Back to today’s briefing

Story perspectives

Northwestern AI-Designed Phantom Twist Spins 25 rev/s

7/17/2026

43 8 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Northwestern University built the Phantom Twist drone that spins up to 25 rev/s.
The spin creates a visual blur that exceeds the eye’s ~100 ms integration time.
AI models produced ~20,000 design candidates for the drone.
The selected design achieved an LPIPS score of 0.0104, far lower than the ~0.2 human design.
The 30-g UAV, with a single motor and no control surfaces, translates by pulsing motor speed each rotation.

1 of 1

Story summary

Northwestern University built the Phantom Twist drone that spins up to 25 rev/s.
The spin creates a visual blur that exceeds the eye’s ~100 ms integration time.
AI models produced ~20,000 design candidates for the drone.
The selected design achieved an LPIPS score of 0.0104, far lower than the ~0.2 human design.
The 30-g UAV, with a single motor and no control surfaces, translates by pulsing motor speed each rotation.