Interesting new follow drone

[BD0G]

These MIT guys are insanely smart to be able to build this. Perfect for DJI to just come in and scoop them up and take that software programming and apply it to thier newest offerings. However, being based on camera sensing and not other sensors that would mean future DJI drones would need to have an abundance of cameras added which could radically change the small form factor.

 

[Nathan Hoover]

Yeah I was chatting with them and they verified what I was guessing: that the very wide separation of the stereo pairs of cameras REALLY helps. It's a pain though since the drone ends up being so wide and long. After carrying it along on two rides recently I love the weight (very light) but it's big. They can't implement a foldable design because they have to know precisely how far apart etc each pair of cameras is. A folding design would require a long complicated calibration every time you wanted to fly. As it is, you power on, connect, and take off quite quickly.

 

[YorkshirePaul]

Well, it came and I did 5 flights yesterday. Here are a couple of the clips:

Normal follow mode, with audio - it hits a branch a couple of times but just keeps going.

This one is the magical "Lead Mode". While it doesn't manage to predict my movements the whole time, just watch and see how well it does do:

Absolutely bonkers - the tech and logic/intelligence is mind blowing.!!

Just a shame you had to sell half your bike to buy it [emoji846]

 

[radial]

Well, it came and I did 5 flights yesterday. Here are a couple of the clips:

Normal follow mode, with audio - it hits a branch a couple of times but just keeps going.

This one is the magical "Lead Mode". While it doesn't manage to predict my movements the whole time, just watch and see how well it does do:

Wow! If I this whole-house reno wasn't gobbling up all my disposable income, I would order one of these today. I'm an electric unicycle guy and would love to have this kind of capability to record my adventures. Thanks for sharing your video. Very intriguing.

 

[Nathan Hoover]

Glad you guys liked those. Rain has settled in here so no more riding now but I did one more last week - this time on 2 wheels: