The AI Grand Prix presented by Anduril is a spec-airframe, zero-mod, software-only race — every team flies an identical Neros drone, so the only thing you bring is autonomy code. This is your max-spec practice rig + autonomy stack to develop and tune that code before sim-to-real.
Every team races an identical drone built by Neros Technologies — hardware modifications are prohibited. Performance comes entirely from each team's onboard autonomy software. You will not build the race drone. The parts on this page are for a practice/dev rig that mirrors the likely platform so you can build and test your stack before the real drones are in your hands.
Anduril hosts · Neros builds the spec drones · Drone Champions League runs race ops + the simulator (its "AI vector module" is the drone's brain) · JobsOhio hosts the finals.
$500K pool split across top finishers — and the headline prize is a job at Anduril (top scorer skips the queue to a hiring-manager interview; US security clearance needed for the offer).
Fully autonomous, zero human control — any piloting/assist over a link = DQ. All compute onboard. Teams of up to 8. Open to universities + independent engineers worldwide.
Submit Python autonomy code to race inside the DCL simulator. This is the entry gate — no hardware required.
Top teams flown to Southern California for a ~2-week round adapting their code onto the real Neros drones.
Head-to-head autonomous racing in Columbus, Ohio, near Anduril's Arsenal-1 campus.
Sign up, get sim access, start writing code. That's the real work.
The confusion to kill up front: a Jetson carrier and a flight controller are not interchangeable. An autonomous drone needs both. The Jetson is the brain; the flight controller is the pilot. The autonomy software runs on the Jetson module — and it's identical no matter whose carrier board hosts it (DAMIAO, DFRobot, Holybro). The carrier brand changes nothing about your code.
Runs NVIDIA JetPack (Linux) + your perception & planning stack. Sees the gates, estimates state, decides the trajectory. This is what you actually compete with. Carrier-agnostic software.
Runs the low-level rate loop (gyro → motor mixing) at kHz and handles failsafe. Takes collective-thrust + body-rate commands from the brain. Not the heavy 6X Pro — wrong tool for a 5-inch.
The proven pattern (UZH Agilicious, A2RL): the Jetson does all the smart work and streams collective-thrust + body-rate setpoints to a few-gram Betaflight FC that closes the fast inner loop. Keep your Pixhawk 6X Pro for the cinema rig or a larger airframe — its weight and triple-redundant sensors are an asset there, a penalty here.
Sized to the strongest available proxy — the A2RL championship, run by the same operator (DCL) whose "AI vector module" is in the Neros drone: Jetson Orin NX compute, single forward RGB camera + IMU, vision-only, fully onboard, small high-speed quad. Maxed for headroom; tune down once Anduril publishes real specs.
| System | Max-Spec Pick | Why | ≈ Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| ComputeAI brain | NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16GB Super 157 TOPS · up to 40W · 260-pin SO-DIMM | Top of the SO-DIMM class — memory headroom for vision nets + VIO. Same family A2RL races. Run MAXN Super, cool it well. | ~$700–970 |
| CarrierJetson baseboard | DAMIAO Orin NX Carrier V1.1 36 g · 87×50 mm · GbE/USB3/CSI/M.2/XT30 | Featherweight Jetson-only carrier (vs 203 g Holybro). NOT a flight controller — you add the FC separately. Verify CSI/M.2 before buying. | ~$30–135 |
| StorageLogging / datasets | NVMe M.2 SSD 512 GB 2242/2280 PCIe | ROS 2 bags, training clips, model store. Onboard logging is gold for sim-to-real debugging. | ~$45–70 |
| CoolingThermal | Active heatsink + fan for MAXN Super 40W | Super mode draws real watts; static/hover hot-soak is worst case. Unobstructed airflow mandatory. | ~$20–40 |
| Flight CtrlThe pilot | Light Betaflight AIO (H7) + 4-in-1 ESC 30.5×30.5 stack · ~10–15 g | kHz rate loop + failsafe; UART/CRSF/MSP bridge to the Jetson. The Agilicious/A2RL inner-loop pattern. Not the 6X Pro. | ~$80–140 |
| SensorVision | Global-shutter RGB cam (CSI) + FC IMU e.g. Arducam/IMX-class global shutter | Global shutter kills motion skew at race speed; single forward cam + IMU = the vision-only proxy. Avoid GPS/LiDAR dependence. | ~$60–250 |
| AirframePractice quad | 5-inch carbon race/freestyle frame ~210–240 mm | Cheap, agile dev platform. The race drone is sub-8-inch; a 5-inch is a reasonable stand-in for autonomy work. | ~$40–90 |
| DrivetrainMotors / props | ~2207 1960–2700 KV · 5" tri/bi-blade 6S class | Standard 5-inch power. Doesn't affect autonomy work; pick for thrust + flight time on the dev bench. | ~$60–110 |
| PowerBattery | 6S LiPo 1300–1800 mAh ×several + powers the Jetson via XT30 | Rotate packs for long dev sessions. Confirm carrier input range covers your pack voltage. | ~$25–40 ea |
| SafetyManual override | ELRS RX + radio (+ optional FPV) human kill-switch / takeover | Essential during dev — a safety pilot must be able to seize control and disarm. Non-negotiable for testing autonomy. | ~$60–250 |
Official specs aren't public yet. Anduril says airframe size/weight, the exact compute model, and sensor rules come "at a later stage" (the rules page currently 504s). Everything above is an informed proxy from A2RL/AlphaPilot precedent — build modular so you can re-tune the moment real specs drop, and remember none of it is your competition entry.
TOPS · sparse INT8 · Super mode
The 16GB gives memory headroom for vision nets + VIO at once — the pick for a max-spec rig.
bare board · grams
5.6× lighter. The Holybro bundles a Pixhawk FC; the featherweight DAMIAO is Jetson-only — right for a racer where you pair a separate few-gram FC.
A starting architecture — from the metal up to the policy. Perception sees the gates, estimation tracks where you are, planning picks the line, control flies it. Train in sim, port to real with domain randomization (the UZH "Swift" playbook that beat human champions).
Perception, planning, control, and DCL-sim lap time. This is the entire competition — and the only thing that ports to the spec drone.
The practice rig is a learning bench to prove your stack on real silicon and sensors. Keep it cheap, modular, and disposable.
The unfair advantage: the headline prize is a job — so polished, well-documented, reproducible autonomy code that a hiring manager can read is worth as much as raw lap time. Build like you're submitting a portfolio.