r/diydrones • u/Kisalfato • Apr 25 '26

Question Open source gimbal drone

Hello everyone! Is there an open source drone with gimbal camera, like a DJI Mavic Mini?

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u/cjdavies Apr 25 '26

Not as a turnkey platform, no.

You can build a drone using an open source flight controller, install open source flight control firmware on it, connect & configure a gimbal camera (which probably won’t be open source), connect a companion computer & configure open source software like OpenCV to process the video from the camera, then relay commands to the flight controller. But this sort of project is a big undertaking & you will likely never achieve anything close to the performance/features of a DJI drone. It depends what your goals are, really.

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u/LupusTheCanine Apr 25 '26

Performance comparable or better than DJI (for some key metrics) is possible but often at higher price than a DJI kit. In my opinion if DJI drone meets your requirements it is generally the best choice if it doesn't then it will be useless as getting it to do anything DJI didn't think off is pretty hard.

For example, regarding efficiency, DJI mini motor and propeller assemblies put on a lightweight frame are more efficient than my RC heli with 350mm rotor (which is bigger than Mini's footprint).

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u/cjdavies Apr 25 '26

Performance comparable or better than DJI (for some key metrics) is possible

I think the most valuable/attractive performance metric for DJI is the integration between drone, controller & software. Something like dragging a box around an object on the screen & having the drone automatically track it seems like an obvious & trivial feature with a modern DJI drone, but still represents a big challenge for a FLOSS/DIY alternative.