Pairing a VEX AIR Drone and Controller – VEX Library

A VEX AIR Drone and VEX AIR Drone Controller must be paired before they can communicate during flight. Follow the steps in this article to pair your drone and controller.

Note: The VEX AIR Drone is intended for indoor use only. Do not fly the drone outdoors.

Turn on the Controller

Turn on the controller by pressing and holding the Power button until the LED indicator begins blinking white, then release. This animation shows this process being used to turn on the controller. When the controller has finished turning on, its LED indicator will change to one of two colors:

Green — The controller is above 20% battery charge.
Red — The controller has 20% or lower battery charge.

Turn on the Drone

Diagram shows the battery next to the Hornet, with an arrow indicating that the battery should be placed into its battery compartment. A close-up view indicates that the arrow icon on the battery should be facing upwards to properly connect.

Insert a charged battery into the drone with the Up arrow facing upward.

Note: The drone will automatically turn on when the battery is inserted.

Pair the Drone and Controller

USB-A cable is being connected to the Controller's USB-A port.

Connect a USB-A cable to the controller’s USB-A port.

The other end of the cable is being connected to the Hornet's USB-C port.

Plug the other end into the drone's USB-C port.

Controller is shown powered on and with its USB-A cable connected to the drone. The screen has a wired connection icon that shows a cable being used to connect the controller to the drone.

A wired connection image will show briefly on the screen when the controller begins pairing with the drone. The USB icon will also appear on the left while the controller is wired to the drone.

Once both LED indicators on the controller and drone are blinking and the live feed from the drone's forward-facing Vision Sensor is visible on the controller's screen, the two have been successfully paired. This animation shows this pairing process.

Drone Update Required message on controller screen with Update and Ignore buttons, Update button highlighted.

If a firmware update is needed on the drone, it will automatically begin while pairing. Do not remove the cables.

Learn more about updating drone firmware in this article.