Meet the 15-Year-Old Prodigy Dominating Drone Fight Club

Kyle Ettinger is one of the most feared pilots in the emerging world of drone combat - despite being half the age of most of his rivals. He recently put a newly designed quadcopter to the test at a major tournament in San Mateo, Calif., organized by the drone sporting company Game of Drones.
***
Streaming live sporting events is in high demand but difficult to execute. This is why: • Streaming live sports ...
For more drone videos, check out the EHang 184 - an autonomous drone that can transport a human: • EHANG 184 Launch Video...

[@nickcb5401]

fuck it I'll put a fence around it

[@DumbThumbsFPV]

+Nick cb LOL

[@flemingstudios4706]

+Nick cb that shit works though, and it is a drone fight after all...

[@Mcflapphypants]

+Nick cb I dont know the rules, but if allowed, I'd put a mini emp generator with like 2ft radius lol (highly doubt it exists, and even if it did, probably wouldn't be legal)

[@JNacoustic]

Realization it'd take out your rig too

[@snadi10]

+Nick cb he's got that true white american mentality

[@Charlie-cc5wl]

The equivalent of wearing a full suit of armor in a MMA fight

[@realSethMeyers]

+Charlie Whelan Well, not quite. A full suit of armor would render you pretty inflexible, and if you fell over you'd be down for the count.

[@donibeh]

+Seth D. Meyers full body armor does not mean you have to look like a knight. there is pretty flexible stuff available. the point ist that he had protection, that the others did not have. anyways, if the rules aloow it, you can do it. next time everybody will have a cage an maybe some tactics to overcome the other cages.

[@Maurice-cd6qr]

+Seth D. Meyers assuming he meant an archeological price of scaled steel armour? Or he could mean a full suit if carbon fibre. Don't make assumptions. And since when was there a count in MMA?

[@mrkiky]

+donibeh Everyone will have cages and it will be the Game of Flying Balls of Wire Occasionally Bumping into Each Other ... .the crowd will go mad.

[@donibeh]

+mrkiky xD yeah xD let's call it "drone prodigy fight club"

[@nodave77]

Unique design that caught people off guard. Prodigy is not the word I would use. Lets see next year when everyone has a shield on their drone.

[@brandon9271]

+David Cook and instantly the sport is boring...

[@niveshproag8660]

+brandon9271 Next we could get shield cutters. Or pellet-shots. Or Porcupines type spears. Lots of options depending on the rules.

[@lutherdriggers]

+Nivesh Proag Or just porcupines.

[@niveshproag8660]

Luther Driggers or just porcupines. nice idea.

[@thejerkyshack8040]

+David Cook they normally use projectiles or fire but maker fair didn't let them because of the setting.

[@danknee]

Dad: "he makes all the decisions" in actuality: he makes all the decisions on what kind of LED's to use. This video was one big LOL

[@MaxLohMusic]

+Donkey Quang Quads yeah it's funny parents will basically do all the work for their kids (I know because I've been on the receiving end of it) and as long as they ask you "would you like this design #1 I made, or design #2 I made, which do you prefer?" then the kid "made all the decisions" haha, just like Britney Spears "makes all the decisions" in her songwriting

[@Martin-X]

This kid did all of the designing in cad. I'm in his engineering class I know.

[@jukozai]

Correct title: Drones Bumping into each other!

[@GhostRiderDK2]

+Ninjudah More like "Little 15 year old cheating his way to victory in drone fight club. Watch his baby cage drone in action!"

[@jukozai]

+GhostRiderDK2 XD ur profile pic makes mr. bean look surprisingly more constipated than ever

[@MaxLohMusic]

+GhostRiderDK2 If it's cheating then why did they even let him fight?

[@MaxLohMusic]

***** How would they not realize that there would be "pussies" to use a cage? Was it implied that it was forbidden to make modifications? Were people expected to use off-the-shelf drones with no mods? If not, there is no excuse; cage is totally legit design.

[@GhostRiderDK2]

***** Because he is a kid. And there are no rules maybe. Everyone else properly don't use it because if all did it, it would be 1. Boring to watch & 2. Would be unable to win. Well yea win for longest battery time yaay! Maybe you cant call it cheating, but its certainly not a engineer masterpiece. But its yet still a sissy move. Kid or no kid

[@DROIDxCurve]

A 15 year old prodigy who happens to have help from two grown adults.

[@coincollections]

... whose dad happens to be an engineer in Silicon Valley

[@DarkorbitKing100]

BULLSHIT. This is like me being a "mma champion prodigy", but I'm allowing to use guns.

[@GameSoft685]

And laser ooh and some flamethrower

[@DarkorbitKing100]

***** Oh ok you give a better one then. Your intellectual genius is shining through.

[@MaxLohMusic]

+Dark Orbit King Is it actually in the rules that they can't use a cage though? If so then why did they even let him in the fight? Seems more likely that the other competitors were just too stupid to do it.

[@DarkorbitKing100]

***** If it were in the rules, then he wouldn't be competing lol. Honestly, though, more power to him! I just wouldnt call him a prodigy.

[@ADSaaron]

+Dark Orbit King Or maybe.... It's like being an "mma champion prodigy" where you're the only one smart enough to block your opponents attacks. And maybe.... It has something to do with that weighted string he has hanging from the bottom of his craft. If someone else was smart enough to use that against him his cage wouldn't matter anymore. But hey, you're intellectual genius is probably better than mine.

[@olis_garage]

3:43 "HEY GIVE ME MY PLYERS" LOL this kid sounds so spoilt

[@Mw3oWn]

He's asking for fucking plyers, not a fucking car.

[@klick2destruct]

+Callum Payton yeah, but the way he asked for it is the problem. in situations of stress you see the real core of people. but then again he's 15 and talking to his parents, so I can not really give him shit. the biggest problem is how this video portraits it.

[@ThatsPhoKingAwesome]

+Oliver Rashid he was rushed, dont tell me you were respectful to your parents every second of your life.

[@xd99xd.28]

+Kishan Veka he broke it why should he get mad at anyone else. when I break my rc truck in a race I blame it on my self do a quick fix and back off to the race

[@spike4850]

*is* spoilt-wonder how much all those drones cost...

[@TheLightsLab]

Because he fucking cheated with a cage

[@SanJacinto23]

+TheLightsLab Acutally I think the other guys were just really unimaginative. All they did was add designs. I thought this was supposed to be a drone fight club?

[@nikolaslach2004]

+James Merolla first rule of drone fight club, you don't talk about done fight club

[@starvinmarvin44]

+Nick Lach Yea you don't talk about it you blog about it.

[@Bobby11]

+TheLightsLab Its not cheating if the rules allow it. and having a cage around a quad copter does take a decent amount of work since it changes the quads dynamics greatly.

[@jjek7872]

+TheLightsLab nahhh, he sized up the competition and came up with something better. why do people got to hate, is it his age? well i give him props.

[@bjs2022]

It seems the only thing prodigal was his unique design concept for which the competition had no defense. The headline for the video borders on click bait.

[@chadmumm7921]

Bruce John Shourt You seem delightful.

[@TheCivilizedAnimal]

+Bruce John Shourt < has done nothing in his life, shit's on others through youtube comments, lol

[@bjs2022]

Typical comment from a coward who is afraid to use his real name.

[@TheCivilizedAnimal]

how am i coward ? because my roman name isnt present, you're a sad old man, fuck off, there's nothing cowardly about me. if you'd like to meet in person i'd be more then happy to exchange my details, k thanxbai loser lol

[@bjs2022]

I suspect you wouldn't be commenting if you were required to use your real name. By the way, there is no apostrophe in a plural, a possible indication of your education level?

[@AssociatedTechnology]

He should have more respect for his dad

[@fynniels12]

+AssociatedTechnology Dafuc xD you don't even know him

[@paulinthailand]

+AssociatedTechnology "gimme the pliers" give him a clap in the head

[@favoriteplayer3206]

He used a cage around it, anyone can think of that. it doesn't mean he's A GENIUS and a better fighter, he just got better defenses. What is really interesting is build a different type of Drone, something that hasn't been built ever before, and as time goes on you should constantly modify your invention or build new ones.

[@PlasmaBurns]

It should really be called "Meet the father and son team in the Drone fight club."

[@brandon9271]

yeah.. He's a prodigy. His ENGINEER father had nothing to do with I'm sure! **nudge, nudge* wink, wink* ;)

[@pieterrossouw8596]

If they allow this in the rule it's just a stupid competition... Next year everyone has a similar cage, and no one loses. Year after that they ban it, they're back to square one. If you wanna do drone battles right, use a raspberry pi, webcam, opencv and create projectile launchers to take out each other... That would at least take some programming and building skills and would be way better to watch... This is just quads bumping into each other.

[@ZeeshanJamal23143124324]

Oo. That's a good idea you gave me.

[@javaunyashley6393]

Was thinking about this half an gour ago and began searching KZbin for anything like it but haven't seen anything like it yet. Do you have any experience with drones or engineering?

[@Jerry-cy6ir]

just wait, I'm going to change the game with my revolutionary EMP drone

[@Hellsong89]

+Jerome Chiselom Naah you wont need to go that far, just add frequency jammer on all the other channels but yours and your sure to win... before someone starts to use different frequency, or this tech is against the rules.

[@rhidlor8577]

In no way shape or form is this kid even remotely close to being something that somewhat resembles a prodigy.

[@iceydaywalker9198]

+Devs404 redundant as hell, but justifiably so.

[@Phrancis5]

Why are there so many click-bait headlines with "Genius Teenager" doing something amazing when they've done nothing new. IE toy consumer quadcopters have been enclosed in full wire cages before. And how is that even fair in this kind of contest? Having shields while your opponent doesn't is like playing in God Mode...

[@ernestabc123]

Im actually going to enter the 100m olympic race in rio with my Ferrari!

[@sa.fernandeztm6743]

Ernest Chilled vlogs haha same thing

[@jwalk121]

shouldnt the force field of fucking metal wires be illegal

[@g8rh8r100]

"prodigy" ... he clearly dominates with his skills as a pilot.

[@jackwindensky5606]

Lol the kid is getting carried by his dad.

[@weterman4320]

The kid just has the sense to use a design that actually helps it fight. A normal kid in the presence of kids who didn't know they were allowed to do that, or were just too slow to think of something like that on their own.

[@davidsteele4463]

Nah his dad designed that

[@SCIFIaction]

Oh sweet! I met and drone battled this kid! I lost horrendously but it was a blast

[@jorgefmendezaburto2238]

take away the exoskeleton, that shit is nothing.

[@guitarlearningtoplay]

Seriously they need to have "stock" drones where everyone has the same exact drones and it depends on skill mostly like stock car racing. Or at the very least be the same copters with only different motors, props and transmitters.

[@moresoulthanasockwithahole3493]

it would be very boring.

[@guitarlearningtoplay]

@@moresoulthanasockwithahole3493 never heard of stock car racing?

[@Sir1Snorteaus]

Everyone is saying he cheated. He simply outsmarted his competitors. The cage helped a ton obviously, but it was clearly legal.

[@nelsoncorreia1112]

Kudos to Kyle for making the most of the opportunity. For now this is FirstWorldProblems ... but drones will be used *everywhere* soon enough and being able withstand aerial collision is essential. Loving their family home garage/workshop. Lucky! :-)

[@MidWesti]

ppl hatin on this kid.. shows solid father son bonding.. doing something safe and fun.. will most likely be very successful in life and still catches soo much hate.. welcome to the world we live in kid.

[@theonlybass8947]

I'm a freestyle pilot, and crash regularly. I hate to think about how many props this guy goes through

[@theonlybass8947]

FPV freestyle

[@dogashito2653]

5:55 is a WTF moment!!

[@yodatwinkie]

Dogashito crushed the lil kids hand lmao

[@delsymdrinker8064]

imagine being the one kid to take a bunch of old guys having fun with drones way to seriously and then bragging about when you win by basically making an indestructible drone

[@FPVRCFlight]

have a look at drone racing, then tell me how hard this is...

[@isaaclanier1507]

Bro exactly!

[@keithroberts1401]

The kid who mounted a flamethrower onto his drone could win hands down.

[@DerekDeVere]

So he's a "prodigy" just because he's spoiled and he can fly a quad with a cage.

[@jypsgaming7660]

If the rules are exploitable, how can there be a winner? Prodigy is a bit rich. Click-bait got me though.

[@yeaboi55]

I see a lot of comments mad at the kid for his cage, personally I hate the word "prodigy" because it undermines all the work one does but the kid was able to stay ahead of his competition with an ingenious idea. Well done.

[@Auxinelectro]

great story and lovely to see dad helping out

[@fred_azevedo]

Stop complaining that the dude had a fence around his drone... THIS IS DRONE WAREFARE!

[@HuntFishColo]

Great video, pretty intense. Reminds me of a new-age 'Battle-Bots'

[@kevint5258]

Good for this kid, I can see him having a very successful career in tech esp given the area he grew up in

[@Max-hl3wp]

make a metal sphere and wait for the opponent's battery to die.

[@kamalchahlaoui8242]

if i had a drone i was going to add a ( EMP generetors ) in all the corners of the drone .

[@gruffski]

great video with superb editing!

[@MarcosElMalo2]

“I’m Kyle Ettinger, I’m 15-years old, and I’m in an arms race.”

[@aaronblanton1450]

so next season others have a 'skeleton' around their drone too because they didn't realize the rules allowed this sort of thing? Or rule change where drones must start touching the 'floor' and his skeletal sphere isn't allowed.

[@MarqueCornblatt]

+Aaron Blanton Expect more skeletons, AND a bunch more ways to defeat them. I personally know every pilot in the league is gunning for Kyle and his orb of destruction. The arms race has just begun...

[@felyg90]

Aaron Blanton Is this a good drone plus.google.com/106561198999884682283/posts/NqFMk3767hE

[@DavidEdwardBurry]

+FelyG no the battery is crap I've had before

[@gerher9416]

+Aaron Blanton the rest of the participants were naive and this teen saw a hole in the rules and now it's called a prodigy... xD

[@AtradiesInc]

Anytime anyone puts prodigy in the video it makes everyone else hate on someone when they should be embracing innovation, invention, and change

[@SilvaDreams]

+Atradies Inc. Only what he did wasn't innovative, I mean you can buy the small kids version that are made for flying inside that have had those cages on them for years. Only thing he did was find and abuse a loophole in their rules.

[@peterwhippy5870]

*See's he lives in Cupertino* "Oh, so he doesn't have to delete that time zone when he gets a new iPhone"

[@donda2111]

So he just put a bunch of wires around the drone so no one can touch it even if they tried? Wow, what unparalleled skill...Amazing.................. -__- Good thing this is OP as fuck cuz it'll get nerfed for sure.

[@mr.k1177]

His drone is the only one with weapon ? Wait until next year, transmission jamming would be my choice of weapon.

[@kifter4254]

Hey, can I use a signal jammer and jam his signals? Can I be a prodigy that way?

[@benobro5831]

he put a fucking cage around his drone. if that shit doesn't work, what does?

[@Hellsong89]

+BENOBRO Frequency jammers. Disable enemy controls and you dominate everyone.

[@benobro5831]

Hellsong89 lol exactly

[@drumr828]

Guy in orange get so much tail at the after party... you can just tell

[@illsouth]

Anyone knows the kind or name of the wire he uses to make this drone sphere protection?

[@Rapid2080]

nice video!!

[@pyro3rg]

Whoa.. In a quadcopter Vs quadcopter situation, the quad with a big bubble of wires around it tends to win? Mind. Blown.

[@cadenrackley9370]

The drone must be like why are u putting this shit all around me.

[@killerbill2354]

I feel like a double sided hook on the little propeller distrupter would come in handy

[@mac7Attack1]

How does one wake up, drive, and watch this...

[@MsFinnbo]

Sea Combat's where it's at. That's where I can chip in.

[@Chuxkie]

I wouldn't say a prodigy but more or less a pioneer of the sport. Since this is no doubt a technique that will be used commonly as the sport progresses thanks to this kids idea. Dope.

[@jn-iy3pz]

Putting a cage around his drone makes him a "prodigy?"

[@dkiiv]

Would EDF motors work since all the blades are in there own casing?

[@neillang1756]

awesome

[@kimberlyforti7596]

He must've spent SOO MUCH time in auto cad to create such a complex design

[@coincollections]

Not even slightly detracting anything from the kid, but when I saw Cupertino, CA, I knew something was up... when I saw "dad is an engineer...", the story started to crystallize. Your dad is a super elite engineer in Silicon Valley, that kid's going to have material and mentor resources that are well beyond what any other kid would have. This doesn't diminish his own skills, sometimes extremely talented people come from equally talented parents, but yeah... The kid in Chicago who saved for 3 months cutting lawns to buy an entry level drone and works on his bird with the screwdrivers on his Dollar Store multi-tool isn't starting from the same place as a kid whose dad can do advanced performance modelling and CNCs in the garage and buy literally whatever he wants.

[@SpikeJonesTheCr0oked]

No wonder he wins when his quad is the only one with a big ass cage around it

[@alonzofino7903]

I think he is the first person to think outside the box. Very smart, I wonder why the other drones have not replicated it or thought of their own concept.

[@nickpierson9981]

Just put a little bitch-bubble around your quad and you'll be a champ in no time!

[@jeffersdom]

Nice to see some honest competition .

[@djdanger8773]

who just loves drones😀

[@ponokaleikini9045]

thats fucking awesome that the dads so cool and supportive and shares the same interest in mechanics engineering

[@cs0705]

Nice!

[@dimitribarrow7]

Love it

[@callmedriftar]

Kyle ettinger first of his name ruler of drones

[@nyphon]

How impressive...

[@BrazenBullXXX]

Originally I thought his design was cheap, but in reality you could create a ball of outward spokes or rods to counter this. However the cage may ruin the sport before it even takes off. Offensive weapons and strategies are more exciting than just defense. All you have to do is look back at Battlebots. We loved El Toro and we hated pushers/wedged designs. Rules could fix it perhaps.

[@Flynnplays7dtd]

The dad sounds like forest gump😂😂 ii loovvee you JENNAAYYY!

[@tonysoprano4624]

what program was this edited with? its amazing

[@scotthaennelt3525]

+Marcello Graziani you don't need a good program to make a good video. It was probably either Adobe Premier Pro or Final Cut X

[@dextermatthew3592]

Now someone's going to make a drone with sharp propellers to cut that thing off

[@noahcole1991]

i want to see charpu come in here with a racing quad and just do flips around his aponents

[@rumpustime5460]

I wouldn't necessarily call the first person to wear a helmet while riding a bike a prodigy, but I can't call him wrong either.

[@ghostofmars83]

Pretty cool...

[@travisr1720]

That handshake at 5.55 LMAO

[@malcolmparkins1935]

Yeah... what was that? (The only thing I could think of was maybe he got shocked?)

[@Swoot]

So, I can put a spinning blade on my drone?

[@mykulpierce]

Greetings likely will lead to some sort of carbon fiber blade. This video reminds me of the first meeting of the original battle bots /robot wars before they became commercialized. No one knew what would work. I bet even a drone shooting silly string will be a top viability choice assuming light enough payload.

[@Faydid]

Did you see dude's drone face at 3:50. Haha

[@BennyJohnston100]

Awesome. Although next year I would hope for more skulls and coloured lights. Perhaps a siren like the stukas had. Winning in style is important.

[@kazoosc]

to the people saying, "He cheated!" it obviously was not covered by or fell within the rules. limitations were likely put on weight, power and propellers and that's all. likely next time the rules will be amended -- or they won't but other people will add their own cage, or come up with ways to defeat/circumvent the cage.

[@jjek7872]

Lucky kid, his old man looks like an awesome dad.

[@ArrKayCee]

Apparently I saw this "rising star" when I was there. Interesting.

[@thecommentator4960]

How bored do you have to be to actually go spectate that event ?

[@macs5946]

Is there anything like this but with weaponized drones?

[@nitrosomniak]

I could see where a 3d board may come in handy for this ; )

[@ChrisViral]

That moment when he squashed his hand BAHAHAHAHA

[@The0Advent]

it seems to me like a decent counter to this is a refined version of what he has. for example. the white drone with the skull on it. put "rotor guards" above the intake for it and under it. prevent him for getting his wire into you your prop guard.

[@luissolano9274]

prodigy?....im in robotics, this guy doesn't do much

[@nathanteig7108]

Do they still do this iF they do please tell me when and were

[@dranalytical]

20 matches though. That's impressive no matter what. He didn't get disqualified. Didn't seem to be breaking rules to me. If anything, maybe a little more money to spend on a carbon fiber cage, but piloting is a huge part of winning 20 rounds in a row! Come on haters.

[@wayneblack990]

Kyle is definitely talented, but I think "prodigy" is pushing it. He just saw this article as I did back in February and realized this was a "Drone War" winner. See "Crash Proof Drone" www.cnn.com/2015/02/09/tech/gimball-drones-for-good/

[@PointyGorman]

Facts are more interesting than narratives tbh.

[@LHBattlefield3]

Does this remind anyone else of Big Hero 6? When they're fighting the bots...

[@joshuafisch9559]

are you allowed to bring any drone, or just game of drones "industrictable shell" drones