With funding from the robotics club at Tufts, I built a new FPV drone with more advanced navigation capabilities and a docking system that I designed and 3D printed.

Designed in Fusion 360

The mounting system

• This mounting system uses a 3D printed piece that screws to the bottom of the drone. Then, a complementary 3D printed piece can slide in that is designed to carry a specific mechanism.
• Some examples of swappable payloads I am working on: a camera gimbal, a servo-driven dropping mechanism, a flamethrower, a firework launcher, and a servo-driven claw.
• These payloads are then secured with two pins and a piece that clamps the pins and stops them from falling out.

I am also planning to try to build a plane that can attach to the drone just like any of the other payloads. Find out more about that here: Drone-Powered Plane Concept

For more info and technical details about FPV drones I have built, see here: 3D printed FPV Drone

Process of building the drone

FPV drone with a camera gimbal payload

Servo-driven dropper

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© Jesse Gilbert 2025

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