PERCH — the drone that lands to watch

01 · The battery problem

Hours, not minutes.

Every camera drone dies hovering. PERCH grabs a branch, hangs, cuts its motors, and the same battery suddenly lasts all day.

Hovering · 180 W

0 min

then it has to come home

60 Wh pack · motors at full work

Perched · motors off · 3 W · no ROOST needed

0 h

camera on, watching, without a ROOST station

same 60 Wh pack · only camera + radio

02 · The design

Two limbs. Two jobs.

Two short arms, like a person's: the claw arm on top holds the drone, the gripper arm below does the work, driven remotely by an operator wearing a glove. Propeller guards all round, so it's safe near people and branches.

The claw

Reach up. Grab. Hang.

The top arm reaches up and closes its simple claw around a branch, wire or bar. The drone hangs below like a pendulum: wind swings it, it can't tip over, and holding costs zero power.

The gripper

Your hand, out there.

The bottom arm ends in a friendly three-finger gripper with soft rubber fingertips, mapped to an operator's glove: thumb and two fingers. Both arms tuck in during flight and unfold on approach.

03 · The hard problem

Can you trust the grip?

Turning the motors off is only safe if the claw holds. Push the wind and change the surface: the claw lets go cleanly the moment the load passes its limit.

Wind speed

calm8 m/sstorm

Gusts Perch surface

Grip load vs. limit

0%HOLDING

Simplified from the simulation's grip model: 1.2 kg drone hanging below its claw, drag ½ρ·CdA·v², hold limit 45 N × surface quality, release after 0.15 s of overload. Try a storm on the wire.

04 · Remote hands

Your hand. Out there.

The operator wears a haptic glove with a sensor on every finger. Movements go over the radio link and the drone's gripper copies them; when it touches something, the glove pushes back, so you feel it. Try it: click and hold the glove.

Haptic glove, open hand — **Your glove**Click and hold to grip

Haptic glove, closed hand — **Your glove**Click and hold to grip

≈ 40 msradio link

You feel

0.0 N

Drone gripper, open — **Drone gripper**Open · ready

Drone gripper holding a battery — **Drone gripper**Open · ready

Every sensor on the glove tracks a finger. The gripper follows a split second later, and the force it feels comes back to your fingertips.

05 · The design

Spin it. Zoom in.

The current design as a 3D model. Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. Yellow and black so it's seen, a roll cage and propeller guards so it's safe to fly into trees and near people.

Claw armgrabs from below, the drone hangs

Propeller guardssafe near people

Three-finger gripperglove-driven

Roll cagetakes the knocks

06 · What it's for

Eyes that stay.

Long shots

A whole sunset or a full timelapse in one sitting, from a vantage point no tripod can reach.

Sentry

Perches somewhere discreet, watches for hours and pings you on movement: property, wildlife, events.

Remote hands

With the glove-driven gripper: swap its own battery, move a branch, fetch something small, out where people can't go.

What's next

ROOST

A mobile nest for PERCH drones. An armoured, solar-powered rover that carries the drones, charges them, swaps their tools, and drives itself to the next job. Drones that almost never have to stop.

Without ROOST: 20 hours perched on one battery. With ROOST: it lands, swaps, and keeps going.

Flyto the job

→

Workhang, cut, watch

→

Returnland on ROOST

→

Swapbattery + tool

→

Fly againminutes later

Drone battery

100%

Watch it land.

Press "Land the drone": it flies in, tucks its arms, and lands standing on its gripper while ROOST charges it. Drag to look around.

One drone. Many hands. Tap a tool.

Saw

Trims branches from where a drone can actually hang: right next to the cut, the claw holding it steady.

Where it works

Trees near power linesUtilities spend heavily on trimming near their lines, and it's dangerous work for crews.

Orchards and gardensPruning, monitoring and picking, row after row, all day.

Solar base campThe roof opens into a solar canopy; drones rest, charge and launch.

Mud, snow, mountainsA tracked nest shelters a drone while it charges: wildfire watch, research, rescue.

Concept art. ROOST is an early idea; PERCH is the working prototype.