I built a drone with only one motor [video]
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
A single-motor drone uses speed modulation and a hinge mechanism to steer without a swash plate.
Joshua Bird built a drone with only one motor, using a special hinge design and magnetic encoder to control rotor lift by modulating motor speed, negating the need for a conventional swash plate. The drone's single motor causes it to spin during flight. The project includes open-source code and CAD files on GitHub. Bird demonstrates iterative testing, including a test stand and a 'poor man's high-speed camera' using a DSLR and flash. The video has over 1.3 million views.
The single motor spins the drone as it flies, a key trade-off. The builder plans a next iteration for imaging or scanning applications.
What commenters are saying
Commenters were impressed by the engineering and the elegant mechanical simplicity of the hinge design, which pushes complexity into the control algorithm. Top comments praised the builder's genius and noted the concept has been done before in RC helicopters and a related 2020 Hackaday project, though this is a novel one-propeller implementation.
Several commenters pointed out the single motor causes the drone to spin, which may limit practical applications. Others suggested a two-motor design with a tail rotor would be more practical. One commenter highlighted a similar underactuated design in the BattleBots community, called 'Meltybrain,' which uses a single wheel for movement and weaponry.