🛸 Hover Lab.
Python coding, the DEXI-3 simulator, and intermediate drone lessons.
Hover Lab is where blocks become text. Students learn Python fundamentals, fly autonomous missions in the DEXI-3 simulator, then take that exact code to indoor flight on a DEXI-3, GPS-free, on optical flow, with an intro to ROS 2.
Grade 6 and up for real flight. Younger students run the same Hover Lab missions in the simulator; the DEXI‑3 itself starts at grade 6.
Blocks become Python.
Hover Lab is the bridge from drag-and-drop to real text-based programming. Students write Python, prove it in the simulator, and then fly that same code on a real drone indoors, aligned to CSTA and NGSS.
Python fundamentals
Variables, loops, functions, and control flow, the foundation of real text-based programming, taught through flight.
Autonomous missions in the sim
Students design and run autonomous flights in the DEXI-3 simulator before a single propeller spins.
Indoor flight on DEXI-3
The same Python script flies a DEXI-3 indoors, GPS-free, held steady by optical-flow positioning.
Intro to ROS 2
A first look at the robotics middleware that powers professional autonomy, the on-ramp to Flight Deck.
Real Python, real flight stack.
Hover Lab is where the blocks become text. Students work in a real editor against MAVSDK, run it against PX4 in the simulator, then send the same file to the aircraft on the desk in front of them.
The build-and-fly step
on the flight path.
Hover Lab is Level 2, the step above Ground School, where students take coding off the screen and into indoor flight. Every capability stays on as they climb, and Python sets the stage for ROS 2.
Ground School
Block coding and simulator missions. K–5, no drone required.
Hover Lab
Python and indoor flight. Adds DEXI‑3.
Flight Deck
ROS 2, C++, and computer vision. Adds DEXI‑5 and DEXI‑10.
Vertical Innovation
Applied research and industry applications on the full DEXI platform.
Everything a Hover Lab student learns carries up the flight path on the same curriculum spine, Python becomes ROS 2, indoor flight becomes outdoor autonomy.
Where DEXI‑3 comes in.
Hover Lab introduces the DEXI-3, which flies indoors with no GPS, held steady by optical-flow positioning. Students simulate first, then fly the exact same Python on the real airframe. The aircraft does not get left behind: classrooms that add DEXI-5 or DEXI-10 later keep flying DEXI-3 for indoor work, and the code carries with it.
DEXI-3 · indoor optical flow
A compact, classroom-ready drone built for GPS-free indoor flight. The same Python script students proved in the simulator flies it for real.
Built for the classroom
Indoor, GPS-free flight means Hover Lab runs in any room: no airfield, no GPS lock, just the drone and the code students wrote.
Same code. Browser to DEXI.
The same PX4 firmware that flies the real DEXI-3 runs in the browser simulator. The Python mission a Hover Lab student writes in the sim is the exact code that flies the drone.
The simulator isn’t a separate toy environment, it’s the same flight stack the hardware runs. That’s why Hover Lab connects seamlessly to the levels above and below it: code you test is code you fly.
Built for Hover Lab.
Part of 60+ courses and 800+ video lessons across the DroneBlocks platform. The full Hover Lab course catalog is coming soon, here’s a taste of what’s inside.
Python for Drones
From blocks to text, Python fundamentals taught through autonomous flight missions.
Indoor Autonomy
Optical-flow positioning, range sensing, and GPS-free flight on the DEXI-3.
Intro to ROS 2
A first hands-on look at the robotics middleware that powers professional drone autonomy.
Full course catalog coming soon.
Where the code gets tested.
Teams fly this aircraft at the Advanced Vertical Robotics Competition: an autonomous course, a payload, and a clock. The curriculum on this site is what gets a team ready for it.