DIY Mini Drone Kit

ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS:  Find your kit instructions on Science Buddies.

Build a drone. Make it fly. Then take control of it.

Students build a real, flying quadcopter drone using popsicle sticks, motors, and propellers that spin in opposite directions to keep it steady. Once it's off the ground, the drone becomes the test subject for its own experiment: loading it with extra weight to see how much it can lift, and how much that weight slows it down.

Then the challenge changes. Swapping the drone's simple on/off battery pack for a breadboard circuit with a potentiometer gives students real control over it, dialing the motors up and down to send the drone climbing, hold it steady, or bring it back down gently instead of crash-landing. The same build serves as the basis for even more Science Buddies drone projects and activities, all available through the linked instructions.  

Key Questions Students Explore:

• How do a drone's motors and paired propellers work together to generate enough lift to fly?
• How does adding weight to a drone change its speed and how high it can lift off?
• How can a simple breadboard circuit control a motor's speed to manage a drone's altitude?

Activities require some extra household supplies, and some online activities call for additional components, such as a 3D printer for a custom chassis or an Arduino for programmable control. Be sure to check the linked instructions for details.

If you have questions about your kit, please see the following FAQ article from Science Buddies:

• Build a Simple Drone and Test How Much It Can Lift FAQ

• AA batteries
• Battery holder
• Breadboard
• Dowels
• Electrical tape
• Foam ball
• Foam padding
• Jumper wires, various
• MOSFET
• Motors, clockwise rotating
• Motors, counterclockwise rotating
• Plastic propellers, clockwise
• Plastic propellers, counterclockwise
• Popsicle sticks
• Potentiometer
• Stranded wires, assorted colors
• Straws
• Wood base