DARPA Lift Challenge Won By Helicopter

DARPA's Lift Challenge, aimed at building a vertical-takeoff vehicle able to carry four times its own weight, was won by AVIDrone Inc. with a conventional electric helicopter design featuring solid-state batteries and carbon-fiber construction, lifting 3.84x its dry weight (112 lb payload). A battery-powered hexrotor drone took second with a 3.64:1 ratio, while a turbine-powered helicopter placed third, notably beating combustion designs only at that spot. Other unconventional entries, including one that turns the drone body into a giant lift rotor, received development prizes and may return for the 2028 edition.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/10/12/darpa-lift-challenge-won-by-helicopter. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.