HEXO+: Your Autonomous Aerial Camera

[blueplanetsurf]

A while back we were discussing autonomous drones and PonoBill said the technology is available to do it now.
 
Well, now there is a team that is building a drone that will automatically follow the action.  Pretty awesome.  They reached their funding goal in the first 37 minutes.  I'm not sure how well this will work over water with a 15 min flight time but the concept is great.  Check it out, I'm not sure how to post the video here but you can watch it on the Kickstarter page.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sqdr/hexo-your-autonomous-aerial-camera

[dabigkahuna]

"Auto follow" has been around for a while and is available with a number of multi-copters.  If this sort of thing interests you, here's one of my favorite sites to keep abreast of the latest tech:

http://diydrones.com/

And here's a link to one group's version of that capability:

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/follow-me-mode-available-today-free-in-droidplanner-2-0

[PonoBill]

There's a lot of follow-me solutions around, from optical target follow (wearing a target of a certain size and shape or color that the drone works at keeping the same size and orientation) to signal follow, like the kickstarter program. The kickstarter product is a pretty slick implementation intended for non-hobbyists. Looks very sophisticated. The droidplanner version is equally sophisticated, but it's open source and requires a geek to implement. And yes, I'm building one. It will probably replace the guts of my H20 copter, but I might build a body for it and do a bigger, more wind-resistant version. Just got to get off my ass and stop procrastinating.

[juandoe]

Another one.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/16/airdog-drone/#continued

I am going to let the dust settle a little before buying one.  Kickstarters are inevitably delayed.

[blueplanetsurf]

Wow, it seems like there are many options coming to market.  I like the fact that they can launch, fly and land on their own and yes it's probably smart to wait for the technology to improve and the price to come down before buying one.
 
I think we will start seeing a lot of drones once they are dumbed down enough for the average "check me out" user.  That's probably not a good thing, can you imagine a crowded lineup with a bunch of guys getting followed by drones?  Judging from how many gopro cameras are out there, this is going to be a big market.

[PonoBill]

there are some practical limitations on the price that will probably mean a limited number of drones in the market. The electronics are relatively cheap, especially if no transmitter is required. There's also not much reason for FPV, and that cuts cost. The bells and whistles that get added to a typical RC drone (OSD--telemetry that overlays on the First Person Video signal as an On Screen Display; long-distance tracking antennas and video systems, long distance RC, etc) are all unnecessary. If the manufacturing gets serious the electronics cost becomes trivial. I looked at a breakdown of the components in my $1500 Google Glass explorer headset -- low is 80 bucks, high is $200. The practical limitations become the motors and battery. Weird, huh. Figure a hundred bucks for motor and battery and a hundred for the electronics and frame. Multiply by four to get a retail price and it's an $800 product--or maybe $600 if they narrow margin and eliminate distribution.

In small scale manufacture they'd require a gopro and gimbal mount. In large scale they'd build in a 13-15 megapixel cellphone camera and internal gimbal (or no gimbal--if you have enough pixels to choose from you can go ultra wide angle and don't need a gimbal) and stream to the phone or save to a microSD that plugs in next to the battery. That will be generation 3.

I don't know how many people would have gopros if they cost $600. All this stuff is going to change the world though. That's why I'm so interested in it. 500 million high resolution video cameras with streaming and sharing tech (smartphones) plus wearable tech plus ubiquitous drones = everything is seen, everything is recorded, everything is shared. Going to be weird.

I have a nanodrone that I added a camera to. Fits in the palm of my hand, has gyro stabilization, flies for 15 minutes on a 150 MAH 3.7 LiPo and shoots VGA video.

[blueplanetsurf]

The Hero 3+ black edition costs $400, plus mounts and accessories, so I don't think a $600 to $800 price range is a deal breaker for weekend warrior/ professional types.  I think the biggest hurdle now is how difficult it is to set up and use the drones.  Once you dumb it down, I think they will sell well.

[Admin]

Pricing can range from $400 to many thousand and find success.  MotoRotoSelfies.  The allure is too great.  The self mounted (or near self mounted) footage from GoPro's or similar is almost without exception excruciating to watch.  Lack of perspective, scale, scope, etc.  But the power of the "its me" factor is undeniable.  The footage we are seeing with the same devices in these early, well operated drones rivals the most captivating visuals ever produced.  A legion of guys without tans are working on this.  Sit back and wait mode....

[PonoBill]

Don't get me wrong, they'll be super successful as appliances. That's why all those geeky guys are working so hard on them. Multirotors have gone from $5K pro-only curiosities to $800 in a hobby shop in no time. When they get really foolproof they'll be line belly buttons. But I think the lineup is safe for a couple of years. Except from me. of course I've been wrong before. Like yesterday, for example. And twice this morning.

[Admin]

That's probably not a good thing, can you imagine a crowded lineup with a bunch of guys getting followed by drones?  Judging from how many gopro cameras are out there, this is going to be a big market.

It might have some good side effects.  The truth might have to be revised about how many of us are actually holding our boards when we are stuck inside and about who is dropping in on who

[dabigkahuna]

I've been following this technology for years but never pulled the trigger.  Partly because I'm waiting to see what the FAA does about regulating "commercial use" of drones.  The other part is to "wait and see" how the public reaction settles out.  Seems like every "oh this is great, new technology" article I read is followed by a "this is an impingement on our privacy/safety" article.  It's amazing how the technology has progressed in such a short while though.

[55NSup]

You hear about the laws governing airspace?  I bet they get changed.

[55NSup]

There was a drone hovering over a house the other day. I think it was a photographer taking pics of a house to be sold.

[PonoBill]

There's one hovering over my shop right now. Oh, wait, that's mine. I'm doing a hands off duration test. I've discovered autopilot is a lot like cruise control--more MPG without the twitchy pilot. Wind is blowing pretty strong. the little bugger is pitched about 10 degrees just to hold still according to the OSD.

The technology is moving with lightning speed. So far the FAA hasn't done much about non-commercial use. They almost got their funding cut because they were foot dragging on commercial use regulations other than "NO".  Right now to get any kind of permit you have to be an insider, and even they are having problems. I expect there to be some wholesale shakeups in the agency if they don't get their ducks in a row.

It would be a good thing. There's always someone who benefits from the status quo. What I've always referred to a "low thrust, high drag" people.

[Admin]

Or maybe we can just wait on Google to film it all for us.

http://www.skyboximaging.com/

"By the time its entire fleet of 24 satellites has launched in 2018, Skybox will be imaging the entire Earth at a resolution sufficient to capture, for example, real-time video of cars driving down the highway. And it will be doing it three times a day."