Drones are taking over the skies—even during Lady Gaga’s dazzling halftime show. When you think of a drone, you probably imagine a quadcopter with four rotors or even balloons keeping the drone aloft. There’s another, less obvious method of getting off the ground, however: spinning magnets. What is it? The device, weighing in at 105 lbs, houses four motors each connected to four spinning magnet arrays. Using the electromagnetic interaction between the magnet arrays spun by the motors and the copper sheet beneath, the machine is able to lift itself. To see the device in action, check out this video. How does this work? If you’ve ever dropped a magnet down a pipe and watched it move in what appears to be slow motion toward the ground, you’ll understand. When a conductor experiences a changing magnetic field, electric currents are induced, creating a magnetic field to oppose the change. In terms of the EM Levitation Quadcopter, the rotating magnets induce mirror-image magnetic fields in the copper sheet. When the magnets are spinning fast enough, the repulsion of the magnetic fields creates lift. The induced currents of the magnets encounter resistance in the copper sheet, causing the energy to dissipate as heat. In order to achieve lift, the magnet arrays have to be incredibly strong. Using Neodymium magnets, they arrange them in a Halbach Array. The Halbach Array is an arrangement of permanent magnets “that augments the magnetic field on one side of the array while cancelling the field to near zero on the other side.” So, in the magnet arrays on the EM Quadcopter, the magnetic field is concentrated almost completely onto the bottom of the magnets while being near zero on the top. When you hold two magnets with matching poles, they typically veer off from one another, not allowing you to bring them close together. However, in the case of the EM Levitation Quadcopter, the magnetic fields of the magnet arrays and the copper plate are identical mirrors, allowing one to suspend the other. What can this technology be used for? A similar method actually being considered as the driving force behind the HyperLoop, the proposed, mega-fast passenger and freight transportation mode. A pod will be moved through a near-vacuum tube upwards of airline speeds cutting transportation times and costs down immensely. A drive from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, which would normally take around 6 hours to complete, would take 35 minutes via HyperLoop. This could revolutionize travel across countries! Interested in more magnet related news? Check out our News & How To’s feed to see what’s happening in the world of magnets. What else do you think this technology could be used for? Share your ideas with us on Facebook and Twitter!