Phantom Twist: A Drone Engineered to Nearly Disappear in Flight
Northwestern researchers unveiled Phantom Twist, a drone designed to fade from human sight by spinning so fast that motion blur makes it nearly invisible; created via AI-driven optimization to maximize perceptual invisibility and presented at RSS 2026 in Sydney. While potentially useful for wildlife observation, the drone is currently noisy and would require substantial quieting before practical use around animals or people who could hear it approaching.