Some folks don’t take commercial drones very seriously. Military UAVs are a bit different, but you still hear people say that personal and commercial drones are never going to be a mass market item. Today, PowerUp Toys announced a new drone that will prove that whether or not drones are serious business, they can be serious fun.
The Powerup FPV is the first and only first-person view paper airplane drone. Using an embedded camera attached to the paper airplane, it puts the operators right into the cockpit, either via a smartphone or other smartphone-powered head-mounted display (HMD) like Google Cardboard. The embedded camera can transmit a live video stream of the flight experience straight to the user's smartphone with a range up to 300 ft. That technology comes from Parrot, makers of the AR.Drone and Minidrones.
“When my friend said I couldn't control a paper airplane with a smartphone, I sought to prove him wrong with our PowerUp 3.0,” said Shai Goitein, CEO, PowerUp Toys. “When he said I couldn't put a live-streaming camera on a paper airplane, I've again proved him wrong with PowerUp FPV. Now we are taking paper airplanes to new heights, and with the help of Parrot, are giving consumers the ability to see and feel the excitement of flying.”
Check it out in action here .
Image via Shutterstock
Users can control the flight using the HMD, or use the PowerUp App’s on-screen gamepad to control the drone. The fully rotating wide-view camera mounted on the unit lets users capture the journey as if they were looking forward from the cockpit or off the wings. The videos can be streamed via WiFi straight to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or any other video sharing service.
“PowerUp has created incredibly innovative products, bringing smartphone-controls to simple paper airplanes,” said Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO, Parrot. “We are providing Shai’s team with our streaming and software control technologies to help create the first ever paper airplane with a camera and live streaming. I wish them a very successful Kickstarter campaign.”
It can be preordered once the Kickstarter gets going or in retail during the summer next year. It costs $199 right now and it seems like you can’t buy more decidedly un-serious fun for so little cash.
Edited by
Kyle Piscioniere
