Snapchat drone: the next Lily?

Snap is the company that owns one of the hottest social media apps Snapchat. But recently the company has worked on building its own Snapchat drone according to a report from The New York Times. It is said to have worked on a drone that would connect to the iOS and Android Snapchat app and let users take photos and videos from aerial angles and is believed to also have investigated and built a 360-degree camera. Details about the drone and any of its other capabilities remain under wraps, but the work is said to help Snap “bolster” its repositioning and rebranding as a modern-day camera company.

Business Insider reported that Snap has been in conversations with drone companies. Snap was interested in an acquisition with Lily Robotics which offers a drone that tracks and follows its owners and simultaneously shoots video, creating a hands-free recording experience similar to Hover Camera.

Let’s take a loot at Lily selfie drone firstly.

Shaped like a giant M&M with propellers, it measures 3 inches high (80mm) and roughly 10 inches square (260mm) and weighs 2.8 pounds (1300g) — and toss it in the air and its motors will kick in automatically as the drone takes flight. The body is completely sealed, too, so along with flying it in the rain or snow, you can actually toss it into water.

There is no radio controller for the Lily Camera drone, or at least it’s not a typical one with sticks and switches.

Out in front of Lily Camera drone is a built-in camera that uses the same 12-megapixel Sony sensor found in the GoPro Hero3and Ion Air Pro 3 action cams. Along with 12-megapixel stills, that camera can capture 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second or 720p at 120fps. Plus, the tracker has a built-in mic that’s synced with the camera, allowing you to capture audio from the ground.

It has a limited range. Altitude is set from 5 feet (1.75 meter) above you to a maximum of 50 feet (15m) with a minimum distance of 5 feet from you to a maximum of 100 feet (30m). It can reach a top speed of 25mph (40kmph).

Other issues are that it lacks gimbal and remote controller.

So is the Snapchat drone more innovative than the Lily drone? What can we expect from the Snap Drone? Would you buy a Snapchat drone? Let us know in the comments below.

 

 

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Hover Camera quadcopter drone is more than a drone to selfies!

The Chinese start-up Zero Zero Robotics has unveiled its very first model of autonomous Hover Camera quadcopter drone that allows to take pictures from remote and ultra-stable.

The company is located in Beijing, with offices in Hangzhou, Shenzhen and San Francisco. The reason for its establishment in China: “Get closer to suppliers and manufacturers. Much of the R & D work is to know the least seller, the smallest chip …. At Silicon Valley, you have much more limited access to this information than if you are based in China, “said Meng Qiu Wang, one of the founders.

The company was founded in 2014 by two former students of Stanford University. Meng Qiu Wang holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon and a PHD in machine learning from Stanford. Before starting his own business, he started his career as a software engineer at Twitter and then as a Big Data specialist at Alibaba. Tony Zhang is a graduate of Stanford Computer Software.

At the same time it unveiled its very first model of autonomous Hover Camera quadcopter drone, the company raised $ 25 million from multiple investors including IDG, and Chinese GSR Ventures and ZhenFund. It now has close to 80 employees who are actively working on a wide range of consumer robotics products.

Hover Camera quadcopter drone

It is a true jewel of technology. With a 13 million megapixel camera and 4K video recording, the drone is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies that allow it to map its environment in 3D and move in an optimal and fluid way. But the real plus is its tremendous stability of flight. Barely released in the air, the Hover Camera quadcopter drone stabilizes its flight and adopts the best position alone, thanks to a sonar and cameras, which allow him to follow a person and take a 360-degree photo.

So far there’s nothing new. Camera drones that follow their user are out there like Lily Camera, or Hexo +. But it seems that Zero Zero Robotics has more than one trick in his pocket. “Our approach differs from that of Lily Camera or Phantom 4. Lily mostly uses a GPS to follow you, which means you have to wear a device on your wrist,” or a smartphone. As for the Phantom 4, “it works through visual computation, but relies mainly on motion tracking. But we use a system of body recognition and facial “explains the designer of the Hover Camera quadcopter drone.

To do this, the engineers of the start-up have developed in-house algorithms that run on an ultra-compact printed circuit board and operate on the Snapdragon Flight platform. Its quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor allows it to run artificial intelligence in a compact yet fast way. Designed in carbon fiber, the Hover Camera weighs only 238 grams (just below the threshold of 250 grams above which drones must be registered in the US Federal Aviation Administration records) and measures 18 cm by 13 cm. If you plan to go to the top speed of selfies, you will have to pay $ 600. It’s already less than the Mavic Pro at $999. You will receive your boom at selfies 2.0 from the summer holidays.

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Hover Camera could recognize and follow you

The Startup Zero Zero Robotics has introduced its concept of an autonomous quad flying, but the drone rather than “flying camera”. Hover Camera could recognize people and follow these independently – without needing GPS.

With Hover Camera, the Chinese Startup Zero Zero Robotics wants to launch a quad-copter on the market, which the company itself rather than flying camera designates. Hover Camera has a built-in 13 megapixel camera with image stabilization and thanks to built-in algorithms can recognize faces and keep them apart.

The user can then select a face, which Hover Camera subsequently follows independently. In doing so, the aircraft does not orient itself with the help of GPS like other flight cameras, such as the Lily Camera, but via the built-in camera. A second camera is for support: it is directed downwards.

Hover Camera is particularly easy to use: In a video the inventors of the flying camera show how the device is simply released in the air. Then it floats on the spot. To ensure that the user does not damage the rotors, they are housed in a carbon fiber housing.

The rotors can be folded away together with their protective cage. Hover Camera is then only as big as a pocket book. The control of the drone, or the selection of the object to be tracked, is done via a smartphone. Inside the flying camera, a Snapdragon-801 processor, which is responsible for the implementation of the sequence algorithms.

In a conversation with IEEE Spectrum, the hover-camera makers have stated that there are already 1,000 functioning units. 200 of them are to be given to Betatester, on the website interested parties can apply. Zero-Zero founder Meng Qui Wang has further plans for his flying camera: he can also imagine the flying machine as a flying eye for other household robots. Then Hover Camera should warn the other devices, for example, of obstacles.

Hover Camera is priced at 600 US dollars with 8 flight time.

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Lily Drone Cancelled: Why We Weren’t Surprised

Back in early 2015, the Lily Drone kickstarter quickly raised almost $50 million. News was abuzz with excitement for all the features the creators claimed it would have. However, after almost 2 years in production, the Lily team sent a sad email to all of their supporters. “Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units – but have been unable to do this. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers”. Many are saddened by this announcement, but for those following the drone market, it came as no surprise.

Here is a breakdown of why this wasn’t a shocking announcement:

Technological advancement: When the Lily drone was first announced, it boasted the ability to have a mid-air takeoff, waterproofing, a wearable tracking unit for follow me functions with autonomous flight and more. It was so amazing that many of us were skeptical that they would be able to pull it off. It was going to take more than a startup with some capital to pull that off, which is why only DJI was able to accomplish come close with their Mavic Pro drone, a collapsible quadcopter that can fly for longer, has a better camera, and sports all the flight modes and more. Technology quickly caught up to Lily’s claims and even if it hit the market, it would not have done well.

Price point: $500 was never believably attainable. Comparable drones by industry leaders were more than double that. It’s certainly an attractive number to investors but was it ever really achievable? Right now the DJI Mavic Pro is priced at $1000, and although it is a more powerful craft, even that price seems way too low compared to everything else on the market and what it can offer.

Tech specs: Even after 2 years of development, the pre-released specs don’t hold up to the DJI Mavic. It seems designed entirely around the idea that people only wanted a selfie drone. With a flight time of less than 20 minutes, a maximum range of 100 feet, altitude of 50ft, and 1080p camera, it even fails when compared to the older DJI Phantom 3 Standard, a drone currently available for $499. Drone manufacturers these days know that people want a tool that could accomplish more that just one task. In the cooking industry these are known as “unitaskers.” Often they only do their job moderately better than a multipurpose tool, taking up space in your drawer as well as your wallet.

It seems that although back in 2015 the Lily announcement was exciting and its specs were amazing to the average consumer, it was clear that they were capitalizing on a crowd that didn’t know enough about the drone industry and how quickly it was progressing. Now we can count on companies like DJI to do the intense development we want to see without relying on crowdsourcing.

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$15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly?

The Lily drone is so striking when the video was put online. After 60,000 pre-orders and $ 34 million raised, the company just announced that it would never go out. Just for the comparison, Hover Camera only raised $25M and delivered the final product to the customers. -Is it a good product? Not at all! But they made something real without complaining that they have no money.

The idea of Lily drone was good: a fully autonomous drone requiring no control to operate. The design was successful and had contributed to the total success of the crowdfunding campaign.

But it is at the financial level that the startup has not transformed, by failing to find enough funding from investors or banks to achieve production start-up. Seriously? $15 000 000 USD was not enough to make Lily drone fly? But Lily started to sell not existent product and got $ 34M on top of $15M. And now their excuse is that there was not enough money to manufacture the autonomous drone.

“We have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds,” they said. “Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units — but have been unable to do this. As a result, we are deeply saddened to say that we are planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers.”

The founders announced that all backers would be reimbursed within 60 days. If your credit card has expired since then, you will need to fill out a form to receive the $ 500 you advanced.

The drones of the market now offer automatic tracking functionality of the remote control or a point of interest. The DJI Mavic Pro is doing very well for example. You can browse our guide of the five pocket sized drones.

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