Awesome Drones

At Burning Man 2022, Studio Drift put on an amazing light show using 1000 drones as their medium. After a display of geometric forms, the show culminated with a gigantic 3D human head gazing down at the crowd. Vitaly Katasonov captured video of the performance. We kept wanting it to shout, “SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!“

DJI latest drone is designed for first-person view flights. It captures 4K/60 fps video with a super-wide angle lens and works with DJI’s FPV Goggles 2 and a motion controller for pilot immersion and easy flying. A built-in propeller guard lets you safely fly in tight locations, and the drone self-corrects if it bumps into something.

A paramotor is a single-person flying machine with a parachute wing to keep it aloft and a large fan to propel it. Aviation buff Peter Sripol wanted to see if it was possible to create a version powered by a bunch of individual drone motors instead, and as you can see from the thumbnail, he succeeded. It’s insanely loud, though.

This video from AHHAA Science answers the question: “Can you turn four angle grinders into a drone?” From the looks of things, the answer is “Yes.” But the reality is that real power tools would likely be too heavy to lift themselves, and it’s much more likely that they put drone motors on some fake Makita shells to make this work.

Making drones out of lightweight materials is a must if you want them to fly. But Motores Patelo went the opposite direction, and created a flightless drone out of metal. Sadly, he couldn’t record the whole build due to the lockdown, but the finished piece is still amazing… and could easily take off a finger.

How many quadrotors does it take to change a light bulb? Apparently, just one. This lone drone’s mission to insert and tighten a light bulb is made so much more dramatic by the addition of dialogue from Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a manta ray?!? Robotics company Festo turned up at a convention with this unique and amazing metallic drone that moves through the air like it’s swimming underwater. It can be seen flying alongside a pair of chrome dolphins in this video.

For aviation safety reasons, there are strict limits on how high you can fly a drone. But the guys at IronMan FPV got special permission from local authorities to take their DJI FPV drone to an altitude of 4500 meters – or nearly 15,000 feet. They put it into a freefall at around 3:13 to save battery on the way back down.

We recently shared a great time-lapse video from photographer Kien Lam documenting his travels around the globe. It turns out he also brings a drone with him, and created this video that offers a captivating view of the world from above.

Engineers from China’s Zhejiang University have programmed a swarm of drones to autonomously avoid notoriously difficult obstacles without pre-mapping the area. In this video, the swarm flies through a densely-packed bamboo forest, and then show off their ability to follow a human target. More here.

Following a fast-moving mountain bike rider through a narrow urban downhill course poses some serious challenges. In this video, you’ll see how the Dutch Drone Gods pulled off one of the most epic FPV shots ever, chasing MTB rider Tomas Slavic at the Red Bull Valparaiso Cerro Abajo race. (Thanks, Patrick!)

EV maker Tesla takes us on a high-speed drone flight around and inside of its Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory in Germany. Along the way, you’ll get closer to the incredible metal stamping and robotic assembly machines than most humans will ever get.

If you’re going to take a tour of Ohio’s National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, it might as well be from the air, right? Well, thanks to NURK FPV, we can take a first-person drone flight through the museum’s awesome collection of aviation marvels without having to leave home.

Aerial videography and photography website AirVūz has announced the winner of its 2021 Drone Video of the Year competition. FPV drone pilot Reme Morales teamed up with editor Preston Chen to create this dizzying cinematic flight reel which we recommend watching on the biggest screen you can get your eyes on.

One place on our travel bucket list is Zambia, Africa’s Victoria Falls. While we’ve yet to visit the falls, drone pilot and photographer Christoph Benfey got us closer to this world wonder than we’ll ever get in person. Shot with a GoPro HERO10 Black camera on an Armattan Marmotte drone frame using DJI’s FPV system.

Grab a great deal on a duo of camera drones, each equipped with a 4K UHD camera. Both the Alpha Z PRO and Flying Fox have wide-angle cameras, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a 6-axis gyroscope for smooth flying. The Flying Fox offers a longer flying time and one-key return functionality.

This mini drone is small enough to hold in the palm of your hand and is easy to fly. Its 6-axis gyroscopic control system ensures stable flight, and it has automatic take-off, landing, flip, and altitude hold functions. A built-in 720p camera can capture video of your flight. A limited-time deal from The Awesomer Shop.

While exploring the jungles of Venezuela, photographer and drone pilot Ellis van Jason visited Angel Falls. While there, he captured some spectacular and dizzying FPV footage of the 3121 foot-tall natural wonder, which holds the record for the tallest waterfall on the planet.

Get up and flying in minutes with this bargain-priced 4K drone. The Stealth Dragon Pro can automatically hold its altitude and returns to home with a single button press. Its app provides real-time video over Wi-Fi for a first-person perspective on your flight. Save 40% off the MSRP in The Awesomer Shop.

Drone pilot Johnny FPV takes us on an exhilirating off-road journey through the King of the Hammers desert in Johnson Valley, California. Throughout this epic one-shot clip, he stays hot on the tails of SxS racing champions Seth Quintero and Mitch Guthrie Jr.

A precision FPV drone takes us on a tour of MMA fighter and whiskey maker Conor McGregor’s Black Forge Inn, weaving between bartenders and into the kitchen to get us up close and personal with the bar, located in Conor’s Dublin 12 neighborhood. (Thanks, Patrick!)

Photographer Alexander Ladanivskyy worked with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism to secure permission to fly a drone above the Great Pyramid of Giza, capturing incredible top-down views of this architectural wonder. Be sure to flip through the Instagram gallery for the zoomed-in shots of the bricks at the very top.

With the help of Tac Gas, drone pilot NURK FPV had the rare opportunity to visit an abandoned gas and oil platform. There, he zigged and zagged his aerial camera through the rusted out facility, capturing some fascinating and truly unique visuals. The over-water footage had us hanging on for dear life.