Kickstarter Auto-follow drone
W9GFO
Posts: 4,010
https://www.kickstarter.com/airdog
It is a grandiose claim that they are the first in the world. I have seen someone do this at least a couple years ago. I think the automatic following is not such a hard thing to pull off. It is the landing that I think would be the trouble spot.
Suppose you have the drone following you while biking. It's batteries are finished and it needs to land. How does it decide where to land? Certainly the operator will have to stop and guide it to a safe landing.
I've been thinking of ways to have an ELEV-8 film me automatically while hang gliding. The actual following part is the least of my worries. It is the beginning, low battery abort and subsequent auto landing at a predetermined location that will take most of the work.
It is a grandiose claim that they are the first in the world. I have seen someone do this at least a couple years ago. I think the automatic following is not such a hard thing to pull off. It is the landing that I think would be the trouble spot.
Suppose you have the drone following you while biking. It's batteries are finished and it needs to land. How does it decide where to land? Certainly the operator will have to stop and guide it to a safe landing.
I've been thinking of ways to have an ELEV-8 film me automatically while hang gliding. The actual following part is the least of my worries. It is the beginning, low battery abort and subsequent auto landing at a predetermined location that will take most of the work.
Comments
Other than that, I fear that those things will be a danger to everyone.
Hang gliding is probably one of the less risky uses as most other flyers will keep a decent distance so is less likely to hit the drone, and there's not that many solid structures around for it to crash into.(Assuming you're not trying to fly under power lines or zig-zagging around power masts... Since you're still alive, I think we can discount that scenario)
I have seen too many claiming to be "First". A little research can prove them wrong, but it is a good concept and a good package.
Have a docking station on the hang glider. IR to guide it in with magnetic hold downs.
Closed Course. Professional drivers. Do not try this at home.
My guess is the Airdog would return to its takeoff point either at a predetermined time or distance. Since it doesn't require flight skills it must land itself (though this was never shown).
Their video is pretty convincing but I'd really like to know its flight time.
It looks like it has its own proprietary battery.
In the top right photo below it looks like there's a long yellow battery pack.
Is the big yellow plastic body there to look cool? If so, it does its job but I'm not convinced it's the most weight efficient way of making a quadcopter frame.
I think the did a good job making there project look cool.
Edit: After reading some of the comments I see it does return to its takeoff point to land. It flies back at an altitude of 100ft so it wont run into any trees. I still haven't found flight time info.
As cool as this is, I can't see myself getting one. I'd want to be able to tweak the code for my own needs.
It tracks the transmitter worn on the wrist.
From the Kickstarter Site:
A hybrid system combing LTA with a more robust propulsion system would be even better. But that would require a bit more cleverness in inventing something truly new.
But as Gypsy Rose Lee once said, "You gotta have a gimmick." Kickstarter now seems to be a forum for gimmicky products that don't really have much function other than as toys for people with extra money to burn. As a platform for proving the underlying tracking technology, The Airdog isn't a bad concept. Like Duane says, though, who really would use this thing for its supposed intended purpose?