The drone war just took a weird turn – and it starts with a robot vacuum

A new fight is brewing in the drone world, and DJI might not have the skies to itself for long

Chinese smart appliance maker Dreame has reportedly started hiring drone experts, raising eyebrows across both the cleaning and drone industries.

Best known for its sleek vacuum cleaners and mops, such as the highly rated Dreame L40 Ultra, Dreame now appears to be plotting something more ambitious, and the timing is no accident.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, Dreame is actively recruiting engineers and pilots for a “pan-aviation” team, including specialists in drone navigation algorithms and aerial testing.

Most of the listings are concentrated around the company’s Suzhou base and in Shenzhen, the home turf for DJI, the world’s best drone brand when it comes to both consumer and industrial/agricultural UAVs.

Unsurprisingly, some of the talent appears to have come directly from DJI, along with drone delivery heavyweight Meituan.

While the company hasn’t officially confirmed a drone product is in the works, the signs are hard to ignore.

Dreame's aggressive hiring spree comes just weeks after DJI launched its first robot vacuum, the Romo, in China.

The Romo is powered by drone-grade navigation tech and industrial design polish, and it’s being widely seen as the tech giant’s first serious push into the home robotics space.

It doesn’t take a huge leap to imagine Dreame returning the favour, leveraging its own robotics and AI know-how to step into the skies.

New players, new rules

But it’s not just Dreame making waves. Insta360, a leader in 360° camera tech, has recently launched Antigravity, a brand-new drone venture with disruptive potential.

Its first product, the Antigravity A1, is being hailed as the world’s first 8K 360° all-in-one drone, debuts in early 2026, and weighs under 250 grams, evading registration thresholds in many countries.

If so, it would mark the start of a fascinating turf war between three tech giants evolving from opposite directions: DJI coming down to earth, Insta360/Antigravity and Dreame looking up.

Even if a Dreame drone isn’t imminent, the hiring spree could be laying the groundwork for drone-enabled services or new forms of automation. With both brands operating at the cutting edge of robotics and object detection, this might be less about flight and more about who controls the future of the smart home.

One thing’s clear: the drone industry just got a little more crowded – and a lot more interesting.