Flybrix Turns Your Legos Into DIY Minidrone Masterpieces | WIRED

September 26, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

THE FLYBRIX TEAM didn’t set out to build an adorable DIY mini-drone out of Lego bricks. But as any road-tripper can tell you, sometimes the journey turns out to be more fun than the destination.

Amir Hirsch has a masters from MIT. Robb Walters has a PhD from Cal Tech. And Holly Kasun has a marketing background that spans from Nike to Nokia. Together, they set out to make small drones smarter, not STEM toys.

“What we were doing originally is going after autonomous flight for microdrones, using computer vision and some other technical milestones,” says Kasun. “While we were developing our product, we used Lego bricks to rapidly prototype our early drone designs.”

Tiny Drones Capture Gorgeous Views of Sizzling Lava Lake | Live Science

February 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a new video, a man in a silvery, heat-resistant suit walks perilously close to a bubbling, churning lava lake. The scene is set with stunning aerial shots of the volcanic crater and close-ups of the glowing orange molten rock, all captured with the help of tiny recreational drones.

The Autopilot Tech That Could Be a Total Game-Changer for Drones | WIRED

January 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Intel invented a new sport on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show this year: drone pong.

To play, four men stood around around a drone hovering in place. As each one approached the drone, it would float away from him, much like the digital ball in the classic video game Pong, and drift toward another person. He could then “pass” it to the next person by approaching the drone.

It’s a simple game, but it was one of the most talked about demos at CES this year because the technology that makes it work is quite complex. The drone had no remote control operator; instead it could “see” people approaching and and move away from them thanks to an autopilot system built by German company Ascending Technologies based in part on Intel’s RealSense 3D cameras.

This was more than a flashy demo. The AscTec Firefly pong drones are a real product from Ascending Technologies, and they will ship with the new autopilot technology later this year. Intel likes them so much, the chipmaker has bought a minority stake in Ascending.