A while ago we wrote about The Airdog, a somewhat heavy-duty drone whose distinguishing feature was that it could follow you around, filming you, while you did whatever stunts you wanted. It was, and is, a great idea, but the AirDog was expensive at $1,200 or so. Now we have news of the Zano drone, which purports to do much the same thing. Granted, this is a palm-sized device that may not offer the same kind of stability or robustness as the AirDog, but at $335 (£215) it’s hard to dismiss. The Zano tethers to your phone through WiFi and can fly itself. Press ‘hold’ and it stays in place, filming you in 720p from as far as 30 meters away. Press the Follow button, and it finds a way to keep the set distance between itself and you, while trying to keep you in the frame. IR sensors all around the drone make sure that it doesn’t run into any obstacles while it’s filming. When you’re done, a press of yet another button will cause it to return to base, for you to easily retrieve it.
There are several more features on this drone, such as a customizable 8X8 LED panel on the front, but we won’t list them all. Check out their fully funded Kickstarter for more details. A pledge will get you a drone by June of 2015.
[ Project Page ] VIA [ Geek.com ]
