A drone that keeps its body level while it moves. Instead of tipping the whole airframe to steer, each of its four ducted rotors tilts on its own hinge, so cameras, sensors and parcels ride flat. The wings come off, and one bay takes either a battery or a payload.
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Airframe
A long, level fuselage, two wing modules and four ducted rotors, hovering in place.
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Modular
The wings come away from the body, so the airframe packs down and parts swap in the field.
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Tilt
Lean the rotors together and it pushes forward; lean the two sides against each other and it turns on the spot. The body never tips.
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Level
Onboard sensing and a learned stabiliser hold the body flat while the rotors do the leaning.
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Swap
A vertical bay takes a battery or a payload module. Change the mission between flights.
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Fly
Rotors lean forward, the body stays level: steadier footage, steadier deliveries.
The idea
Most multirotors move by tipping their whole airframe: pitch to go forward, roll to go sideways. Whatever they carry tips with them, so cameras need heavy gimbals and parcels slide. This drone keeps its body still and moves the thrust instead.
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01
Steer thrust, not the body
The rotors do the leaning. The fuselage, and everything mounted to it, stays level through every manoeuvre.
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One hinge per rotor
Each rotor tilts on its own, so thrust can be pointed independently at every corner of the craft.
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A body that holds level
Onboard sensing and a learned stabiliser keep correcting, so the body stays flat in gusts and turns.
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Wings that come off
Two wing modules attach to the body and detach for transport, repair or a different mission.
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One bay, many missions
A vertical bay in the body takes either a battery or a payload module, swapped between flights.
Where it flies
- 01ImagingLevel footage without a heavy gimbal
- 02DeliveryParcels that ride flat
- 03InspectionSteady up close to structures
- 04SurveyA constant sensor angle for mapping
- 05RescueSwap in the right sensor fast
- 06AgricultureOne airframe, a payload per task
Public record
- (54)
- Title
- Modular unmanned aerial vehicle with independent thrust vectoring and stabilization control
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- Publication no.
- IN 202641053086 A1
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- Application no.
- 202641053086
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- Date of filing
- 25 April 2026
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- Publication date
- 08 May 2026 · Journal 19/2026
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- Applicant
- Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai
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- Office
- Intellectual Property Office, India
- (72)
- Inventors
- Ravi Prakash Dwivedi · Sai Mithil K · Ritam Pandey · Aditya Pratap Singh Takuli · Shivam Yadav · Pawan Kalyan Pendyala
An introduction, not a disclosure The claims, drawings and detailed specification are deliberately left out of this page; the published application is available through the Indian Patent Office. The model above is an artistic interpretation of the idea, not a technical drawing of the invention.
Modular UAV / Patent 01