银奖得主是极其卓越、极具创造力的作品，展现出其设计师杰出的专业技能、才华与敏锐。预计Skybridge 无人直升机将成为一件出色的典范之作，兼具非凡的专业性与深刻的创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 银奖的设计是一项备受瞩目、令人钦佩的发明，造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。Skybridge 无人直升机是一件令人羡慕的创作，它唤起渴望，带来积极的情感，并激发惊叹与赞叹。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Designed for cargo delivery to portless islands, this helicopter overcomes geographical barriers. Its biomechanically optimized airframe, multi-hook suspension, and intelligent undercarriage winches achieve a 260kg payload capacity—operating reliably at 6,000m altitude and 12m/s winds, redefining aerial logistics for extreme environments.
Dimensions & Packaging: with rotor: 3786X3600X1330mm
without rotor:2660X1054X950mm
Tags: Civil Drone, Product Design, Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Unmanned Helicopter, Maritime Transport
Production Technology: The manufacturing process integrates the modular assembly concept of the naval industry, and adopts composite materials to realize one-piece molding of the fuselage covering parts. The internal structure uses carbon fiber materials to achieve a 32% breakthrough in lightweight, which significantly improves the carrying efficiency. The streamlined aerodynamic design is modeled after marine life, which ensures the structural strength and effectively reduces the operational energy consumption.
Design Challenge: Balancing the societal need for efficient island resupply with minimizing environmental impact and complying with UAV regulations proved challenging. Developing a safe, reliable unmanned system with the required payload and capture capabilities required extensive research and design iterations.
Research: This design analyzes the efficient movement mechanism of marine organisms through bionic methods, focusing on the hydrodynamic curves and their energy transfer modes when fish swim. Combined with computational fluid dynamics simulation and 3D scanning modeling technology, the bio-evolutionary advantages of marine organisms, such as drag-reducing characteristics, are transformed into UAV engineering parameters.
Inspiration: This unmanned helicopter is designed for cargo transport from ships to portless islands. Maritime operational demands inspired its biomimetic approach, translating marine organisms' hydrodynamic efficiency into aerospace engineering. The streamlined fuselage curvature and rotor system synergy originate from analyzing oceanic lifeforms' drag-resistant structures.
Project Duration: The project started in January 2024 in Beijing and finished in February 2025 in Beijing.
Operation Flow: Operators on a support vessel remotely control the helicopter, using onboard cameras and sensors for real-time visual feedback. The operators identify and control helicopter to capture the cargo, providing a secure and damage-free delivery method compared to direct airdrops.
Team Members: Chen Xu
Wu Fangbo
Dr. Wang Lijing
Dr. Zhang Rong
Cai Tianyang
Zhang jun
Image Credits: Image #1: Creator sxdesign, 2025. Optional Image #1: Creator sxdesign, 2025. Optional Image #2: Creator sxdesign, 2025. Optional Image #3: Creator sxdesign, 2025. Optional Image #4: Creator sxdesign, 2025.