There is a man who is an outstanding artist, architect, and excels in mathematics, science, medicine, and even cooking. He is tall, handsome, and skilled in swordsmanship. There was truly a man who was the very embodiment of a comic book hero. This is Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance man. If you only know him as the painter of the Monalisa, then you have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
A study found that the helicopter blueprint drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century could advance today's drone technology. His achievements are not limited to his era but are transforming the future even 600 years later.
Researchers led by Rajat Mittal and Seo Jeong-hee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University noted that applying the principle of the 'aerial screw' designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1480 to drones could lead to lower power consumption, increased lift, and reduced noise.
The research results were posted on the preprint site arXiv on Nov. 11. Professor Seo Jeong-hee earned her doctorate in ancient mechanical engineering and has been working as a professor at Johns Hopkins University since 2016.
Leonardo da Vinci is known to have designed the aerial screw while working in the military, but he did not actually build or test it. The principle of the aerial screw is similar to the helical pump created by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. The so-called Archimedes' screw is a mechanical device used to lift water from a lower place to a higher place.
The helical plate is placed inside a cylinder, and when rotated, water moves along the screw and rises. The Archimedes' screw was later used for irrigation facilities and to pump water out of ships. The aerial screw also works on the principle of rotating the helical plate to lift air, thereby elevating the gas.
The researchers at Johns Hopkins University estimated that the aerial screw was difficult to lift by human power due to its weight. Instead, they believed that it would be possible to achieve flight by using an electric motor to rotate the helical plate in a small drone. The researchers validated their hypothesis through computer simulations.
The flight performance of a drone that combines the aerial screw and two wings rotating horizontally was virtually tested in a wind tunnel device that artificially generates wind. The results confirmed that, at the same size, the aerial screw could produce the same lift while rotating more slowly, thus consuming less power.
The researchers measured the air pressure and wind flow around the virtual aerial screw to calculate how much noise it produces. It was also found that when generating the same amount of lift, it produced less noise than the drone. The researchers stated that they would investigate whether it could be made more efficiently while maintaining its noise reduction characteristics by improving Leonardo da Vinci's design.
As drones are increasingly used in cities for deliveries, remote monitoring, and emergency services, noise pollution has become a rising concern. Drone developers are designing engines that can produce similar lift with less noise. Da Vinci's designs from the 15th century could contribute to such research. Some have remarked that, given Da Vinci's brilliant achievements in various fields during the Renaissance, he seems more like a person from the future than from his own time. It's conceivable given that he predicted technologies that would see the light 600 years later.
Professor Sheryl Grace from Boston University stated in an article in New Scientist on the 24th that 'the authors' claim that, like Da Vinci, rotating more slowly to generate the same thrust could produce less noise is correct,' while also noting that 'to validate whether Da Vinci's design could actually be useful, performance tests need to be conducted while the drone is in motion, not just hovering in the air.'
References
arXiv (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.10223