Researchers have unveiled Phantom Twist, a single-motor drone whose entire body spins at up to 25 rotations per second during flight, rendering it nearly invisible due to motion blur. An AI generated and simulated 20,000 design variants against real-world backgrounds to arrive at the final configuration — a coaxial design where the propeller and frame counter-rotate with no static parts. The drone is 10 times harder to spot than a conventional quadcopter, with the team positioning it for wildlife monitoring and infrastructure inspection.

Northwestern University — New spinning drone hides in plain sight RSS 2024 — Phantom Twist paper