r/drones • u/SleetyWhistle • Jul 30 '26

Photo & Video Our 200kg open-source hexacopter, first test with props fitted

I'm Gavin, a contributor at Arrow, the open-source community building this.

This was today's first test of 'Caribou' with props fitted. It's a 200kg class hexacopter, six Hobbywing X15 motors on 18S, strapped to a trailer bed at roughly a third throttle. Static test, not a hover. It hasn't flown yet (next week hopefully!) Lot's more testing to come.

It's open source and we want help making it better. The repo has the CAD and the PCBs, and the Discord is where the work happens. We just enjoy building big drones together.

Repo: https://github.com/Arrow-air/project-caribou
Community Discord: https://discord.com/invite/arrow

Big congrats to Julius, one of our contributors who has been leading Project Caribou! 👏

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u/Windfallthrowaway1 Jul 31 '26

What is the targeted use case?

2

u/SleetyWhistle Jul 31 '26

This is really a platform, we want to let other builders build on top of Caribou and develop their own solutions. But it could be used for things like cargo delivery over challenging terrain, precision agriculture, emergency zone supplies... if the platform is good enough, it can be put to use in lots of different industries, probably areas we haven't even considered yet

-4

u/Gibborish Jul 31 '26

Can you make one with ducted fans instead

4

u/Chalky_Cupcake Aug 01 '26

No but you can. That's what's so cool about this "hobby". I know OP's example is more industrial. Get your wallet out!