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AirDog's ADII 'follow me' drone doubles down on action sports
In 2015, the big innovation in drones was "follow-me" mode. It wasn't new, but the technology was finally good enough for it to become a leading feature in quadcopters. A few did just that, most notably AirDog, Lily, 3DR, DJI and Hexo+. In 2017, Lily is bust, 3DR had to pivot to enterprise and Hexo+ has been "out of stock" on its website for months. DJI was already the biggest player in the game back then. The small, indie team at AirDog, on the other hand, is alive and well, and back with a new drone -- the ADII -- which takes the follow-me feature to (literal) new heights.
GoPro delays its Karma drone until this holiday season
GoPro's Karma drone was due out the first half of this year, but we're already into the fifth month and it's nowhere to be found. That's because, according to the company's latest financial statements, it's been delayed. Surprise! The company now says that the Karma won't hit until this holiday season. In the next six months, any number of things could happen. For instance, we said that AirDog -- another follow-behind drone -- was the company that GoPro needed to beat or buy when we checked it out earlier this year. That firm could possibly release a new model that blows the Karma out of the water by November.
AirDog is the action-sport drone GoPro needs to beat (or buy)
I first learned about AirDog when the company's founder, Edgars Rozentals, pitched it to me over email. It wasn't the first drone that would follow you -- 3D Robotics had been doing that for a while -- but as far as I knew it was the first to make it a central feature (I'd learn about the Hexo+ a day later). The concept was simple: It wasn't just a drone that held a GoPro; it was specifically built for adventurous GoPro types.
ICYMI: Action sports drone, the future of shoes and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-364035").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: AirDog took us on an adventure in the desert to showcase its nearly $1600 drone that can follow action sports junkies autonomously. While other action drones that follow users exist, AirDog claims this one is superior based on 40mph speed and software settings that change depending on the activity of choice. The major drawback for now is that one removable battery charge lasts only 14 minutes, which meant an attempted landing was more of a controlled crash when we took it for a spin.
AirDog's auto-following camera drone launches on August 31st
It's been several months since AirDog's namesake tag-along camera drone was originally expected to ship, but the award-winning robotic flyer is finally close to reaching your doorstep. The company has confirmed that its sports-oriented companion will officially launch on August 31st for $1,295, with crowdfunding backers getting the first batch. There are still some tweaks left (AirDog wants to improve the connection to the wearable "leash" that makes following work, for one thing), but it should otherwise be good to go. You will have to wait a bit longer if you want to check out the competition, though. The rival Hexo+ drone doesn't ship until the fall, so you might want to postpone making that epic biking movie if you're not sure which unmanned vehicle will deliver the best footage.
Best of CES 2015 Awards, Best Drone or Robot: AirDog
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-23441{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-23441, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-23441{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-23441").style.display="none";}catch(e){} While the category might include robots, drones dominated CES 2015. We don't mean the businessmen and businesswomen that trudged the Las Vegas Convention Center with looks of thunder on their faces, but the flyable, camera-attached kind. AirDog claimed our Best of CES awards because it follows you wherever you go and even folds up small enough to fit into a backpack. Good 'Dog.
The fascinating, frightening drones and robots of CES 2015
At CES 2015 you could hardly turn your head without smacking into a 4K display, but finding a robot companion takes a bit of legwork. Luckily, we trolled the halls of the LVCC and beyond to find the most exciting (and often frightening) advances in unmanned technology. From drones that track you through the desert to an Android employee with lifelike expressions, check out the video and photo tours below to witness the fascinating future of robots and drones at CES 2015. For a closer look at these robots, drones and more check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.
AirDog's action sports drone followed me through the desert
If 2014 was the year that drones entered the (deeper) reaches of the mainstream mindshare (thanks to Amazon, among many other things), then 2015 is the year they start getting put to work. Videography is probably the most obvious consumer application -- evidenced by the sheer number of options. AirDog is one such contender, that offers something the others don't -- a wrist-worn "leash" that makes the drone follow you. Let's be clear, there are other drones that can follow things/people; in fact 3D Robotics made this technology available to everyone through open source. AirDog just took it to the next level, created the leash hardware (other systems use a mobile phone), ramped up the game by adding even more sensors to its craft and designed custom flying "profiles" for different action sports. We took it out for a spin in the Nevada desert to see if it could keep up with a quad bike (spoiler: It did).
Tracing the origins of the multirotor drone, for business and pleasure
We humans have searched for ways to join our avian friends in the air for ages and while some have gone the distance, most of us will settle for the secondhand thrill of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Although full-sized military tests of propeller-laden vertical take off and landing (VTOL) crafts may have underwhelmed, a variety of scaled down multirotor drones have found their niche. Recent improvements in programming, stabilization, power and price have turned these backyard playthings into high-definition eyes in the sky -- for better or worse. This week's Rewind skims the history of these flying machines over the years as they've grown fragile buzzing toys into tools for capturing majestic scenery, inspecting machines and structures, scouting dangerous terrain and occasionally having a little fun.
Crowdfunding Roundup: LaMetric, Sherlybox, and a 3D printer for kids
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. From now on, our crowdfunding update is going to be hitting your virtual doorstep every Thursday. Let's take a look at what's out on Kickstarter this week: One of the most FUN projects I've seen in a while comes from Smart Atoms in the form of LaMetric. It's a customizable smart ticker that you can connect to an app to display all sorts of fun stuff -- current weather conditions, time until your next appointment, and much, much more. Even better, they're planning on integrating LaMetric with IFTTT, SmartThings, and more. I'd love to have a display that says "HI STEVE" when I walk into my lonely office, and LaMetric is the way to do it. This project just went live and is already up to over 77 percent funding with 42 days to go. Surely you want your own private and sharable cloud on your desktop? "Yes, I do, and quit calling me Shirley." Sherlybox is a cute little take on the personal cloud storage device, similar to the Drobo Transporter and Transporter Sync. Buy one, pop a hard disk drive into it, and go to town sharing your files or at least keeping them available when you're away from home. Sherlybox has already beat its funding goal by over 54 percent, so this one is sure to go into production. You can still sign up at several pledge levels for the next 15 days. The Headbones connected to the ... ear bone, the ear bone's connected to the... You catch my drift. Headbones are different, using built-in wireless earphones for clarity and bone conduction for amplification of sounds. I can't explain it as well as Damson CTO James Talbot, so check out his dulcet tones in the following video. The project is about 71 percent funded with three weeks to go, so there's a good chance these Headbones will make it to market soon. Ever want your own personal drone to follow you while you're finishing a marathon, riding up a steep slope in the Tour de France, or rock climbing? Sure you have! And now the AirDog drone is going to follow you around like a ... flying dog? Go ahead and back this project, because it's already a go with 115 percent funding and well over a month to go in its campaign. Kickstarted project seem to be on a roll lately. Sentri, which is a home automation hub that looks great and works with your iOS devices, has also achieved campaign perfection by going over 118 percent funding with three weeks to go. Take a look at what makes Sentri different: "Yeah, so I've always wanted to look more like a zombie than I already do when I'm sending video selfies to my friends... so I backed Looksery, a set of real-time transformation filters that can be used to add some spice to my video snaps." Yeah, it's sweet -- grab some video, change your eye color, turn into a zombie, you name it. And this one is oh-so-close to funding, just about at 88 percent with a month to go. I love me some weather stations; I have tried a lot of little wind or temperature grabbing gizmos for iPhone, and I even have my own professional weather data-gathering station. But if you don't need that much detail or voluminous data, you might want to look at StormTag. It's a weather station that connects to your keyring and will be with you everywhere, providing data to the cloud. 268 percent funded, you're going to get one soon to work with your iPhone. For some odd reason, wearable cameras seem to be catching the imagination of a lot of people, even when those on the receiving lens of the staring eye of the camera aren't too thrilled about it. CA7CH Lightbox is another of the clip-on camera genre, this time not working as a lifeblogging tool but rather as a hands-free camera. Just funded, there's still time (a month) to back the CA7CH Lightbox campaign and get this iPhone-connected clip-on camera. There are a lot of very innovative ways to generate electricity to power your devices -- solar panels, hand cranks, and even cookstoves. Now Go Kin Packs wants to give you power that you generate by moving. Just put this device into the bottom of a backpack, and you start generating 10 to 14 watts of power. The project needs a little nudge from backers -- at this point, with four weeks to go, it's only at about 13 percent of funding. SelfieMe is a thin line iPhone case with a couple of nice accessory lenses that go along with it, perfect for shooting wide angle or fisheye images. This one might not make it -- not surprising, because there are excellent lens options available from a lot of vendors right now. Currently SelfieMe has about 17 percent funding with 19 days to go. Bear with me, we're almost there... Next, don't you think every child should have a 3D printer? That's the idea behind Printeer, an iPad-operated 3D printer that is aimed directly at children. It's affordable, it's easy for kids to create designs that can turn into reality, and it's just about funded -- 98 percent with just under three weeks to go. What a cool idea! Our last project of the week is from Indiegogo, and is designed to fund a Swift conference in Cologne, Germany. They're thinking of calling it SwiftConf (original name...), and it could use your support. And who doesn't want to go to an English-language Swift conference in beautiful Cologne September 23 - 25, 2014? Right now they've raised about 20 percent of their funding goal, but every little bit helps. Sign up now! That's all for this week. Come back next Thursday for another look at what's rocking the world of crowdfunding. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site. Once again, thanks go out to Hal Sherman for providing a number of tips on crowdfunded projects.
Engadget Daily: inside the NBA finals, France scores with FIFA's new goal-line tech and more!
Today, we go behind the scenes at the 2014 NBA Finals, learn about Earin's truly wireless earbuds, relive France's controversial score with FIFA's goal-line technology and take a look at Airdog: a GoPro-equipped drone with a knack for sports action. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Airdog drone serves as your loyal action sports cameraman
The battle in the skies this week is the autonomous action-sports drone apparently. Why? Because, what if you want to be the star in your as yet un-made aerial epic? With a regular drone that's a tricky one. You could film yourself, as you stand flying the drone, but where's the fun in that? Airdog is a quadcopter drone that follows you, using GPS and movement tracking to keep up as you get down (the slope, or whatever). Action camera selfie videos are cool and all, but wouldn't an epic aerial shot following you carving through fresh powder snow, or riding that killer wave, or heck, even scuba diving be so much better? Airdog promises exactly that. And more.
