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Flying a DJI Spark by waving your hand isn't as great as it sounds
DJI's Spark is the company's first attempt at a true drone for everyone. DJI has made no secret about the fact it thinks non-RC enthusiasts want a lightweight, compact quadcopter that's easy to control. That's exactly what the Spark is. But after spending some time with it (and a Mavic Pro, for comparison), I'm torn. The Spark is, indeed, incredibly fun, simple to use and easy to carry around. But, the gesture controls aren't as useful, or reliable enough for new pilots. And therein lies the dilemma.
Nixie is a wearable drone that captures your activities on the fly
Remember the dronie? If not, it's a self-taken photograph (sigh, selfie) from a UAV like the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 that provides a bit more creativity than your arm reach allows. Imagine that you can attach that drone to your wrist and launch it instantly, and you have some idea about how the Nixie works. Once aloft, it's designed to detect your presence and fly around you, pointing its camera to film your exploits -- ranging from tourism to mountain climbing, as the video below shows. The project is part of Intel's Make it Wearable contest, and uses an Edison chip to track you and avoid obstacles. For now, it's just a delicate prototype that can fly off your wrist and not do much else. But it's scored a $50,000 finalist prize from Intel, meaning our dream of having aerial footage of all our hum-drum activities could finally come true -- yes, we are that vain.
