You Launch This Camera Drone In The Air, And It Flies Itself

on May 15, 2015 at 10:49 am

Presented By Wingz – Scheduled Airport Rides

Technology can be wacky sometimes, like in this case, it’s a camera drone that offers you hands-free photography during its flight. Imagine you fling a drone straight up into the air. The machine steadies itself in mid-air, then rises about twenty feet and hangs there, awaiting instructions.

That’s the whole point of Lily, the first product from Lily Robotics, a startup with recent grads from UC Berkeley. Lily is a self-driving drone that is always following you or a certain set of commands by using a small circular tracker. With one tap of the tracker, Lily can execute some terrific camera moves with you as the focus. The integrated camera can shoot 1080p videos, or 720p up to 120 frames per second. The built-in sensors will detect when you hit a jump while snowboarding and automatically kick the camera into slow-motion. It also shoots 12-megapixel stills and can make a cool 360-degree panorama photo as well.

What about the speed? The drone can fly 25 miles per hour, is waterproof — thanks to the sealed body and insulated motor. It can last up to 20 minutes on a single charge with a range of 100 feet. Lily can also float, so you can safely land it in water.

It’s a drone, and also a reinvented camera. You can now pre-order the drone at half price for only $499 — a pretty reasonable cost for a cool flying camera. The retail price will be $999.