Day-by-day lesson plans, slides, and assessments used by Lumipad trainers across the full Cohort program. Designed for trainees with no prior electronics background — adaptable to any partner organisation running their own program.
The Lumipad curriculum was built around one constraint: the people walking into the first cohort had never held a soldering iron. So the first week is foundational — what a drone is, what each component does, why we care about NDVI imagery — and each subsequent week adds new technical and operational skill on top of solid fundamentals.
By Week 6 graduates have built a working drone, completed three real survey flights for partner cooperatives, and have a starter business plan with sample client contracts. The playbook is published openly so any partner organisation — coop, NGO, school, agency — can run the program in their own region.
Each week builds on the last. Weeks 1–4 cover fundamentals and the full drone build. Weeks 5–6 are flight school plus business setup. Trainees finish ready to fly real surveys for paying clients.
Each week's plan below is a self-contained module. Click a week to see its objectives, day-by-day schedule, materials list, and assessment criteria. Partner organisations adapting the curriculum should run weeks in order — the technical sequencing matters.
Trainees arrive with a wide range of backgrounds — some have built radios as kids, most have never soldered. Week 1 is the equaliser: drone fundamentals, electronics safety, the soldering iron, and the first hour on a flight simulator. Nobody touches a real drone yet.
Trainees must pass two checkpoints to advance to Week 2:
If a trainee doesn't pass: extra Saturday session with one-on-one coaching. No one is held back from Week 2 — the curriculum is designed so weak skills can be patched up over the next two weeks during build practice.
The first build week. Trainees assemble the frame, mount motors, solder the 4-in-1 ESC, and wire the power distribution. By Friday each trainee has a powered-up "half drone" — frame, motors, ESC, battery — with no flight controller yet.
Trainees must demonstrate a working "half drone":
If a trainee doesn't pass: their build is reviewed jointly with an instructor on Saturday morning. The most common cause is a cold solder joint — usually fixed in under 30 minutes.
The cognitive peak of the program. Trainees install the flight controller, GPS, and receiver, then configure all three through the SpeedyBee app and BetaFlight. By Friday each drone has a complete flight stack and a bound radio — but no propellers yet.
Trainees demonstrate a working flight controller stack:
If a trainee doesn't pass: this is the hardest week and we expect 1–2 trainees per cohort to need extra time. Saturday catch-up sessions cover the specific tab in BetaFlight that's blocking them.
The drone gets its eyes. Trainees install the FPV camera and video transmitter, integrate the optional NDVI rig, and complete the props-on first power-up — the moment when six weeks ago's bag of parts becomes a flying machine. By Friday the drone is ready for Week 5's flight school.
Trainees must demonstrate end-to-end readiness:
Out of the workshop, into the field. Week 5 happens at a partner cacao farm 40 minutes outside Davao. Days are longer (07:00–13:00 to beat afternoon thermals). By Friday each trainee has logged 25+ minutes of unassisted flight time and has flown a complete autonomous survey mission.
The week 5 final is a complete solo survey:
If a trainee doesn't pass: a Saturday make-up flight with one-on-one mentorship. If still struggling, the program offers an optional 7th week of supervised practice before graduation. No graduates fly client missions until they've passed.
The technical training is complete. Week 6 is about turning a working pilot into a working business. Pricing, contracts, client communication, microenterprise registration, and a final paid survey for a real partner cooperative. Friday is graduation.
Graduation requires:
If a graduate's business plan needs major revisions: they graduate but Lumipad's graduate community checks back at 30/60/90 days to support the relaunch. The drone and platform access are theirs regardless.
Trainees move from "what is a drone" on Monday of Week 1 to "running a microenterprise" by Friday of Week 6. The pacing is intentional — heavy fundamentals up front so the build weeks (2–4) feel like applied learning, not new vocabulary every day.