Flying Head Drone Swoops in Just in Time for Halloween

We cover a lot of drones here at Hackster, and most of them are Serious Business™. These are drones designed for actual work, like construction, mapping, or search and rescue. Even many hobby drones built specifically for Fun Times™ are expensive machines that feel more like practical tools than zany futuristic flying contraptions. Fortunately, some people still see drones as toys, as proven by this flying HeadOCopter built by YouTuber ThatJoshGuy.

This quadcopter drone is as wacky as it gets, disturbing even, which makes it perfect for Halloween season. As you’d probably expect, ThatJoshGuy started this project as a joke. But building it certainly wasn’t trivial, and how it was constructed is as interesting as the weird flying head itself. ThatJoshGuy wanted the head to look realistic, so naturally he started by scanning his own head using a Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect with the Skanect software, which is free for non-commercial use.

After scanning his noggin, ThatJoshGuy cleaned up the model in ZBrush and then 3D-printed it. That dead, lifeless head was then hand painted by artist Lisa Svingos so that it would look dead and lifeless, but in a nice way. It was then packed with fairly common drone components, including a BrainFPV RADIX flight controller and PDB (power distribution board), 700kv brushless motors, and 12" props. Now, ThatJoshGuy can pilot his disembodied head in glorious FPV just in time to terrify children on Halloween.