Dronut X1: Innovative drone without visible rotors presented

Is it a flying donut? Is it an alien spaceship? No, it’s the innovative Dronut X1 drone, which comes without any visible rotors. Due to the closed design, the flying object turns out to be correspondingly robust, but the price is quite steep.

What’s inside the Dronut X1

Manufacturer Cleo Robotics has presented the Dronut X1, one of the most unusual drones in the world, because unlike the established drone design with propellers, the Dronut comes completely without visible rotors.

This means that the risk of injury and the vulnerability of the aircraft are correspondingly lower. The manufacturer has relocated all rotors to the inside of the drone’s body, which provides additional safety, especially when flying indoors. Even collisions with walls or other hard objects should not cause any damage due to the design and robust body.

Nevertheless, the Dronut X1 turns out to be enormously maneuverable, as a first video proves. The X1 is designed for professional applications where, for example, there is too little space for a normal drone. Due to its compact size of only 16.5 x 10 cm, the drone can also be flown in narrow manholes. The weight is around 425 grams.

4K camera, LiDAR sensor and Android control

The Dronut X1 is equipped with a 4K camera for high-quality filming and photography. The manufacturer installs a Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and various sensors in the body, including a LiDAR scanner to help the drone navigate.

LED headlights in combination with LiDAR even allow the drone to be used in complete darkness or in poor lighting conditions. The X1 is navigated via Android app, iPhone users are apparently (still) left empty-handed.

In doing so, the Dronut X1 can still be controlled even from a kilometer away. Alternatively, the drone can be operated using the DualSense controller of the PlayStation 5 console. The maximum speed of the drone, on the other hand, is a rather leisurely 15 km/h. According to Cleo, the flight time is around twelve minutes, and the drone should be fully recharged in 40 minutes.

Price and availability

The Dronut X1 drone is aimed primarily at professional users, for example for inspections of oil pipelines in confined spaces, construction companies, military and police. The device turns out to be correspondingly expensive: Around $9,800 is called for.