9 Robotics and Drone Project Ideas for High School Students

We've found the best robotics and drone projects for high school students test something measurable, like a drone's drift or a robot's lap time. These nine take 2 to 16 weeks and end with data or a working build.

Levels and times are our estimates. For other fields, see our STEM project ideas for high school students.

What are easy drone projects for students?

1. Code a drone to fly an indoor course

Program a drone to fly a square, then find and land on a colored pad using its color sensor.

• You need: a CoDrone EDU (54.8 grams) and a cleared room
• Cost: $249 from Robolink (October 2026)
• Level: beginner; 2 to 4 weeks
• You'll have: a Blockly or Python program and a log of run times and misses
• Leads to: the Aerial Drone Competition's Solo Autonomous Flight Mission
• Safety: keep people clear, and charge batteries only with the kit's charger, never unattended

2. Find which floors make a drone drift

Hover the CoDrone EDU over four floors, such as a patterned rug, plain tile, glossy wood and printed paper, and measure the drift.

• Why: its downward optical flow sensor tracks how the floor's pattern moves
• You need: masking tape and a tape measure
• Cost: $249 (CoDrone EDU)
• Level: beginner to intermediate; 2 to 3 weeks
• You'll have: a chart of average drift per floor over 10 flights, with the spread marked

What are innovative robotics project ideas?

For a robotic arm or self-balancing robot, see our engineering projects for high school students.

3. Line-following robot tuned with PID

Build a two-wheeled robot that follows black tape around a curved course, then tune its PID gains.

• You need: an Arduino UNO R4 Minima ($20), motorized two-wheel chassis, motor driver, infrared line-sensor array and batteries
• Cost: about $60 to $90 (our estimate)
• Level: beginner; 3 to 4 weeks
• You'll have: lap times and line error for at least five gain settings

4. Mapping rover that measures radiation

Drive a ROS 2 rover through a building, mapping walls with lidar and tagging Geiger counter readings with its position.

• You need: a Raspberry Pi, 2D lidar, chassis with wheel encoders, motor driver, batteries and a logging Geiger counter
• Cost: about $400 to $600 (our estimate)
• Level: advanced; 10 to 14 weeks
• You'll have: a radiation floor map, checked against handheld readings at 10 marked spots
• Safety: measure natural background radiation only. Outside a licensed radiation program, ISEF's rules allow only exempt quantities of radionuclides and naturally occurring radioactive materials, with a risk assessment.

What are innovative drone project ideas?

Both projects below start with a test on the ground, so a crash doesn't end them.

5. Crop health map with a vegetation index

Photograph a garden plot weekly from a fixed height with a near-infrared camera.

• Why: according to NASA, chlorophyll absorbs visible light while leaf structure reflects near-infrared, so the index NDVI rises with green leaf cover
• You need: a near-infrared camera on a pole, and a laptop
• Cost: about $100 to $250 (our estimate)
• Level: intermediate; 8 to 10 weeks
• You'll have: weekly NDVI maps, checked against your own leaf-color scores for 20 plants

6. Wall-following palm-sized drone

Program a Crazyflie to fly along a wall at a set distance, such as 40 centimeters.

• Test first: Bitcraze's Multi-ranger deck measures distance in five directions up to 4 meters, with no obstacle reaction on by default. Check it against a tape measure, motors off.
• You need: a Crazyflie 2.1+, Crazyradio 2.0, Flow deck v2 and Multi-ranger deck, all orderable from Bitcraze in October 2026
• Cost: $433 for all four, before shipping
• Level: advanced; 8 to 10 weeks
• You'll have: distance error over 20 runs at each of two speeds, measured on video

Which drone projects suit engineering and final-year students?

Our pick is your own quadcopter (7), where you design the whole system; ideas 4, 6 and 8 also work.

7. Build and tune your own quadcopter

Assemble a quadcopter around a PX4 or ArduPilot flight controller, then tune its PID gains.

• You need: a frame, motors, speed controllers, GPS, radio transmitter and receiver, and a LiPo battery and charger
• Cost: about $400 to $800 (our estimate)
• Level: advanced; 10 to 16 weeks
• You'll have: a working drone, logs showing less wobble after tuning, and a build report
• Rules: expect 250 grams or more, so registration and Remote ID rules apply outdoors
• Safety: take the propellers off whenever it's powered on your bench, and charge LiPo batteries where you can watch them

Can you do a drone project without flying a drone?

8. Obstacle avoidance in simulation

Run PX4's flight code in the Gazebo simulator and test an avoidance routine on 50 random obstacle layouts.

• You need: a computer that can run the simulator
• Cost: nothing to buy
• Level: advanced; 8 to 12 weeks
• You'll have: success rates and path lengths for two avoidance methods

9. Model the energy cost of delivery drones

Compare energy use and emissions per package for a delivery drone, an electric van and a diesel truck in your town.

• Start from: a 2018 Nature Communications study. It found replacing truck delivery with drones can reduce emissions and energy use when drone size and extra warehousing are limited.
• You need: a spreadsheet, published energy figures and your local electricity mix
• Cost: nothing to buy
• Level: intermediate; 6 to 8 weeks
• You'll have: a model, a chart of which assumption changes the answer most, and a short paper

Do you need a license to fly a drone?

Not indoors: according to an FAA answer, its rules apply only outdoors. Outdoors, flying only for fun needs no pilot certificate. Flights that aren't recreational, such as the FAA's example of photographing a high school football game for the school's website, need a Part 107 certificate.

Facts checked October 30, 2026, on the FAA's recreational flyer page and the pages linked here.

For Part 107, you must be at least 16 and pass the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft General test at an approved testing center. Every Part 107 drone must be registered, whatever it weighs.

Under the FAA's rules for schools, programs other than colleges and JROTC fly under Part 107 unless chartered by a recognized community-based organization (CBO).

FAA rules for recreational flyers

• Purpose: personal enjoyment only, following an FAA-recognized CBO's safety guidelines. Being unpaid doesn't make a flight recreational.
• TRUST: pass the free online Recreational UAS Safety Test and carry proof.
• Registration: required at 250 grams or more, counting everything attached at takeoff, sensors included. Owners under 13 need someone 13 or older to register.
• Marking and Remote ID: label the drone with your registration number. Drones that are registered, or must be, have to broadcast Remote ID (built in or by add-on module) except in an FAA-Recognized Identification Area.
• Where: within your visual line of sight, at or below 400 feet in uncontrolled (Class G) airspace. Controlled airspace needs LAANC or DroneZone authorization.

Our advice: run trials indoors with a drone under 250 grams. If your class or club will fly outdoors, ask whether the school uses Part 107 or a charter before you buy anything.

How do you pick and scope a project?

Pick by budget and time first, then narrow the idea to one question you can test 10 or more times. For a science fair, file your fair's safety forms before testing.

Under ISEF's rules, drone projects must follow all state and federal laws, and studies involving people need IRB approval before you recruit anyone.

For a fair or competition entry, our Nova Competition Mentorship pairs you with a mentor who reviews your materials and rehearses judges' questions.

Frequently asked questions

Can middle schoolers do these projects?

Yes: ideas 1 to 3 work, with an adult nearby when batteries are charging.

Do you need to code?

For most, yes. Ideas 2 and 9 need little or no code; save 4, 6 and 8, which need the most, until you can debug alone.

What if your drone crashes?

Keep spare propellers, motors and a battery, and log every flight so early trials still count.