Advanced Aerial Robotics Made Simple

Giant spinning drone takes on 100 mini planes—and the comments go to war over brains vs brawn

TLDR: A giant spinning drone with a stable top platform battles 100 tiny planes, thrilling some and annoying efficiency purists. Commenters split between loving the chaos and demanding real data, with shoutouts to computer vision upgrades and rival “cyclocopter” designs—proof DIY aerial robotics is getting smarter and more ambitious.

A creator built a giant spinning drone with a de‑spun top—translation: the body twirls like a carnival ride while the platform on top stays steady—and then sent it into “combat” against 100+ tiny RC planes. The crowd went wild and instantly split into camps. Hype crew shouted, “This’ll scratch an itch,” while the nerd brigade flexed receipts: commenter ciaranmca linked a follow‑up where the drone gets a companion computer (a small onboard brain) doing computer vision (software that sees) to inject smarter controls straight into the flight controller—check the video.

The big drama? Spectacle vs substance. Efficiency purists like mapt rolled their eyes at drone dogfights and demanded numbers: hover times, power draw, and whether this cheap foam wing could be the heavy‑lift hero we need. Meanwhile, jacquesm dropped a curveball: a rival “cyclocopter” spin machine stealing hearts in a clip. And saidinesh5 went full fan mode, pointing to the creator’s playlist and the humble origins—an Arduino (beginner‑friendly microcontroller) flight controller started this whole saga.

Memes flew faster than the planes: “Spin to win,” “boss fight vs mosquito swarm,” and “foam is the new carbon fiber.” Whether you came for chaos or charts, the comments turned this drone into a cult classic—and a battleground over what “advanced” really means.

Key Points

  • A large spinning drone is built and demonstrated.
  • The drone features a de-spun top platform to maintain orientation.
  • The vehicle is designed to be controllable and flyable despite the rotating airframe.
  • A combat-style test involves over 100 smaller RC airplanes attempting to down the drone.
  • Durability and survivability under aggressive conditions are core goals of the project.

Hottest takes

“merged it with a companion computer to do computer vision tasks and inject controls straight into the flight controller” — ciaranmca
“I don't care as much about the combat as about the efficiency.” — mapt
“This one is my favorite, a 'cyclocopter'” — jacquesm
Made with <3 by @siedrix and @shesho from CDMX. Powered by Forge&Hive.