When artificial intelligence meets flying robots, and the power of innovation converges with the needs of industrial development, a forward-looking exploration of intelligent flight officially begins.

On July 28, the opening ceremony of the 2026-2027 Flying Robot Innovation and Creativity Challenge was successfully held in Chengdu. Representatives of innovation teams from universities, research institutions, and industry enterprises gathered to witness the launch of this important competition.

The Flying Robot AI Developer Bootcamp, held alongside the ceremony, was also successfully completed. Centered on technical learning, hands-on platform practice, and innovation exchange, the bootcamp offered participating teams systematic practical experience and helped more developers enter the field of flying robot innovation.

A new gathering for intelligent flight innovation is now getting underway.

01

Annual Challenge Officially Launches

At the opening ceremony, guests, experts, and participating teams signed the event backdrop, recording together the important moment when the competition launched.

The 2026-2027 Flying Robot Innovation and Creativity Challenge aims to build an open exchange platform centered on technological innovation and application exploration in flying robotics for drone technology developers, corporate R&D personnel, university innovation teams, and industry partners.

As the low-altitude economy continues to develop, drones are moving beyond traditional consumer uses into a wider range of industry applications.

From consumer fields such as aerial photography and content production to industry applications such as surveying and mapping, inspection, crop protection, and emergency response, drones are continuously improving the efficiency of social operations. Yet even greater opportunities in the future are emerging from the growing range of specialized needs.

High-risk, hard-to-reach, and repetitive work scenarios are driving unmanned systems toward greater specialization and intelligence.

How can artificial intelligence lower the barriers to development?

How can innovative ideas be rapidly validated using open platforms?

How can more teams participate in innovation across the flying robotics industry?

These are precisely the questions this challenge seeks to explore.

02

Technical Talks at the Opening Ceremony

Exploring New Opportunities for Innovation in the Flying Robotics Industry

At the opening ceremony, event initiator Xiaoqi delivered a keynote presentation on "Opportunities in the Low-Altitude Economy and Drone Sector" and "Paths to Unmanned-System Innovation in the AI Era."

The presentation noted that the drone industry is currently in a phase of rapid growth. On the one hand, the low-altitude economy continues to gain momentum and the value of drone applications is being increasingly validated; on the other, industry competition is becoming more concentrated, putting traditional general-purpose drone markets under greater competitive pressure. Important sources of incremental growth for the drone industry will increasingly come from long-tail needs in real-world scenarios.

AI Is Redefining Drone R&D

In the presentation, Xiaoqi further explained how AI is affecting the development of the drone industry. AI is changing not only what drones can do, but also how they are developed.

On the R&D side, AI tools and large models can assist with:

Code generation;

Testing and debugging;

Improving development efficiency.

On the application side, AI can further enhance drones' capabilities in:

Environmental understanding;

Target recognition;

Mission decision-making.

The development of AI is helping more developers lower the barriers to building complex systems, enabling innovation teams to focus more on application scenarios and creating value for users.

FlyCore Open Platform Helps Innovation Teams Move into Application Development Faster

To support the future development of the drone innovation ecosystem, the event highlighted the FlyCore Integrated Control System, an open technology platform built on years of technical expertise.

FlyCore integrates core capabilities including flight control, mapping and localization, recognition and planning, and intelligent computing. Through integrated hardware-software design, it provides foundational support for developing intelligent drone applications and helps developers innovate mission applications more efficiently.

The future development of the drone industry requires a more open approach to collaboration.

The platform addresses underlying issues in stable flight and fundamental technologies, allowing developers and partners to focus more on:

AI algorithm development;

Exploring industry applications;

Identifying user needs;

Building innovative products.

This allows more teams to avoid duplicating foundational capabilities and move faster into validation in real-world scenarios.

03

Flying Robot AI Developer Bootcamp

The first Flying Robot AI Developer Bootcamp, launched alongside the opening ceremony, ran from July 28 to 30. Using the FlyCore Integrated Control System as its core platform and the FUEL exploration algorithm as a practical case study, the curriculum covered OODA mission logic, FlyCore hardware installation and power-up, AI-assisted development, autonomous drone search algorithms, and flight testing with physical aircraft.

With an engineering practice focus, the bootcamp helped participants build a systematic understanding of perception, localization, computing, control, and flight operations, enhancing their ability to develop and validate the use of AI in drone missions.

DAY1

Day one focused on system setup. Participants powered up, connected, installed, and debugged FlyCore; learned about the hardware and software architecture of flying robots, OODA control logic, localization and mapping, and data communication among PX4, ROS, and the payload computer; and established a stable system foundation for subsequent development.

DAY2

Day two moved into AI-assisted development. Using tools such as Trae, Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex, the curriculum covered project breakdown, solution planning, PX4 log analysis, ProSim simulation and debugging, and autonomous exploration algorithm development, allowing participants to experience how AI tools improve R&D efficiency in a real development workflow.

DAY3

Day three focused on validating flight capabilities through physical flight tests involving fused localization, trajectory flight, and control functions. Using a drone with a 320 mm wheelbase, participants verified positioning accuracy, figure-eight flight, square trajectories, and more, completing the full workflow from system setup and AI-assisted development to physical flight validation and further strengthening their ability to develop and validate real-world missions.

04

Backed by an RMB 1 Million Innovation Fund

This year's challenge has established an annual special incentive fund totaling RMB 1 million and is continuously seeking innovative flying robot projects with real application value and product potential. In addition to cash awards, the competition will support outstanding projects with technical guidance, prototype refinement, engineering validation, supply-chain resources, and marketing. Top-performing projects may enter a product co-creation program and receive industry resources, startup incubation, or strategic investment support.