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The Drone User Experience and Design

DRONE ENTHUSIASM
Drones have been taking the nation by the rage. In the last few years, drones have been used to take photos for news publications. Recently, the New York Times even published an article about how drones are now being used for agriculture --to water vineyards for wine. Foreign nations are also planning to use drones to drop lifesaving rings in case of maritime accidents. Because drones are starting to be more accepted, people have more commonly began to play with drones as recreational hobbyists.

DJI Phanton



THE PHANTOM EXPERIENCE
The DJI Phantom was one of the first "serious hobbyist" drones that popped up. Originally, it retailed at over $1000, but could be found used for $300-$400. Although I had never played with a drone, I had the opportunity to test the Phantom. The Phantom came with an extremely large and heavy remote with two joysticks, which I found to be extremely unaccessible. I did not understand which button lifted the drone and which button moved the drone right to left.



The DJI Phantom's navigation system was not functional. The drone's propellers would flit around quicker and lift off the ground. Because the propellers were unguarded, the drone would lift off or land unbalanced. The drone imbalance break off propellers, which had to be replaced. This created a usability problem.

As I was testing the drone, the owner (a developer) who had played with the drone multiple times, took control of the remote and sent the drone higher into the air. After a certain height, the drone owner lost control of the drone as it flew into the skyline of downtown Manhattan and disappeared. This was a bad user experience because even an experienced drone owner could not use the drone --the Phantom is not user friendly.

PHANTOM v. BEBOP 2
The "serious hobbyist" drone competitor to the DJI Phantom was the Parrot Bepop 2. The Bebop 2 came with an HD camera feature and was smaller, lighter, and cheaper alternative to the Phantom. But the Bebop 2 did not solve the problems of drone imbalance or accessibility.



THE MAVIC PRO EXPERIENCE
Recently, the DJI Mavic Pro was released which had bloggers raving about it. The Mavic Pro is advertised to fly for up to 27 minutes, includes FlightAutonomy technology to land where it takes off, have a great camera, and is foldable. I was able to gain some user experience insight from an owner of a Mavic Pro. He took it for a spin on his Manhattan rooftop, lost control, crashed it in the street, and it was run over by a car. DJI did not manage to address the user experience problems that Phantom faced with the Mavic.


BEST DRONE DESIGN?
So what is the best drone design? For imbalance, ideal drones would include steady propellers that fly for long periods of time (longer than 27 minutes) that are able to maneuver back to home once the user loses control of the drone. Although Mavic Pro included FlightAutonomy, the technology does not account for error prevention --where users may lose control of the drone due to imbalance.

In terms of accessibility, drones that are at a cheaper price point are ideal. Cheaper drones are better for hobbyists because not all drone enthusiasts can drop $1000 on a drone for fun. Nor is it economically prudent for enthusiasts to drop $1000 on drones that are not steady and end up crashing.

The Skeye Mini Drone was released by TRND Labs for drone enthusiasts. Although the mini drones are not "real" drones, they are introduction models for people who are interested in learning more about drones and perhaps eventually moving towards the Bebop 2 or Phantom. The mini drones are ideal in terms of accessibility --affordable and can be used by anyone from grandpa to coworkers, and a great present that provide a fun user experience.