FlyOps is building a system in which an autonomous drone swarm assembles temporary, illuminated structures from 20 cm smart LED cubes. No scaffolding, no cranes, no people working at height.
Problem
Building stages, towers, illuminated signage and installations for festivals, concerts, trade fairs and brand events is expensive, slow and risky. Teardown repeats the same effort.
How it works
The first four steps run end to end in a physics simulation. Teardown is the next development stage.
Draw your structure layer by layer in a web-based studio. The planner computes build order, estimated duration, number of drones and battery needs.
Ballast cubes on the bottom layer are filled with water on site: light in transport, heavy in place. The planner checks that the structure withstands the 10 m/s design wind at every step of the build.
A truck arrives on site and lifts raise cubes through openings in its roof. Drones seat each cube using camera-assisted alignment and connect it with magnetic locks. Multiple drones work in parallel.
Timeline-based animations are designed in the studio's Light Show tab. Once the structure is complete, the LEDs on all six faces of every cube come on.
Goal: the same swarm disassembles the structure in reverse order and returns the cubes to the truck.
PlannedWhy it's different
Drones are coordinated from a shared ground station. The top of the structure is divided into zones, collision risk is managed, and loaded drones spend as little time as possible waiting in the air.
Every cube knows its own state (stored, in transit, locked, fault) and shows it with its LEDs. Magnetic locks connect it to neighboring cubes.
Instead of heavy concrete blocks, ballast cubes are filled with water on site. Logistics stay light; the structure gains weight where it stands.
Every design is tested in a MuJoCo physics simulation built from real component data, under wind, camera error and failure scenarios. Problems surface before anything goes on site.
Specifications
Target values used in the simulation model. They will be updated with the physical prototype.
| Drone | |
|---|---|
| Frame | 650 mm |
| Motor | 4 × 380 KV |
| Propeller | 14" |
| Mass | ~2.15 kg |
| Total thrust | ~6.8 kgf |
| Cube & structure | |
|---|---|
| LED cube | 20 cm · 0.6 kg |
| Lighting | LEDs on 6 faces |
| Connection | Magnetic lock |
| Ballast cube water capacity | 6.9 kg |
| Water carrier | 0.85 kg/trip · ~7 s pour |
| Design wind | 10 m/s · SF 1.5 |
Build time depends on structure size and the number of ballast cubes. The planner estimates it separately for each design.
Roadmap
✔ DONE
Design, planning, autonomous multi-drone assembly, water ballast and light show run end to end in physics simulation.
→ NEXT
First physical build with a single drone and a small set of cubes.
○ LATER
First on-site build at a real event.
Who it's for
Contact
If you have an event, trade fair or installation project, join the waitlist and be the first to hear about the prototype and pilot.