Drone, Drone, Everywhere a Drone -- at CES (Video)

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One thing Timothy noticed at CES was that there were drone vendors all over the place. Drones are obviously one of the hot-hot toy/gadget trends of the moment. The Drone that won 'Best Robot or Drone in Show' was the camera-carrying, "follows you like a dog on a (Bluetooth 3) leash" AirDog. They already had a crazy-sucessful KickStarter campaign that led to a large stack of pre-orders, so don't count on getting your very own AirDog right away, even if you have $1300 to spend on one.

Tim: This year CES, no surprise, was heavy on drones, from tiny and cute to ominously big. Most of the ones that were on display had cameras built in, but beyond that, the main thing they have in common is simply that they can fly. Their range, communications options, add-ons, speed, time aloft these all vary along a scale reflected in their prices, from stocking stuffer to national defense budget.

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Tim: You are holding the AirDog.

Cody Collier: Yes, I’m holding AirDog. Man’s best friend.

Tim: Explain it.

Cody Collier: It is an autonomous drone, non-dependent on a pilot or a cameraman, it works very simple. See, I’ll give you a scenario, so I get to the skate park, my buddy is not there, he didn’t show up or no one wants to be the cameraman, I have this in my back. Blow it out.

Tim: Is it fixed or is it okay.

Cody Collier: Drop, drop, Battery, test, in, always going to be the center point of focus is this leash.

Tim: Now does it work with the GoPro?

Cody Collier: Yes, they work with the GoPro.

Tim: Are they are other cameras that are compatible?

Cody Collier: Yes it is not GoPro proprietary and also any functions that your camera has can be done independently. The drone does not inhibit anything like that. So say, hey, I’ve done skateboarding and I’m done – our batteries running low, I don’t want to hot swap the batteries which you are able to, I’m done filmingfor the day. Battery out, drop, drop, drop, drop. In to the bag, and I’m off for my day.

Tim: What are the materials used to make this?

Cody Collier: This is a final prototype and it is made with the 3D printed material, but after CES, the production models are going to be hard injection plastic, like the GoPro durable case. This whole thing is going to be hard injection plastic.

Tim: What does it weigh right now?

Cody Collier: It weighs about 4 kilos with the battery and the GoPro.

Tim: What does it cost?

Cody Collier: Cost pre-sale right now is $1,300 American. No camera because also you can use whichever camera you like, but the Gimbal is part of the catalyst. So after January 31, it goes up to $1,500 *As of 2/11 their site still shows $1300* and with that package you get the drone, the leash, charger, battery and apparel.

Tim: Talk about the capabilities, range, how far can it be from your leash?

Cody Collier: Good to go, this has a maximum range of 1,000 feet and it communicates via Bluetooth 3.0. It has a minimum range of 12 feet and then it’s not going to come and dink you in the head unless you set it at land mode. You can catch it as so, obviously not tangled up like this, and the motors will stop. It has a maximum speed of 45 miles an hour and if you are operating at its maximum speed of 45 miles an hour, you are going to get 10 minutes battery life. Other than that, you get 15 to 20 stationary or following.

Tim: How long does it take the charge to those batteries?

Cody Collier: Each battery, it takes 45 minutes to charge, they cost $70 if you want to get extras. They’re hot swappable. Their motors aren’t going to burn out from continuous use.

Tim: And are the blades carbon fiber?

Cody Collier: These blades? I’m not sure what they’re going to be on the finished product, but right here, it’s just the 3D printed material as well, it’s all prototype 3D printed.

Tim: You’ve used it yourself?

Cody Collier: I have actually had the strap on yes, I played – have skated the mini ramp in the back – behind the Gibson guitar tent it was a good time. It’ was a great time.

Tim: And you just won a CES award for it.

Cody Collier: Yeah, we won best drone and drone of the year at CES, I think what sets us apart, is it’s actually you don’t need a cameraman. It doesn’t have an opinion and you don’t need a pilot, it’s man’s best friend...

ANOTHER Autoplay video?!?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

FUCK OFF WITH THIS SHIT ALREADY YOU PACK OF ASSHOLES

Dont you get that your audience hates this shit and usually for very good reason?

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[zequav]

Yeah. I almost had a heart attack when I opened this in a background tab. This is ridiculous.

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[dotancohen]

In Firefox set `media.autoplay.enabled` to FALSE (about:confg).

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[uninformedLuddite]

still plays. thanks anyway.

drones

[Anonymous Coward]

and i'll tell all of you who want to buy a drone like i've told amazon and my local police, who in turn i know told my local fbi office: if i find your drones from any of you around my house they will be shot out of the sky and destroyed completely.

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[Jeremi]

if i find your drones from any of you around my house they will be shot out of the sky and destroyed completely.

That's why I bought three dozen of the tiny $39.95 model. I figure if I send them all to your house simultaneously, at least some of them will get through. I've programmed them all to try to land on your head; game on!

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[Dogtanian]

YAY! Flash is dead! Long live the same thing more tightly integrated with your browser!

Yeah. I've been enjoying Flashblock for so long that it's quite an (unpleasant) surprise to have HTML5 videos able to start themselves like that. Or rather, try to start themselves, since it's not working on my Firefox installation anyway for some reason (*)... but that's beside the point.

Probably would have at least given it a chance otherwise, but do I have any inclination to watch it now? No.

(*) Comes out blank. Think it's a more general problem I'll look into when I can be arsed, but not for the sak

Fun with AirDog

[Jeremi]

1) Purchase three AirDog drones
2) Velcro-strap each drone's follow-me remote onto the next AirDog drone
3) Press the "launch" button on all three remotes simultaneously
4) Enjoy the resulting interpretive dance

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[StikyPad]

It's Airdogs all the way down!

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[Anonymous Coward]

y-combinator maybe? i don't know, i just know slashdot has been shit for like ten years but now it's not even readable anymore

Fuck autoplaying video

[wonkey_monkey]

That is all.

Re:Fuck autoplaying video

[wonkey_monkey]

And you know what, they even managed to fuck it up beyond that. I don't see any video, I only get audio. And it doesn't even have the grace to autoplay immediately, instead deciding to do so a few seconds after the page has loaded, once you've already scrolled down to see the comments, leaving you wondering where the sound is coming from.

Slashdot, please stop treating your audience like click-bait hungry idiots.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[Beerdood]

So I click on the comments. Initially there's some worry when I see the space for the video. "Uh oh, is that gonna autoplay?" I think. But the worry goes away and it's peace and tranquility when I see the acute triangle embedded within the image. "Ah, it's not going to autoplay. It's waiting for my prompt to start the video". But after about a second, the not-so-cute triangle goes away, and the video starts autoplaying! ARRGHHH! But wait, there's more! If you're fortunate enough to see the ad befo

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[WoodstockJeff]

The auto-play waits for the whole page to load. Well, it did, until I told my system that *.ooylala.com should be mapped to 127.0.0.1 ...

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[WoodstockJeff]

(actually, that's *.ooyala.com... too many Ls)

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[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot has gone full corporate suicide mode.

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[g0bshiTe]

I'm an avid RC pilot fly everything from EDF to quads and I'd never go premade anything like this.

I prefer to build mine, mine even sports a variation of Ardupilot as the FC, even got it in kit form and got to solder everything myself.

Yeah they are taking a $100 - $160 control board and gps and throwing it into a frame and then overcharging for the result.

At 4 lbs as well that's well over the limit the FAA considers hobby or recreational. While well under a 4 lb quad is something you'd expect to have a c

As an RC enthusiast and quad builder and pilot

[g0bshiTe]

I see little more than an overpriced POS.

Really $1300?

Let's start at the weight 4 lbs. WTF are you guys thinking?

Flight times of 10 - 20 minutes and operating conditions of up to 14 mph winds, yeah I'd like to see where you get 20 minute flight time in 14 mph winds.

Completely waterproof so the battery bay is watertight? The motor stators and windings are watertight? The flight control board is also watertight? While it's not supposed to be submerged or get wet if you advertise a flight time of 20 minute

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[wolf12886]

Really $1300?

You've obviously never built a quadrotor that's better than toy quality. The parts alone are around 800 if you buy them non-wholesale. Of course I would expect that price to come down if they seriously mass produce them.

Let's start at the weight 4 lbs. WTF are you guys thinking?

Again,. that's just what a quadrotor that can carry a go-pro weighs. The phantom's slightly lighter than that, but it's underpowered for the job and only flies for like 7min. (that's what I hear, I don't have a phantom).

Completely waterproof so the battery bay is watertight? The motor stators and windings are watertight? The flight control board is also watertight?

Funny thing, brushless motors are inherently waterproof. In the underwat

Some good, some stupid

[melting_clock]

I've been building and flying my own quadcopters and tricopters for a few years now which gives me a slightly different perspective to most. There have been some impressive advancements in consumer, hobby and professional level "drones" in the last few years. Barriers to entry have larger disappeared so that it is now possible to purchase an all in one, ready to fly, package and all that is required to get flying is to charge the batteries. Unfortunately, this also means that their are an increasing numb

Stop autoplaying video's

[LordWabbit2]

Not all of us think youtube is the best thing since a slice of bread.