Robohub.org
 

Courtship of the drone fireflies: A short movie with flying robots and lights


by
08 October 2015



share this:

Flyability_Drone-CourtshipDrones, lights and nature combine in Drone Courtship, a short movie about a magical encounter between two flying robots set in a forest of centennial trees. A collaboration between Atelier D. Schlaepfer and Flyability, and filmed without special effects, the movie shows how robots can transform onscreen into living creatures.

The video features two drones zig-zagging in the forest, bumping into trees and rolling around leafy branches. Each drone is equipped with 6 meters (20 feet) of neon wire, two dozen of RGB LEDs and fluorescent material. The drones’ trajectories are remote-controlled by operators, while the lights execute a pre-programmed sequence and use data from onboard accelerometers to react in sync to contacts and collisions. The drones’ cages are freely rotating, which adds to the magic of the unique choreographies that are possible with this system.

The movie was shot in one summer night, and required several takes in order for the pilots and camera operators to synchronize their motions. The movie reminds us of fireflies at night, or perhaps of birds-of-paradise courtships that involve dance, color and amazing choreographies.

One of the goals of the video was to demonstrate how drones can be used for art and entertainment; the GimBall platform allows drones to safely and smoothly interacti with objects or humans, which really contributes to bringing them alive.

 

Atelier D. Schlaepfer’s undertakings are at the crossroads of art and design. They take place in variable settings such as public buildings, private homes, and urban or natural settings. Atelier D. Schlaepfer regularly collaborates with architects and construction specialists to offer a scenography of space in the form of lighting, coloring, or a formal concept.

The drones are manufactured by Flyability SA, a swiss company specializing in collision-resistant drones for industrial inspection. Flyability’s patent-pending technology is based on a freely rotating spherical protective cage, which allows drones to remain perfectly stable after contacts. They can thus access hard-to-reach places while being remotely operated. Equipped with a full HD camera, they can efficiently carry out close-up visual inspection of various structures or confined places, such as bridges, factories, boiler rooms, tanks, etc.

The two drones are each equipped with 6 meters (20 feet) of neon wire and 24 RGB LEDs.

The two drones are each equipped with 6 meters (20 feet) of neon wire and 24 RGB LEDs.


If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.



tags: , , , , , ,


Adrien Briod is co-founder and CTO of Flyability.
Adrien Briod is co-founder and CTO of Flyability.





Related posts :



Researchers are teaching robots to walk on Mars from the sand of New Mexico

  02 Sep 2025
Researchers are closer to equipping a dog-like robot to conduct science on the surface of Mars

Engineering fantasy into reality

  26 Aug 2025
PhD student Erik Ballesteros is building “Doc Ock” arms for future astronauts.

RoboCup@Work League: Interview with Christoph Steup

and   22 Aug 2025
Find out more about the RoboCup League focussed on industrial production systems.

Interview with Haimin Hu: Game-theoretic integration of safety, interaction and learning for human-centered autonomy

and   21 Aug 2025
Hear from Haimin in the latest in our series featuring the 2025 AAAI / ACM SIGAI Doctoral Consortium participants.

AIhub coffee corner: Agentic AI

  15 Aug 2025
The AIhub coffee corner captures the musings of AI experts over a short conversation.

Interview with Kate Candon: Leveraging explicit and implicit feedback in human-robot interactions

and   25 Jul 2025
Hear from PhD student Kate about her work on human-robot interactions.

#RoboCup2025: social media round-up part 2

  24 Jul 2025
Find out what participants got up to during the second half of RoboCup2025 in Salvador, Brazil.

#RoboCup2025: social media round-up 1

  21 Jul 2025
Find out what participants got up to during the opening days of RoboCup2025 in Salvador, Brazil.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence