DARPA has launched a prize challenge to demonstrate multicopter uncrewed aircraft that can carry payloads more than four times their weight in a stated goal of tapping into the U.S. “garage innovator” ...

As military missions become more complicated, warfighters need more capable drones to use across diverse scenarios. The same also applies to civilian applications, like infrastructure inspection, ...

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) issued a challenge, the DARPA Lift Challenge, in October 2025 to develop novel drone designs that have greater payload-to-weight ratio. DARPA, which ...

Olympic barbell weights will be used as the drone’s payload for the DARPA Lift Challenge flyoff competition in mid-2026. Credit: DARPA Pentagon neglect played a key role in China gaining global ...

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few ...

To find a way to lift up to four times as much weight with drone technology, DARPA is turning to the public in an open competition with $6.5 million on the line China responds to Trump's latest ...

The Pentagon’s technology incubator has launched a competition seeking novel designs for uncrewed cargo aircraft capable of carrying payloads more than four times their own weight, with applications ...

Hundreds of applicants hope to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Lift Challenge, which is designed to transform drone operations with a deceptively simple goal: make ...

To aid in logistics and resupply missions, DARPA wants to reimagine how drones lift and carry payloads. Check out the development agency’s Lift Challenge. Military ...