Spinning Drone Uses Motion Blur to Vanish

Northwestern University researchers built Phantom Twist, a drone that spins at up to 25 revolutions per second to become a faint blur. The single-motor aircraft rotates entirely, removing visual reference points. A computer vision model scored it roughly 10 times less noticeable than a conventional quadcopter. The work was presented at Robotics: Science and Systems 2026 in Sydney.