Before you see the drone, you notice something else: the company. Antigravity isn’t just another startup chasing DJI’s coattails. It’s a registered U.S. LLC, backed by patents and operating on U.S.-based servers under U.S. jurisdiction — a rarity in an industry increasingly shaped by opaque international ties. Its site even features privacy policies under California law and highlights plans for global partnerships that intentionally straddle both creative and regulatory lines. In a moment where drone trust is political, Antigravity is positioning itself on purpose.
The A1 isn’t out yet—because Antigravity wants your input first. Through their early-access co-creation program, the company is letting testers borrow a pre-production drone, push it to the limit, and pitch back their boldest feature ideas. If your tweak makes the cut, you’ll earn part of a $20,000 reward pool—and a free retail drone to match.
There's no final price. No formal launch retailers. Just a clear claim: this isn’t a racing drone, a consumer camera drone, or a Cinewhoop. It’s trying to be something else entirely.
“We didn’t want to just build another drone. We wanted to create an entirely new way to fly,” said BC Nie, Head of Marketing at Antigravity.
Antigravity didn’t emerge from a defense lab or an overseas parts manufacturer. The founders came from creative and engineering backgrounds, with experience in cinematography, robotics, and immersive storytelling. The idea wasn’t to build the next racing drone or camera platform — it was to build something new for creators like themselves. Something that merged FPV freedom with cinema-level quality.
The company spent three years in R&D, testing prototypes across Asia, Europe, and North America before settling on the A1’s hybrid frame and vision-first interface. That timeline shows — the drone doesn’t look rushed or overdesigned. It looks distilled.
“It’s been incredibly exciting to help bring this new category to life,” said Max Richter, co‑founder & VP of Marketing at Insta360.
It sounds simple. But this is arguably the most ambitious part of Antigravity’s pitch: a full FPV-style drone experience — including aerial acrobatics, full immersion, and total shot control — without the learning curve or danger.
How? The A1 captures everything in 360 degrees, not just in the direction it's flying. You can fly in a straight line and still end up with a dolly-zoom twist or whip pan reveal — all done after the fact using Antigravity’s editing software.
It’s not just immersive in post. It’s immersive in flight. The control system is “full-body” — not a traditional twin-stick remote, but a motion-based pointer system with Wii-like responsiveness. Jesse Orrall, who had never flown FPV before, described the control as “intuitive” but “trippy,” noting the adjustment required to trust your posture and not overcompensate with muscle memory from gaming.
“It was very intuitive pointing… but I noticed I was kind of dipping a lot as I was flying… But when you hold [the controller] out, you can really kind of point and fly just by moving your body.” — Jesse Orrall, CNET
That physical interface is paired with a visor-style headset — powered by a wearable battery pack — and backed by a full telemetry suite that includes return-to-home, obstacle detection, and autonomous landing gear deployment to protect the camera on touch down. Peter McKinnon put it simply: “It just doesn’t feel like something that’s going to crash. And that fear kind of disappears.”
Antigravity has embedded a payload detection system — designed to prevent misuse of the drone. If weight is added that exceeds expected limits (such as would be the case for illegal payloads), the drone actively resists lift and returns to the ground. This is not a marketing flourish. The system was demonstrated on camera during creator tests, and worked exactly as described: the drone refused to ascend with unauthorized mass added to the top.
“They put some weights onto the top of the drone… and the drone detects the weight, stops itself from ascending, and comes back down to earth.” — Jesse Orrall
In a landscape where even hobby drones are being modified to carry weapons or perform surveillance, that kind of safeguard doesn’t just speak to creators — it speaks to lawmakers. And that’s not an accident. Antigravity has repeatedly emphasized that it’s committed to building tools for creative expression, not tactical exploitation. The drone’s design reflects that.
The A1 doesn’t try to impress with specs alone, though they are quietly impressive: full 360° video capture, stabilized footage with post-shot control, a unique body form that conceals the drone from the final image, and onboard computation that balances real-time flight with post-production flexibility. But unlike the spec sheet-heavy reviews from outlets like Engadget or The Verge, creators like Estacio focused on the feel of flying — and the confidence that came with the training wheels.
“Even if you’re terrified of flying, this thing makes you feel like you’re already five steps ahead.” — Aldryn Estacio, FlyPath
Estacio’s footage showed off the reframing tools, with complex camera moves rendered from simple flights. His review also underscored a key point: you don’t need to take risks to get professional-looking aerials. For creators used to losing drones to trees, cliffs, or battery miscalculations, that alone is a selling point.
And yes — it lands like a machine designed for show. As the drone nears the ground, two small legs drop automatically to cushion the camera. It’s a detail that says a lot about how the drone was built: not for adrenaline junkies or defense contractors, but for videographers, storytellers, and YouTubers who want cinematic motion without the cost of crashing.
“Not crashing and capturing video are the most essential things I'd want to do with a drone, and I was able to accomplish that my first time flying it.” — Jesse Orrall
As of now, Antigravity’s A1 has no firm price. The team has stated that it will come as a premium bundle — headset, drone, and controller — and will launch in early 2026 after the creator feedback phase concludes. That’s not a delay. It’s the design philosophy. They’re not just selling a drone. They’re trying to build a new kind of flying camera — one that reframes what a drone is.
And they’re doing it in the open, inside U.S. law, and without shortcuts.
In a market filled with repackaged models, privacy-compromised systems, and iterative updates, that might be the boldest move of all.
“This is one of the most thought-out and intentional pieces of tech I’ve used in a long time.”
— Peter McKinnon
