Now that we know how drones move up and down, we can find out how they move side to side. Lateral motion means moving left, right, forward, or backward.

Moving Forward or Backward!

When a drone is going straight up or down, all of the rotors have to be moving at the same speed. But if we want the machine to move forward or backward, we need to change the speed of the rotors.

So, to move forward or backward, we either need to speed up or slow down the front or back rotors. If we make the back rotors spin faster and the front rotors spin slower, the drone will start moving forward! If we make the front rotors spin faster and the back rotors spin slower, the drone will start to move backward!

When you do this, you may notice that the drone tilts forward or backward. In the world of flying drones, this is called pitch. Pitch just means how far forward or backward the drone is leaning.

To sum up, the drone moves in the direction that makes less force. Take a look at the diagram below to see the math in action:

Moving Left or Right!

Moving to the left or right is similar to moving forward or backward. One set of rotors on the drone speeds up, while the other set slows down. So, if you speed up the left rotors and slow down the right ones, the drone will move to the right. The drone will move to the left if the opposite happens. Take a look at the diagram below to see the math in action:

Again, you may notice that the drone leans to the left or right when you do this. In the world of flying drones, that's called roll. Roll is the term for how much the drone leans to the left or right.

You can also move in a diagonal direction by combining moving forward, backward, left, and right!