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IRIS+
- wysiwygger 12y agoTerrifying what they are planning. They are going to be flying these across the border and crashing them into buildings? And we can do nothing to stop it? Scary
- wysiwygger 12y agoWhoops thought this said ISIS Terrible branding in that case
- pkinsky 12y agoThe site's down, here's a cached copy: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://3drobotics.com/iris-plus/ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...
- mrpollo 12y agoYeah we noticed that, its back up, THANKS for cache link :)
- post_break 12y agoA drone worthy of the name. This is very very cool. I will be keeping this on my watch list.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- fgd 12y agoTry Mementify (http://mementify.com/ http://mementify.com/). Works a treat!
- zo1 12y agoNote, this seems to be Iphone-only.
- crisnoble 12y ago>I love the autonomous following, which I guess is the big reveal here. I love it too, although the previous version of the IRIS had this feature as well. I want someone to take the out put First Person View camera on the drone and port it to an Occulus Rift so you can walk around, viewing yourself in third person mode.
- nailer 12y agoSorry for the accidental delete, I'd somehow posted twice and deleted the wrong one.
- bri3d 12y agoCheck out Fat Shark video goggles - people have been doing this for a while now. Using an Oculus Rift would be better with two cameras (to take advantage of the stereoscopic 3D) but would be difficult and expensive because the Rift is HDMI and corrects for chromatic aberration by requiring software to convolute the image. That means you'd need to get the video from the cameras, to a PC, through the reverse-chromatic aberration kernel, and onto the Rift without introducing too much latency.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- cornewut 12y agoThere's a similar project on Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdog/airdog-worlds-first-auto-follow-action-sports-dron https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdog/airdog-worlds-fi...
- andymoe 12y agoAirdog and many of the other "follow me" drone projects are based on the open source autopilot, Ardupilot [1], that 3DR heavily supports development of. The first really successful crowd funded drone, pocket drone [2], is going to start shipping soon as well. I'm hopeful the others like AirDog and HEXO+ [3] can pull it off as well. Hardware is pretty hard especially when it flies ;-) If you are into this stuff and in the Bay Area sign up for the Meetup my Partner and I run [4]. The next one at the Amazon Prime Air offices but unfortunately is way wait listed. [1] https://github.com/diydrones https://github.com/diydrones [2] http://www.thepocketdrone.com http://www.thepocketdrone.com [3] http://hexoplus.com http://hexoplus.com [4] http://www.meetup.com/SF-Drones-Startup-Meetup http://www.meetup.com/SF-Drones-Startup-Meetup
- ggreer 12y agoDrone technology is advancing at an impressive pace. I think we're going to see some interesting (and terrifying) applications. For example: Add some face detection software, then change the payload to a laser dazzler and pepper spray cartridge. Now you have a drone that can temporarily incapacitate people. When these get cheaper (say $100 per unit), a police department could buy a swarm of 1,000 for $100k. Whenever a riot breaks out, just unleash the drones (geofenced to the desired area). Instant crowd control. Like I said, interesting and terrifying.
- personZ 12y agoIt goes the other way as well: using a drone to commit arson or even an assassination (mounting a weapon is well within the weight profiles of many current devices), is something that is inevitable. Drones have range deniability for things like ransom pickups as well. As an aside, I expect anti-drone systems to become a significant debate soon enough (e.g. if there's a drone peeping in my windows, what rights do I have to disable it?), and then to become a significant commercial concern.
- swartkrans 12y ago> what rights do I have to disable it? Your rights probably are limited to calling the police, like pretty much any other non-immediate danger legal situation that involve applying the use of force.
- hyperliner 12y agoInteresting point. Quick question(s): Is it "use of force" when targeting a piece of equipment? If you park your car in my driveway, I can move it. I may have liability, but I think I can destroy it if it is "invading" my property. Do I not have some "height rights" at home?
- swartkrans 12y agoI don't know, but I hope you have enough money to pay a lawyer. Personally, I would just call the police.
- trhway 12y agowhy propellers on all these drones aren't shrouded? For VTOL/hovering machines the increased efficiency benefit usually more than covers the additional weight of the shroud/duct.
- Jack000 12y agoWhen I flew my parrot drone with the bumpers it was noticeably more sluggish, and a slight breeze would push it around. The instructions actually say to remove it for outdoors flight.
- yeahsure 12y agoAs far as I know that usually results in reduced efficiency.
- trhway 12y agoit depends on speed. Before some speed - increase which diminishes with increasing speed and going into the loss after that. So the best is for static thrust - VTOL/hover mode. The other commenter gave the explanation i think i was asking about.
- droneuser 12y agoI'm posting this just had a heads up. We bought the old model of this drone, the IRIS, and it had serious problems and they have very poor customer support. I've been waiting for at least two weeks for a call back from support. The most serious of the problems was that the drone stopped working mid-flight causing it to fall 20 feet on to concrete. We were very fortunate that no one was standing under it.
- zlite 12y agoSorry to hear about that-our customer support usually resolves issues in a day. Please email me directly with your order details at chris@3drobotics.com and I'll escalate to manager to sort this out ASAP.
- georgemcbay 12y agoJust a random heads up that this may be an issue for 3DR that should be addressed to a wider audience. I recently just bought a DJI Phantom 2 after a bit of decision paralysis. I really like the open nature of the 3DR product line (and the fact that it has a San Diego presence is great) and seriously considered the IRIS but after doing a lot of "forum research" bad customer support when a problem was hit was a very common theme. I don't even know how "real" of a problem this is versus just being an echo chamber thing but it was pervasive enough that I figured I'd just buy the $600 Phantom 2 as a starter and then reassess if (well, almost certainly when) I start looking for something more than just a 'starter' drone.
- invertedohm 12y agoThis is what I believe will be a (perhaps minor) roadblock towards adoption of these devices. It's relatively cheap compared to what's on the market now and appears very high quality. The problem is that flying machines are not well suited to a sudden loss of control, with their best option being crashing straight down. As an intermediate pilot myself, I'd be scared to fly anywhere near the style that the promo videos do - over open water, one mistake means your drone is taking a dive. More experienced flyers are used to the fact that flying machines crash and parts need replacing on a fairly regular basis no matter how carefully you fly. That's going to be a harder sell to people buying a complete package expecting awesome output like the promo videos. Sometimes a propellor detaches mid-flight, or the battery unplugs due to some crazy vibration. Of course, it shouldn't happen in a good design, but users are careless and it only needs to happen once to cause a good crash.
- simonsarris 12y agoOpen question: How do you stop an assassin when the assassin is a poisonous robotic bumblebee? What about one hundred poisonous robotic bumblebees? You might think these unfeasible near term, but a drone that simply flies high and drops 300 dumb, poison-tipped flechettes (think capillary-powered syringe tips) is feasible today, isn't it? (Sorry for the derail, I think the product looks great, I'm just commenting on the rapid development pace of drones so far, wondering what implications might be in another ten years)
- djb_hackernews 12y agos/drone|robotic/zeppelin/g This sort of Technophobia has been around since the beginning of civilization. Instead of focusing on the FUD, we should try to focus on the good.
- calibraxis 12y agoDo people here not predict and counter downsides of their actions? Is this how they work all day, with an attitude of, "Hey, it'll be fine"?
- ZenoArrow 12y agoIt seems to be rare, especially when it comes to new science and technology. Sadly, with the military being such a large customer in these fields, we do end up with a lot of undesirable tech. The most effective way to reduce it is cut it off at the source (i.e. reduce military spending).
- recursive 12y agoClose. I say "There's no problem. Everything is fine.".
- aeturnum 12y agoI mean, let's talk about the fear around zeppelins. Zeppelins were used to bomb Paris in WW1[0], which wasn't that effective overall. By the time WW2 rolled around, we have the bombing Zeppelin 2.0 - the long range strategic bomber. So I suppose what I'm saying is that, when people said "what will we do when they start using these huge flying things to attack us?" The answer was, "Nothing, your city is going to be destroyed." So maybe use another example of, "old FUD," because it seems like the people worried about Zeppelins were absolutely right. :) [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_strategic_bombing_during_World_War_I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_strategic_bombing_during...
- daviding 12y agoLooking through the specs the flight time is just 16-22 minutes. How close are we to some sort advancement in that area, as that seems to limit the possibilities somewhat? Is this a 'when batteries become magical' thing?
- robertfw 12y agoPretty much, the more magical (where magical=low weight + high capacity) the battery, the more flight time. At least on my fairly simple quad, the batteries are the most weighty item.
- georgemcbay 12y ago> Is this a 'when batteries become magical' thing? Basically, yes. To get more power you need a bigger battery, but if you have a bigger battery you are carrying more weight and thus need more power, so you quickly reach a point of diminishing returns. Batteries are improving (and stronger/lighter materials to build with are helping as well), but nowhere near the sort of Moore-ish improvement we are used to seeing in other places.
- _up 12y agoWing drones are much more efficient. Google tests them and they also can fly above a spot. But they are probably not ideal for filming.
- daviding 12y agoThat makes sense. Are there any drones that combine that approach, i.e. like a V-22 Osprey? It seems like the 'modes' could be combined, weight willing..
- baddox 12y agoThere are plenty of custom-built VTOL models. Most are for fun (as is the case for the entire RC hobby), but I'm sure practical commercial ones could be built if there was really a market for them. Of course, small RC planes can have such ridiculous power to weight ratios and flight envelopes that the distances required for takeoff and landing can be very small. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d9Eg2s54PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d9Eg2s54PM (from this extensive build log: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1816216 http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1816216) A production example: http://www.birdseyeview.aero/ http://www.birdseyeview.aero/ One demonstrating autonomous flight with a 3D Robotics flight controller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEL1gQpDO28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEL1gQpDO28
- dekhn 12y agoI'm not using the drone, but we got the radios that 3drobotics designed and they're great. The firmware is written by Tridge (of Samba fame) and the arducopter people use it heavily.
- drawkbox 12y agoThe follow feature is killer. One day maybe when people go places drones will always follow, will really help for safety/documentation. For instance a trip into the Grand Canyon or a skiing trip if things went awry. Battery life, networking/communication distance needs to be much longer but there are so many possibilities. Maybe we'll see Russian videos with drones in addition to their dash cams that follow their drive.
- robotresearcher 12y ago> a trip into the Grand Canyon GPS needs a very good view of the sky, from lots of angles, to work well. Lots more work to do to do it reliably outdoors with patchy-or-no GPS.
- drawkbox 12y agoTrue. One thing you could do is have the drones map out areas using models and maybe even a few physical root points for them to base it on. Mapping it themselves something like this Dyson 360 vacuum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oguKCHP7jNQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oguKCHP7jNQ
- jjwiseman 12y agoThe NASA Airspace Operations Challenge is trying to advance the state of the art in UAV operation in conditions where there is no GPS or GPS is degraded: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/uas/ http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challe... As examples, inertial navigation or laser or vision-based techniques (VSLAM etc.) might be ways to deal with GPS issues.
- hueving 12y agoMissiles used by the military already use inertial navigation to avoid GPS jamming issues so it's definitely possible.
- asynchronous13 12y ago
- durkie 12y agodoes anyone know how these types of follow-me drones do with obstacle avoidance? do you just tell them to fly high enough that they avoid things by going over them?
- mrpollo 12y agoI believe its restricted by a Geofence
- atomicUpdate 12y agoThis doesn't sound right. How do you geofence every tree and telephone pole?
- garretruh 12y agoObviously you can't. The geofence (as implemented in ArduPilot) is simply a safety measure; once the aircraft passes outside of a defined zone, it returns to a pre-determined waypoint inside the fence and waits for further pilot commands. To answer the initial question, the latest versions of ArduPilot implement terrain following (based on terrain data loaded into the flight computer before-hand). Additionally, there is also now support for range-finding instruments like Lidar Lite [0], although I don't believe those are currently being used in the terrain following mode. Such instruments could conceivably be used to implement "look-ahead" functionality to more accurately avoid obstacles. [0] https://store.3drobotics.com/products/lidar-lite https://store.3drobotics.com/products/lidar-lite
- pj_mukh 12y agoThey don't :). Its upto you to make sure it doesn't crash into anything. Its not a co-incidence that all the videos of this tech is shot in large open fields ;) Obstacle avoidance is coming though! The research world is converging on a solution!
- Istof 12y agoI didn't compare the specs but you can get a quadcopter for $38 shipping included http://www.amazon.com/my-first-quad/dp/B00IZC6C8E/ http://www.amazon.com/my-first-quad/dp/B00IZC6C8E/
- commandar 12y agoYou're comparing a very basic microquad that will easily fit in the palm of your hand with a quad with a 550mm frame, 20 minute flight time, and autonomous flight capability.
- mbrameld 12y agoThat's like comparing a Tesla to a Hot-Wheels car.
- Istof 12y agoProbably more like a Tesla VS gas powered go-kart.
- dweekly 12y agoCurrent IRIS owner here. Looks like the IRIS+ still only includes a two-axis Tarot gimbal; while the gimbal _vastly_ improves image quality vs direct-mount, failure to stabilize yaw yields a fair amount of shake - I was hoping the IRIS+ would add 3D stabilization to offer full stabilization and was disappointed to see this wasn't the case. On the bright side, the battery pack is much bigger than on the IRIS (5100 mAh vs 3500mAh, which explains much of the flight time difference) and the long legs are now included by default weighing in at the same 1283g. The included follow-me mode is not very good unless it's been dramatically improved from ~3 months ago. Will be interesting to see how this ends up competing with RTF follow-me solutions from AirDog and Hexo+ next year.
- wbandxx 12y agoDidn't US ban all UAV except use by LE agencies and military ? So what's the point of purchase ? LE can assume you are threat and kill you , at least in US.
- atmosx 12y agoYou mean that I can go snowboarding and this thing will stay infront/behind me (I ride from 25 to 65 km/h) for 15 minutes?! I can't believe this. Anyone here tested this drone?
- pj_mukh 12y agoThat should work. Just dont zip by a line of trees, might end badly.
- sytelus 12y agoI'd been salivating at DJI Phantom II for a while and now this option looks even better because of ability program it + flight paths. One complaint I've is too much emphasis on GoPro. People already have iPhone 6 and other smartphones with much better camera and capabilities than GoPro. Why shouldn't be I able to attach it to gimble instead of burning another $300+? This could be a great selling point against DJI's Vision+ system because it would be net cheaper and better for most people.
- JoeAltmaier 12y agoCool for documenting a party, a wedding, a parade. I see news agencies using these in future for public events!