Drones

Tiny, fast, and ridiculously easy to use, the HoverAir X1 Promax is a fully autonomous drone that takes off from your hand, follows you around, and films cinematic footage with no controller required.

DJI's latest enterprise-grade drone is seriously specced for heavy-duty tasks. Aimed at infrastructure planning agencies and emergency response teams, this flagship model can fly for a whopping 59 minutes, and boasts a payload capacity of 13 lb.

In Japanese mythology, dragons aren't the fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding monsters you'll find in Tolkien, Martin, et al. Instead, they're wise, serpentine creatures who control rain, fly through the clouds, and protect sacred areas.

A couple of years ago, DJI was the first drone maker to launch a flyer sporting a triple camera array. The follow up mounts the Hasselblad-led cameras to a 360-degree gimbal – allowing creators to "push their content to new levels."

SiFly says its drones fly 4X longer, 10X farther, 10X quieter and carry 5X more payload than the competition, while manufacturing in the USA at China-competitive prices. And they don't need parachutes. We asked how... Here's the secret sauce!

Even the nimblest of quadcopters still struggle to halt their lateral momentum when moving fast, limiting their maneuverability. An experimental drone addresses that problem in a bio-inspired fashion, by extending flying-squirrel-like membranous wings as needed.

In a world first, Japanese researchers flew a lightning-proof drone in a thunderstorm, using it to induce and direct natural lightning strikes. The team is now working on how this flying lightning rod might capture and store lightning energy.

Consumer drones are all just variations on the quadcopter design … right? Well no, not any longer. The Falcon Mini is a two-propeller "bicopter" which is claimed to be nimbler, quieter, and more energy-efficient than its four-prop counterparts.

With the threat of a US ban looming over Chinese drone maker DJI, keen flyers throughout the land will likely be on the lookout for alternatives. Homegrown Ascent Aerosystems may have an answer with its somewhat oddball Helius.

Engineers at MIT have devised a way to help drones find their way through unlit indoor spaces autonomously, without costly cameras. That'll come in handy for mapping and monitoring warehouses and tunnels, as well as search and rescue operations.

Researchers at Brigham Young University have demonstrated an inexpensive air traffic control system for drones that can effectively track multiple targets in real-time. Such systems could prevent collisions with aircraft, for not very much money.

DJI's simple-but-capable Neo drone is kind of a big deal, but is it not quite capable enough for you? If so, you might want to check out the new DJI Flip. It sports a folding design, multiple autonomous flight modes, and a 31-minute battery life.

Back in 2019, Chasing Innovation introduced the world's least expensive underwater drone, the Dory. The Chinese company is now offering a new version that comes complete with a joystick remote, metal detector and treasure-collecting net.

Imagine an 8K-shooting camera drone that fits in a pocket, costs under $700, and can be used with or without a remote. That's the HoverAIR X1 ProMax, and while the drone itself is great, one of its optional peripherals is still a work in progress.

October 1 is China's National Day – and the high-tech metropolis of Shenzhen celebrated with an eye-popping spectacle: a record-smashing swarm display of 10,197 drones in concert, showing just how far this next-gen entertainment technology has come.