When conducting environmental studies in hard-to-access locations, scientists will often set up wireless networks of small data-logging sensors. Deploying those sensors can be difficult and even dangerous work. Although drones have already been experimentally used for the placement of environmental sensors, the deployment methods have involved either dropping the sensors onto the ground, or sticking them onto vertical surfaces using an attached appendage such as a mechanical arm. With these limitations in mind, a team at Imperial College London created the dart-shooting quadcopter.