Pocket Drone!

Two Swiss engineers have manufactured this new Quad, designed to live in your pocket and be used in seconds. Robotics researchers Stefano Mintchev and Dario Floreano at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology are the great minds in question.

Owners of typical Quads would love how quickly this model is able to fly. It normally takes me a good 5 minutes of fiddling before my Inspire is ready to fly. Not ideal when you want to capture something on the ‘fly’.

Their is more info on the Wired.com site, where i found the story. Have a read.

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/watch-foldable-mini-drone-launch-snap/

TU

Latest Star Wars Drone!!!!

You have to love the ingenuity of geeks. RC geeks in particular.

A few months ago, I posted a video from a chap called Olivier C, who had created an epic Millennium Falcon UAS.

He has gone one better, and created a UAV, an Imperial Battle Cruiser!

The video could only be improved with the right music. (play this in the background of another window, for a more authentic viewing experience! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8)

Credit to George Lucas coming up with the most epic names for cool stuff in Cinematic history, but even more credit had to go to Olivier C, who is obviously an amateur Drone maker, building these realistic Star Wars UAVs in his spare time.

I will be keeping an eye on his YouTube account, and became a subscriber this afternoon. What a legend!

http://www.youtube.com/user/olivierc600

TU!

DJI set to unveil new Phantom range?

The DJI Phantom is by far the most widely recognised and popular UAS in the world. Thinking of buying one….. you might want to wait a few weeks.

I have it on good authority that DJI are about to release details of a new addition to the Phantom range!!!! My source informs me that, “within the next 14 days DJI will launch a new product, or rather they are launching a range of possibly 3 new products each with different spec and  a price range to suit”.

Somewhat predictably, the range will go under the “Phantom 3” title.

Additionally; The Phantom 2 vision range is being discontinued and consigned to history!

The Phantom 1 was a game changer. The FC40 improved and for many, myself included, the Phantom 2 was the best of the range thus far. The option to use a GoPro, made it the Quadcopter of choice.

In my personal opinion, the next two models, the Vision and Vision 2 Plus had better features and improved Ground Station function, i have been frustrated with how easy the camera and gimbal can be damaged, such a delicate camera, with no zero protection, the CAA imposed restriction of 120 meters VLOS, due to the 5.8ghz transmitter is also another frustration Vision Plus owners face.

So maybe a new addition to the family makes sense. A Phantom 3 with the quick set up of the previous models, but with the option to attach multiple camera models, improved App support, brining it more in line with the DJI Pilot App for the Inspire also makes sense.

There is as of yet, little info about this story online, so you heard it here first, lets see if the launch takes place in Lag Vegas @ The NAB Show, 11 to 16 April.

http://www.nabshow.com

http://www.nabshow.com/news-releases/nab-show-feature-new-aerial-robotics-and-drone-pavilion

I would like to thank my Source for the heads up!

Thumbs Up!

UPDATE – DJI are set to release another new Firmware Update for the Phantom in the next few weeks. Giving more credibility to this report!