My target user is looking for a durable drone that won’t limit their adventures and affords the ability to capture them in high quality from a unique perspective. 

The main issues with the portability of current drones are centered around lack of space optimization. A harmony must be found between space and functionality.

The middle layer between the drone pieces holds the props and serves as a magnetic launching platform for the drone.

I used clean, aesthetically functional form to communicate portability, simplicity, purpose, economy and give it a modern tech feel.

A multi part design allows for greater flexibility. Each part can be stored separately, or they can be magnetically stacked.

Just connect the two parts in the center and attach the propellers to start flying. One side contains the majority of the electronics, the other holds the removable battery and camera.

The controller adapts to any phone using an elastic band, which provides enough grip and resistance to stay on your phone and the drone, but still affords ease when taking it on and off.

Xenon’s physical touch controller acts as a joystick, while the user’s other thumb on their smartphone decides what movement the joystick controls. Dragging between movement types allows for multiple movements, such as panning while flying up.

By modulating an electromagnetic force on your fingertip, the flat surface of the controller feels just like a joystick. The further from the center, the more resistance. This allows for eyes-off flying, mitigating finger-drifting issues.

The controller takes advantage of the cutaway to maximize space and charge itself.

Using the onboard transciever, GPS, and Bluetooth, the exact location of the two drone parts is always known even when they separate.

A camera with a triple axis gimbal allows for optical image stabilization and manual panning. Having both a wide angle and telephoto lens allows for unique options when capturing adventures.

A thermoplastic, layer-based circuit board can be decoupled from its components with a hot liquid solvent, allowing for reuse and recycle of almost every part. Xenon is manufactured using renewable energy, plant-based thermoplastic, (recyclable) metal, and can be fully disassembled because it uses fasteners and a removable thermal adhesive.

Xenon has a dramatically smaller footprint than it's closest competitors.