Portable waterproof drone "Sprite" for practical use, not for hobby

Although there are many shapes in which a plurality of rotors stick to the periphery of the aircraft to be flattened as drones, there are two rotors attached to the tip of the rod-like body of the design which drew a line with them, "It is a tool and not a toy"The drones who raised practicality anyway claiming"Sprite"is.

Sprite - Pre-order now on Kickstarter!
http://www.ascentaerosystems.com/sprite

Although Sprite is "Drones", it has a body that looks a lot different from the general drones. A propeller (rotor) for jumping to the sky is a type in which two sets of rotors are arranged on the upper and lower sides, and each rotates in the opposite direction. The aircraft is long and slender vertically, and the camera for shooting is mounted at the bottom.


The rotor is stored automatically when not in use and it looks like a water bottle or something. The size is 10 cm in diameter and 35 cm in length. It's a bit heavy as it weighs 1.2 kg, but it can be stored in a bag for a while, so you do not have to bother to build it when you use it.


The state that Sprite is actually flying and various features are contained in the following movie.


Trekking in the nature. The magnificent nature is what makes you want to put in pictures and images.


In such a case, take out the "Sprite" that I put in the bag I carried, holding over the air ... ...


Release it to the sky OK.


After that, along with the route we decided in advance, Sprite follows the person and shoots the landscape with the built-in camera in the aircraft as it jumps. In the aircraft under development it seems that it is possible to deliver speed of about 10 meters per second, that is, 36 km / h in terms of speed conversion.


When collecting Sprite that finished shooting, you can catch the descending aircraft by hand and OK.


Also, because of its rugged body structure, there is no problem even if you let it land without catching.


There is almost no protrusion and the rotor stops rotation at the time just before landing and it is stored in 0.5 seconds, so the influence on the surrounding seems to be less.


Even if it falls into the water, it's okay. It has waterproof performance, it is designed to float without sinking, so the possibility of submerging is low.


Operation such as starting a flight is to touch two buttons on the main unit but it's simplicity. Therefore, if you set it in advance, you do not need to bring in even the kind of tablet, not to mention PCs on the shooting site.


Setting the flight route like this when drawing a line on a map screen such as a tablet ......


The waypoint was set immediately and the route was created.


You can also make detailed settings for each waypoint afterwards.


Route setting is provided by 3DR companyTowerYaDroidPlanner,Mission PlannerIt can be done using freeware such as. You can also control your flight directly using Android smartphone or tablet, and 3DRFollow MeIt is also possible to shoot while chasing the object with.


Since detaching of the main body cover does not require a tool etc., it seems that it is unlikely that maintenance will be troubled even on the road.


Batteries for flying / shooting are built in the white part of the main unit. Although it is said that the flight possible time at the time of article creation is 12 minutes, the manufacturer seems to be doing optimization work further, and there seems to be room for improvement.


The camera is built in the lower part of the fuselage and is protected with a transparent protective cover.


Since the camera body is mounted on a 2 axis gimbal, it is possible to shoot without being affected by shake and tilt of the aircraft. It is also compatible with installing 1080p HD camera and installing GoPro of the action camera instead, and it is also possible to get a kit that enables optional FPV (first person perspective flight).


Since the body of Sprite is modularized, it is possible to add or delete functions as necessary.


An aerial image of a landscape photographed using these functions looks like this. I do not need to maneuver by myself and it is encouraging to be able to take this picture automatically.




In addition, many of the aerial photographs appearing in the movie are intact images shot by Sprite's prototype machine, and they said that they did not process anything. It seems to be said that it is finished in considerable quality.


Sprite is a cloud funding siteKickstarterWe are looking for investment in. About 200,000 dollars (about 25 million yen) of the target amount, about 290,000 dollars (about 36 million yen) are gathered at the time of article creation.

The prepared investment plans are as follows. In addition to being able to get one Sprite by investing in the "Pathfinder" plan of 799 dollars (about 100,000 yen), "Explorer" plan with set of controllers for piloting set is 949 dollars (about 120 thousand yen It has become yen). In addition, FPV kits using radio waves of the 5.8 GHz band are prepared for both plans for 1149 dollars (about 140,000 yen) and 1299 dollars (about 160,000 yen), respectively.


For shipping to Japan, a postage of $ 75 (approximately 9500 yen) is required separately. The deadline for investment is Japan time on Sunday, June 14, 2015 (Sunday) 12:52, and shipping time is scheduled around December 2015.

Sprite: portable and rugged. A totally different drone. By Ascent AeroSystems - Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ascentaerosystems/sprite-the-portable-rugged-totally-different-small