A blimp uses lifting gas to get it airborne, engines for propulsion, and a gondola to carry the payload. Not so long ago, they were told to be the aircraft of the future. Clearly, blimp travel didn’t quite pan out but that didn’t stop this creator from building a miniature version!

At its core lies an Arduino-based controller board equipped with onboard Wi-Fi and laser sensors. This miniature Blimp, known as Blimpduino, isn’t just a floating drone, but something that you can control via a smartphone app.

It has two side propellers powering its forward and backward motions and a singular lifting propeller working with the lifting gas inside the balloon. Apart from the balloon, the gondola structure can be 3D printed and you’ll need the Blimpduino control board. If it’s out of stock, you can construct your own using Arduino Uno, Wi-Fi, and laser sensors with the provided schematics.

• Who designed it: jjrobots
• Core components: Blimpduino control board (or Arduino Uno, 9-DoF IMU breakout board, lidar sensor), brushless motors, 3D printed parts, a balloon
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Where to find it: Thingiverse, jjrobots

Next, we have a fixed-wing drone which is a lightweight Arduino foam plane with reinforced lamination that combines athleticism and aerodynamics. It uses an Arduino Nano as the brain in both the radio transmitter and receiver.

Although this RC foam plane may look fragile, it is remarkably sturdy and can withstand numerous crash landings as demonstrated by the maker while getting a handle of the flight controls. The drone operates on a single propeller motor and dual wing controls and can fly for about 12 minutes.

The maker, Max Imagination, provides a detailed build for the plane as well as the radio transmitter with a comprehensive part list and essential codes for the radio transmitter and receiver.

• Who designed it: Max Imagination
• Core components: Arduino Nano, nRF24L01 module, brushless electronic speed controller, servo motors, styrofoam
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: YouTube

Forget paper planes that nosedive after five feet or the hefty price tag of store-bought RC models. The Arduino Airplane takes flight on a budget and a dream with an Arduino Nano for a brain nestled within a fuselage carved from lightweight kraft foamboard. The addition of kraft paper on the light foam gives it a nice finish and durable reinforcement.

What provides the thrust? A powerful yet light DC 180 brushed motor. Additionally, another Arduino Nano is needed to control this sleek bird, to listen to the joystick movements, translating them into directions for the ailerons, rudder, and elevator.

The maker shares everything you’ll need to get off the ground including the entire list of parts, the blueprint of its intricate design, as well as the necessary codes. Whether launched from a small runway or lifted skyward with a hand, the Arduino Airplane is ready to impress.

• Who designed it: KendinYap
• Core components: Arduino Nano, nRF24L01 module, DC 180 motor, servo motors, kraft foamboard
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: KendinYap, YouTube

For this Arduino drone, the maker used a custom Arduino CNC to sculpt Styrofoam into a lightweight plane body. However, any manual cutter can also bring this drone to life. After a few crash landings, the designer added structural reinforcement and laminated necessary parts with ordinary packing tape. This strengthens the structure and also adds a touch of aerodynamics, thus reducing drag as well as enhancing the in-flight performance.

The brain behind this bird is composed of two Arduinos. An Arduino Pro Mini in the transmitter reads your every joystick command, and another in the receiver translates them into outputs for the four servo motors that move the two ailerons, tilt the elevator with precision, and guide the rudder. Of course, there’s the brushless motor that lifts this DIY masterpiece off the ground.

All the details about this build are an open book, including the design iteration process, assembly guides, and, intricate schematics, making it an invitation to create your own design. So grab your tools, channel your inner Wright brother, and let the Arduino RC Airplane be your canvas.

• Who designed it: How To Mechatronics
• Core components: Arduino Pro Mini, nRF24L01 module, brushless motor, servo motors, Styrofoam
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: YouTube, How To Mechatronics

Have a dream of flying a drone through the skies without spending a lot of money buying one? This creator turned this same dream into reality by building an open-source project that costs a fraction of some alternatives. This DIY Arduino Uno drone has a meticulously designed custom frame based on scientific principles to minimize torque and maximize lift while ensuring rock-solid stability.

Each arm of this drone is sculpted to be as thin as possible and placed to optimize airflow and thrust. To keep the budget under control, this Arduino quadcopter does not use a remote control and flies in pre-coded patterns.

However, if you wish to add the remote control feature, the creator recommends adding radio wave communicators like the nRF24L01 or experimenting with various infrared transceivers. So, build, tinker, and conquer the clouds, one line of code and one perfectly placed wire at a time.

• Who designed it: Daniel Ramsgard
• Core components: Arduino Uno, DC motor, transistors, nRF24L01 module (optional)
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Where to find it: Hackster

Forget breaking the bank on fancy drones – this Arduino-powered tiny marvel takes flight on a shoestring budget, making it the ideal playground for tech-curious beginner learners. Being among the cheapest drones to build, this drone doesn’t have a long list of parts or a lengthy build process but its movement can still be controlled via the RemoteXY app.

At the heart of this aerial adventurer lies the Arduino Pro Mini, a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P chip. Although it doesn’t cost more than around $15, you can also opt for just an ATmega328P chip on a custom board for under $5, like the maker, if you have soldering experience. Note that to power the Arduino board, you’ll need a boost converter as it requires a higher voltage than the small 5-V battery used.

Utilizing a 3D printable frame and an HM-10 Bluetooth module, this drone offers the convenience of smartphone control thanks to Arduino IDE and MultiWii, eliminating the need for a separate remote controller. With its beginner-friendly build process, detailed schematics, ready-to-go firmware, and intuitive app interface, this drone is the perfect stepping stone for unleashing your inner inventor, one propeller spin at a time.

• Who designed it: Jovian_Dsouza
• Core components: Arduino Pro Mini, HM-10 Bluetooth module, MPU 6050 sensor, micro brush motors
• Difficulty: Beginner
• Where to find it: Instructables, YouTube

This step-by-step project guides beginners from choosing the right frame to programming their drone. The Arduino Nano was used in the described build, but an Arduino Uno could work just as well. To measure the quadcopter’s orientation, velocity, and force of gravity, an MPU-6050 gyroscope and accelerometer is recommended.

The maker recommends a frame made out of aluminum, carbon fiber, or wood. He also notes that arms made of aluminum are commonly used.

• Who designed it: Jack Brown
• Core components: Arduino Nano, measurement unit like the MPU-6050, resistors, electronic speed controller, RC transmitter
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: MyDroneLab

This 3D printed quadcopter has an Arduino Nano as its brains. The frame was completely 3D modeled and printed, which is a fun way to have complete control over the aesthetics of your drone!

In the pictured build, an Arduino Nano clone was used together with a HC-06 Bluetooth module. It’s also recommended to use 55-mm propellers for this build.

The maker notes that there are alternatives to the microcontroller opted for. Their original choice didn’t include a communication module, so an additional HC-06 Bluetooth 2.0 module was necessary. That said, there are other options; the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense, for example, in addition to Bluetooth® Low Energy, includes more sensors that might come in handy or add more functionality to your quadcopter.

• Who designed it: Montvydas
• Core components: Arduino Nano, JST connectors, N-MOSFETs, P-MOSFET
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: Instructables

Next up is a 3D printed quadcopter with its own program, frame, and printed circuit board. Initially, the maker had prototyped the entire build with an Arduino Uno. Then he went on to create a custom printed circuit board for the final build.

Just as the human body relies on feedback mechanisms, so do electronic devices. In the context of drones, the PID controller, a program, is used for this purpose. This build uses three PID algorithms for stabilization in the X-, Y-, and Z-axes. The code also handles radio functionality and is said to stabilize itself at 100 times per second.

• Who designed it: Nikus
• Core components: Arduino Uno (or design your own board!), propellers, MPU-6050, nRF2224L01 radio module, 3.3-V linear stabilizer
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: Instructables

This is a drone with GPS-enabled first-person view (FPV). It’s also capable of returning home or going to a particular coordinate. The maker used an Arduino Mega and Uno, but notes that a second Uno could replace the Mega for a non-autonomous version of this quadcopter.

• Who designed it: elementguy
• Core components: Arduino Mega 2560, Arduino Uno R3, quadcopter frame, brushless motors, UBEC ESCs, Arduino Ultimate GPS Shield, HC-12 wireless transceivers, MPU 6050 sensor
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: Instructables

To keep a drone from plummeting to the ground, the propellers of the drone keep it airborne by generating lift. To control the altitude, the user needs to increase or decrease the speed at which the propellers are spinning.

This manual approach can be challenging, which is why many commercially available drones now come with an altitude hold functionality. Likewise, this functionality can be achieved through DIY means. This requires the use of a barometer, or in the case of this particular build, an ultrasonic distance sensor.

• Who designed it: harsh dokania
• Core components: Arduino Nano, ultrasonic HC-SR04 sensor, KK flight controller
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Where to find it: Hackster

It’s a quadcopter that can follow a red ball as well as faces! After suffering from an accident, the maker decided to make an intelligent flying robot that could search and rescue other people who might also get into accidents just as he did.

For this build, a MultiWii controller was used, which the maker notes is essentially an Arduino Pro Mini with a few extra sensors. The codebase for MultiWii now supports all common versions of Arduino.

This build also uses a Raspberry Pi Zero with a Pi camera module to support the extra smart functions, like face recognition.

• Who designed it: Imetomi
• Core components: MultiWii SE 2.5 kit (or Arduino Pro Mini with flight sensors), quadcopter frame kit, GoPro, Raspberry Pi Zero W, Raspberry Pi camera
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Where to find it: Instructables

This is the second entry in our list from Imetomi, who has shared a great range of Arduino-based drone projects on Instructables. This particular build is autonomous and follows you around! Specifically, it follows a mobile phone, and it’s also capable of avoiding obstacles.

At its heart is the MultiWii controller, which uses the same ATmega chip found on an Arduino Uno. You might find it easier to get hold of the Arduino, so it’s a worthy substitute!

• Who designed it: Imetomi
• Core components: MultiWii 32 kB flight controller (or Arduino Uno), ultrasonic sensor, Bluetooth module, serial GPS module
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Where to find it: Instructables

As its name suggests, this drone delivers Covid tests directly to a person without needing to be in physical contact with them. In some cases, transportation may be hard to come by in rural locations, or the nearest testing facility might be far away. The maker of this drone aims to solve that problem.

It uses the NXP HoverGames drone kit with a flight management unit (FMU), the RDDRONE-FMUK66. When it comes to the microcontroller for this build, the Arduino MKR GSM 1400 was used. This particular Arduino has a built-in GSM module, so there’s no need for an external GSM module.

• Who designed it: Andrei Florian
• Core components: Arduino MKR GSM 1400, SG90 micro servo motor, logic level converter, GY-21 temperature and humidity sensor, Hologram global IoT SIM card, NXP HoverGames drone kit, NXP EMCraft Nav-Q computer
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Where to find it: Hackster

For those who would rather play with a commercially available drone, this project may be worth a look. It uses an Arduino to add obstacle avoidance functionality to a purchasable drone like the 3DR Solo. This build was created with an Arduino Mega and a Lidar SF20 sensor.

• Who designed it: Stephan
• Core components: Arduino Mega 2560, LightWare Lidar SF20 sensor, micro servo motors, 3DR Solo breakout board
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Where to find it: Hackster