I vibecoded a heavy lift drone
a great and horrible idea
In plain words
Luke Iseman documented his attempt to build a heavy-lift drone for the DARPA Lift Challenge without formal aeronautical engineering experience or collaborators. Using AI chatbots to guide development, he created a quadplane design combining a paramotor, turbine, and quadcopter. The project, shared via Substack, chronicles the unconventional engineering process from initial concept through construction with materials like unidirectionally reinforced carbon fiber, presented with candid humor about the challenges and absurdities involved.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
luke iseman Aug 10, 2026 3 Share Wanting to participate in the Darpa Lift Challenge but lacking collaborators (as well as any meaningful aeronautical engineering skills), I vibe-coded a 50-pound flying object. “Flying.” Here are the highlights. Source chats: chatty g , claude . 1/10/26: initial concept submission . a quadplane, with a paramotor powering a turbine powering a quadcopter! 6/19-6/23 confusion ensues about whether i have submitted any documentation darpa can actually view. eventually, i just post on instagram and send them a link. 7/18 will unidirectionally reinforced carbon fiber tube hold? 7/23 and waaay too heavy:( fuck. also, neither i nor ai models seem to have thought…from lukeiseman.substack.com
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