From the Kickstarter description, they're leveraging existing open source software: "The onboard software is based on the 3D Robotics open-source code" Also no

From the Kickstarter description, they're leveraging existing open source software: "The onboard software is based on the 3D Robotics open-source code" Also note, they DO NOT include hazard avoidance in the current product: "The reason for this is that there is no avoidance system included in the first version." So I think your questions are legitimate. The underlying question is: do we now live in an era when a team of mostly non-technical people with a couple of smart hackers can put this kind of product together from existing technologies without inventing anything really new? I guess the answer is mostly yes but I wonder if obstacle avoidance is really something that can be left out without serious consequences.