One flight path. Kindergarten to research lab.
One flight path, kindergarten to research lab: block coding → Python → ROS 2 → applied research.
Pick a starting point, every capability stays on as students climb. Aligned to CSTA and NGSS standards.
Elevating K Thru Life.
One platform, kindergarten to research lab. Three levels, one flight path, and a separate pathway for organizations doing original work.
Three levels. One flight path.
A student climbs them in order, and every capability stays on as they go. Here's what changes at each level. Vertical Innovation sits apart from the climb; it is covered below.
Block coding, simulator missions, and foundational drone concepts.
- Block coding plus physical DEXI Blocks
- The browser-based DEXI simulator
- Over 400,000 community missions built by students worldwide
- Free to start, the on-ramp to everything above
Python coding, DEXI-3 simulator, and intermediate drone lessons.
- Python coding from blocks-to-text
- The DEXI-3 simulator → indoor flight
- Optical flow, range sensing, and an intro to ROS 2
- Code you test in the sim is code you fly
Advanced drone programming, autonomous flight, and field missions.
- ROS 2 and C++ for autonomous flight
- Computer vision and field missions
- Indoor and outdoor flight on optical flow
- Scales with the DEXI Classroom Pack
College and professional drone programs: research, industry applications, and advanced autonomy.
- Applied research and capstone projects
- Advanced autonomy and industry applications
- Industry applications and CTE pathways
- Runs on the research-scale DEXI-10
What each level looks like.
The same flight stack the whole way up. What changes is the surface a student works on: blocks in a shared world, then an editor, then asynchronous control of a live vehicle.
Same code. Browser to DEXI.
The same PX4 firmware that flies the real drone runs in the browser simulator. Code you test is code you fly, no rewrites, no toy stand-ins.
Test it in the DEXI simulator
Students write missions in blocks or Python against a PX4 autopilot running in the sim (takeoff, optical-flow hover, computer-vision waypoints) with zero hardware in the room.
Fly the exact same code on DEXI
That mission moves straight onto a DEXI drone, same firmware, same ROS 2 stack, same code. What you proved in the simulator is what lifts off indoors.
The simulator isn't a separate toy environment, it's the same flight stack the hardware runs. That's why a Ground School block mission and a Flight Deck ROS 2 mission share one continuous flight path: code you test is code you fly.
The tools industry hires for.
Students learn the PX4, ROS 2 and computer-vision tools shipping in commercial drones: not toy versions. The same stack prepares them for careers as UAS technicians, autonomy engineers, and embedded-systems developers.
PX4
The open-source flight stack that powers commercial and research drones, the same firmware in the sim and on every DEXI.
ROS 2
The industry-standard robotics framework for autonomous flight, sensing, and mission logic, introduced in Hover Lab, mastered in Flight Deck.
Computer Vision
Real CV pipelines for detection, tracking, and autonomous navigation, the perception skills behind modern drone autonomy.
C++
Production-grade autonomy code on real embedded hardware, the bridge from classroom projects to professional UAS engineering.
Which level fits?
Every level shares one curriculum spine and one flight stack. What changes as students climb is the language, the hardware, and how far the missions can go.
| Ground School | Hover Lab | Flight Deck | Vertical Innovation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | K–5 | Middle–High | High–College | University–Industry |
| Languages | Blocks | Python | ROS 2 + C++ | Research |
| Hardware | DEXI Blocks | DEXI-3 | DEXI-5 | DEXI-10 |
| Setting | Browser + indoor | Indoor | Indoor + outdoor | Research |