Project Caribou 🦌
An open-source heavy-lift hexacopter for cargo logistics and precision agriculture.
Project Caribou is a ~200 kg MTOW hexacopter with ~100 kg payload capacity, 18–24S power architecture, and ArduPilot firmware. Designed for ruggedness, field repairability, and cost-effective manufacturing. Built on lessons from Project Feather and Project Quiver.
Developed by Arrow Air and released under the CERN Open Hardware Licence.
Key Features
- Heavy lift — ~100 kg payload for cargo delivery or 80L liquid spraying
- Hybrid material airframe — welded steel/aluminum core with detachable CF or aluminum motor arms
- High-voltage architecture — 18–24S (60–100V) with external HV kill switch and redundant power supply
- Redundant avionics — triple-redundant IMU, GPS, and compass
- ArduPilot firmware — standard QGroundControl/Mission Planner compatibility
- Field serviceability — modular arms for transport, replaceable components
Repository Structure
project-caribou/
├── engineering/ # Active design work
│ ├── cad/ # build123d CAD, reference geometry, exports
│ └── electronics/ # Self-contained KiCad PCB projects
│ └── pcbs/
│ ├── CBC_PCB/ # Caribou battery connector PCB, issue #6
│ │ └── kicad/libs/
│ └── CMAIN_PCB/ # Caribou main PCB, issue #8
│ └── kicad/libs/
├── docs/
│ ├── ADRs/ # Architecture Decision Records
│ └── meetings/ # Meeting notes and summaries
├── src/ # Legacy/general source area
└── CONTRIBUTING.md
Community
- Discord — discord.gg/arrow —
#project-caribou-general - DAO Forum — dao.arrowair.com
License
Everything in this repository is licensed under the CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Strongly Reciprocal (CERN-OHL-S v2): the hardware design (CAD files, schematics, PCB layouts, manufacturing files and documentation) and the CBC firmware under engineering/electronics/pcbs/CBC_PCB/firmware/. The licence requires that derivative works remain open source under the same terms.
Source location: https://github.com/Arrow-air/project-caribou