The Pocket Drone, prior to being folded up The original DJI Phantom quadcopter is now priced below US$500, and it's designed to carry a GoPro camera. However, while the copter could conceivably be stuffed into a backpack, doing so might be a little ... awkward. That's why the guys at San Diego-based AirDroids created the Pocket Drone. It squeaks in under the $500 mark and is made to carry a GoPro, but it also folds down for easy transport. What's more, its battery runtime is about twice that of the Phantom.Two of the Pocket Drone's three prop arms swing in to either side of the third arm, which itself telescopes down. The landing struts also retract, and even the propeller blades fold back to one side. That prop design is additionally claimed to make the drone safer, as the propellers will swing back should they hit an obstacle (such as a person), instead of cutting into it.When everything is folded down and otherwise withdrawn, the aircraft has a smaller footprint than that of a 7-inch tablet, and is less than three inches (7.6 cm) thick.

One charge of the lithium-polymer battery should be good for about 20 minutes of flight time, with a GoPro attached. ar drone 2 camerasThat relatively long runtime is due largely to the fact that the Pocket Drone is a tricopter as opposed to a quadcopter – this means that it's lighter, and has one less motor to power. ar drone 2 firmware usbIt's also claimed to be considerably quieter than a quadcopter, and more maneuverable.ar drone 2 box sizeAlong with real-time remote control (via an included controller or an app on a mobile device), the drone can also fly on its own using plotted GPS waypoints, or it can automatically follow a GPS-enabled mobile device. google buys drone maker titan aerospace

Additionally, its flight control software is open-source, in case users have any bright ideas for functions that they'd like to add.ar drone 2 ios 5AirDroids is currently raising production funds for its drone on Kickstarter, and has already more than quintupled its financial goal. ar drone gps not workingA pledge of $495 will get you a Pocket Drone of your own, when and if they're ready to take to the skies.You can see some of them in action, along with footage shot from them, in the pitch video below.More than a decade ago, Helen Greiner was one of the three people who designed the Roomba, the cute, iconic vacuum cleaning robot that has inspired everything from a cartoon character to an introspective Twitter account. Her new startup, CyPhy Works, is now developing drones that fit in your pocket and weighs less than three ounces.

"They’ll fit in your cargo pants pocket, not like your designer jean pocket," she qualifies. Unlike the Roomba, the drone is actually not intended for commonplace situations at all. Instead, it’s meant to quickly help in situations like medical workers responding to a disaster or military personnel entering an unknown or dangerous situation. The idea is they could send the PocketFlyer out ahead into the building to check out the situation and send back high-quality video. This is not a unique application for drones or robots. In fact, the PackBot, a ground robot developed by Greiner’s previous company iRobot, was one of the first robots to be used in a disaster response more than a decade ago, when it was sent into the collapsed World Trade Center towers to look for survivors. But drones have an advantage over robots: They avoid ground obstacles and simply navigate the free airspace. The key innovation from CyPhy Works is putting the drone on a leash. The PocketFly, attached to a thin, disposable microfilament tether that unspools as the drone navigates the building, allows it two hours of battery life and uninterrupted communications with the people standing outside.

If a similar sized drone were sent into a building today, its battery might only last less than 20 minutes and its video transmission would likely get disrupted as soon as it entered a basement or room where the Wi-Fi signal was weak. CyPhy Works has a working prototype, and it recently entered a contract with the U.S. Air Force to develop a production model. Greiner believes the drone, which will be built to use several times but not necessarily to last forever, will ultimately be most useful to soldiers, FEMA, SWAT teams, firefighters, police, and the like. Pocket Flyer is also not the only tethered drone that CyPhy Works has in development. The company's PARC system, which stands for Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications, will be a tethered drone meant to hover 500 feet in the air for extended periods of time, so that facility owners, from mining companies to farmers and military bases, can keep a constant watch over their whole properties. "A lot of people make drones that go out and see things.

What we do is we make a drone that goes up and it stays there," Greiner says. Greiner dismisses the privacy concerns of this sort of capability, saying that property owners are allowed to spy on their own land and the tether actually reduces the privacy risk because the drone won’t fly off and record other places. Still, the idea of drones hovering above watching everything sounds creepy. A friendly, non-threatening Roomba of the drone world, this is not. Never miss a story. I'd also like to receive special Fast Company offers Discover the best new toys and games. Wingsland S6 Pocket Drone RC Quacopter WiFi With 4K HD Camera Avoidance Obstacle Also check our best rated Remote Control Helicopter reviews 31 x 20 x 16 cm ; Boxed-product Weight: 299 g Item model number: B-49 Date first available at Amazon.co.uk: 21 Sept. 2016 Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item 559,971 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Would you like to give feedback on images? To learn more about safely and responsibly flying your drone in the UK, visit our Fly Responsibly page here. Features: Model: S6 Controlled By Phone,GPS,WiFi FPV Motor Type: Brushless Motor Built-in Gyro: 6 Axis Gyro Level: Advanced Level Remote Control: WiFi Remote Control Channel: No Transmitter Mode: No Transmitter Detailed Control Distance: About 120m Battery: 7.6V 1400mAh 10.64Wh ( 2S LiPo ) Flying Time: About 10mins Camera Pixels: 13MP Video Resolution: 4K Product weight: 0.230 kg Package weight: 0.300 kg Product size (L x W x H): 13.80 x 7.90 x 2.68 cm / 5.43 x 3.11 x 1.06 inches Package size (L x W x H): 16.00 x 9.00 x 4.00 cm / 6.3 x 3.54 x 1.57 inches Functions: Automatically Following,Camera,Forward/backward,FPV,Gravity Sense Control,Low-voltage Protection,One Key Automatic Return,One Key Landing,One Key Taking Off,Point of Interest,Selfie,Sense and Avoid,Turn left/right,Up/down,Voice control,WiFi Connection Package included: 1 x Drone 1 x Charger 4 x Spare Propeller