• +1-703-684-6777
  • See footer

LIFT + UT Austin, Texas Aerial Robotics HEXA Emergency Response (concept design)

HEXA Emergency Response heavy-lift passenger rescue eVTOL multicopter (concept design)

(Image credit: LIFT + University of Texas Austin, Texas Aerial Robotics)

HEXA Emergency Response (concept design)
LIFT + UT Austin, Texas Aerial Robotics
University of Texas Austin
Austin, Texas, USA
www.texasaerialrobotics.wixsite.com/website

Texas Aerial Robotics was founded in 2017 at the University of Texas Austin in Austin, Texas, USA. The Austin team partnered with LIFT to create a passenger rescue electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) multicopter aircraft for the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. The rescue aircraft are capable of delivering medical supplies as well as evacuate people during natural disasters. The LIFT + UT Austin / Texas Aerial Robotics team is a GoAERO Stage 1 and Stage 2 winners.

The Texas Aerial Robotics Team Lead is Adam Lang and the Team Members are Matt Chasen, Kristin Giffin, Balazs Kerulo, Maruthi Akella, Arjun Nayana, Matthew Cavers and Ethan Chua. The main design for the university team is from the company LIFT, a Texas based eVTOL company, that designed and built the HEXA passenger eVTOL multicopter aircraft.

Once the two organizations partnered, the student team started working with the original HEXA eVTOL design to enhance landing stability for uneven or inaccessible terrain. The undergraduate team is also working on increasing portability and reduce setup time for rapid deployment. In addition, the engineering students designed a custom payload system for casualty evacuation. The aerial robotics team are also tuning the aircraft to have a higher cruise speed. The engineers are developing a companion computer to enable advanced autonomous systems. Last but not least, the team is conducting flight testing and system-level refinements.

HEXA Emergency Response heavy-lift passenger rescue eVTOL multicopter aircraft (concept design)
The HEXA Emergency Response is an autonomous heavy-lift passenger emergency rescue eVTOL multicopter aircraft. The aircraft has been designed with an open fuselage that will autonomously fly to the scene of a natural disaster and deliver medical supplies or food to people. The aircraft is also capable of evacuating people during natural disasters.

The rescue multicopter aircraft has 18 propellers, 18 electric motors and is powered by battery packs. The propeller system is high enough that people can walk around the aircraft without bumping their heads into the propellers. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio. The aircraft has fixed skid landing gear. Looking at the above artistic conception, it is possible the multicopter has a whole aircraft emergency ballistic parachute in case of an unexpected inflight emergency.

About the GoAERO Prize Competition
The GoAERO Prize, sponsored by Boeing, is a three year competition (2024-2027) offering over $2 million USD in prizes that challenges engineers worldwide to create portable, versatile and autonomy-enabled Emergency Response Aircraft that address not only everyday medical emergencies but also to be used in natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies and climate crises worldwide. Each team designs and builds autonomous Emergency Response aircraft capable of delivering a first responder, medical equipment and supplies and ultimately evacuating victims in need to a rescue ambulance or hospital.

More than 150 teams from around the globe are competing for the GoAero prizes. The GoFly and GoAERO prizes were developed by Boeing and other organizations to help the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry move forward.

Specifications:

  • Aircraft type: Autonomous passenger rescue eVTOL multicopter (concept design)
  • Piloting: Autonomous piloting
  • Capacity: 1 patient
  • Cruise speed: ~65-75 mph (~105-121 km/h)
  • Maximum payload weight: 400 lb
  • Propellers: 18 propellers
  • Electric motors: 18 electric motors
  • Power source: Battery packs
  • Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
  • Windows: Open fuselage that holds a patient stretcher
  • Landing gear: Fixed skid landing gear
  • Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. The aircraft has no moving surfaces or tilting parts when transitioning from vertical to forward flight and the reverse which increases safety by reducing complexity.

Resources:

 

 

About us

Administered by The Vertical Flight Society
 This information on this website is provided for public use. However, you may not copy entire sections of this website and post them on your own website — because that's plagiarism!

For information on joining VFS, add additional eVTOL aircraft ≥300 lb (136 kg) or to report an error, please contact us through VFS headquarters.

Our Contacts

2700 Prosperity Ave, Suite 275
Fairfax, Virginia, USA - 22031
Phone: +1-703-684-6777
Email: See footer

Latest Tweets

2026 © The Vertical Flight Society. The Electric VTOL News™, eVTOL.news™ and eVTOL News™ are trademarks of The Vertical Flight Society.

Powered by: Electric VTOL News™