Robotics 10 to 17 · Course 5 of 5

Drone

Rank earned: Flight Engineer

Robocoders design a printed circuit board and make their own, build a drone, and finish with an autonomous hover and a self-flown surveillance route. By the end, they write full C++.

Enrol now, from Course 1

Every Robocoder starts at Course 1: Shadow Runner, and their Mentor moves them on.

The 8 modules

What your child learns, in order, as they build the Drone.

1
Design a circuit board
Designing their own printed circuit board.
2
Make the board
3D-printing the copper traces and laying copper tape.
3
First flight
A basic drone that flies for a few seconds.
4
A better motion sensor
Adding a high-quality motion sensor for steadier flight.
5
Time-of-flight laser
A laser sensor that measures how high the drone is.
6
Optical-flow camera
A camera that watches the ground so the drone holds its place.
7
The flight app
Building their own app to fly it.
8
Autonomous flight
An autonomous hover, then a surveillance route it flies by itself.

Made by Robocoders

Real projects from our Studio Labs, as they were built.

The Course 5 drone in flight, on a flight board of Robocode’s own design
A circuit board being designed on screen, part by part
Printed circuit boards, designed and made in the Studio Lab
Shadow Runner, reacting to a torch on its own

Skills built

PCB design
PCB fabrication
Time-of-flight
Optical flow

See classes at your centre

Which centre is nearest to you?

No centre has a class for Drone open right now. See every centre

The certificate

Given at the end of the course, printed and by email.

Your Robocoder Robotics Course 5: Drone Your centre manager 2 November 2026

The real certificate, printed and emailed: your child's name, the course, the date, and their centre manager's name.

The badge book

Every Robocoder aged 10 to 17 keeps an Academy Logbook. The Robocode stamp goes in it for each achievement, and a photo of each course’s project goes in its portfolio.

A Robocoder’s badge book is also a portfolio of the real projects they have built, to use later in life.

Master Engineer
Awarded by completing all Robotics courses
Robocode Master
Awarded by completing both Robotics and Game Development courses

The page shown is the Achievements page of the Academy Logbook.

Robotics 10 to 17

From £106.25 a month + £40 joining fee

Ages 10 to 17
Weekly, in person, in small groups
8 modules
Kits available to buy
Rank: Flight Engineer

New to Robocode? Every Robocoder starts at Course 1: Shadow Runner , and their Mentor moves them on.

Enrol now, from Course 1 Book a Free Tech Assessment

Related subjects

Many Robocoders take two. These sit closest to this one.

All subjects