So another post Drones has anyone done theme before

rgabr0

rgabr0

Puzzlers elf
Joined
Jan 5, 2026
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Brisbane
Hi all,
Now I know Im getting ahead of myself as I haven’t even done my first display yet but I’m thinking drones and wondering if this has been done at all? Is there a cheap bulk system or like an easy diy way. Kind of tempted to make 2 massive drones and make it hold a floating matrix but also interested in the traditional drone show
 
rgabr0 said:
Hi all,
Now I know Im getting ahead of myself as I haven’t even done my first display yet but I’m thinking drones and wondering if this has been done at all? Is there a cheap bulk system or like an easy diy way. Kind of tempted to make 2 massive drones and make it hold a floating matrix but also interested in the traditional drone show
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You are likely to be better off hiring a crane to hold a matrix, drones require batteries to stay in the air for a very short amount of time, even less with a load suspended from them, those batteries require charging which will take away time from being able to run your lights, unless you have spares (expensive etc). A drone with that capacity is going to be mega expensive in terms of a private (and most likely) hobby run no payments taken to view light display.
 
Yeh, crane is Urm gonna be a bit much what’s your thought of the traditional drone show with like 5 pixels on the bottom of like 20 drones
 
rgabr0 said:
Yeh, crane is Urm gonna be a bit much what’s your thought of the traditional drone show with like 5 pixels on the bottom of like 20 drones
Click to expand...
20 drones.. I'd estimate around $500 per drone perhaps, then the software to control them (unknown cost, probably a few hundred $$) expertise to program them (external source $$$) learning yourself - free but probably a very steep learning curve. Licensing to use aircraft probably in the dark in a residential area.... free to expensive, especially if a neighbour says no.
 
Hmm well i can tick some of that off as Im am fluent in most programming languages and well advanced in aviation rc and control electronics as well as CAD I was going to make my own web ui to design and program the flight path. But yeh drones probrably 300-500 each although I’ve made little drones with esp32s for 20$ each and could probrably straps pixels onto them to test. But also permissions is the hard thing as Im near a airport
 
So, outside of basic shapes and patterns, what exact would be the benefit of 20 drones? If you think of a drone as an individual pixel, there are not a lot of things we do with only 20 pixels. At least with pixels there is the coro to give a basic outline so the viewer can form the mental image of what it is. To get something effective I think you would need a minimum of 50. Just my thoughts.
 
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