The result of 'Pocket Drone' aiming for cheap and easy-to-use drones was staggering



There is striking thing about the prosperity of drone (multi-copter) from around 2012, and it is natural that some people think that they want to do business with drone on that momentum. It appeared in Kickstarter in 2014Pocket DroneIs also a drone made by one of such startups. In Kickstarter, there were not many projects that eventually became useless without sending anything to the investor (Bakka), Pocket Drone was a project that reached completion of drones and the real thing reached GIGAZINE editorial department However, it was possible to reconfirm that "It is not OK if it is completed".

The Pocket Drone - Your personal flying robot by AirDroids - Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airdroids/the-pocket-drone-your-personal-flying-robot/

Ultra compact multicopter that can also be folded "The Pocket Drone" - GIGAZINE
http://gigazine.net/news/20140110-pocket-drone/


Pocket Drone is a drone handled by "AirDroids" startup, excluding both because there is a disadvantage that "the function is limited" on the market and "self-assembly and adjustment is difficult in the drone self-made kit" respectively It is made with the goal of "aiming for the GoPro of the multicopter world".

Project acceptance starts on January 8, 2014, by March 9, 2014 by the deadline 1946 people backer collected 922,912 dollars (about 114 million yen). The target was $ 35,000, so it is actually 26 times the amount of the goal collectedThe staff of AirDroids is delightedwas.

after that,Progressing smoothly, Shipment of the first team isIt began in December 2014.

Eventually, the real thing reached GIGAZINE editorial department. The outer box removed from cardboard for shipping was a bit torn at the corner, but this was torn from the beginning.


It is possible to enjoy it by automatic flying in GPS Navi, attaching a sports camera (action camera) and taking aerial photographs.


"Ready To Fly!", And it is easy to use immediately.


Boxes are opened, and besides the main body, various kinds are included.


Content is like this, body and manual, propo, camera etc are set.


Since it is already assembled, it is possible to skip with only a little setting. So, first of all, when I thought to charge the battery, I was a little surprised that I could use Kore instead of inserting batteries or connecting a USB cable.


The body is compactly folded like this ... ...


Opening the arms at both ends by hand ......


To the style at the time of flight.


...... Somehow, it comes out from the unit in the center, but is it good?


Somehow, the parts feel rough ... ....


The back side looks like this.


Expand the landing gear on the back of each arm.


The gear is stored one more step inside ... ...


It becomes like this when fully expanded. Pretty tough.


Return your eyes to the center of the body and pay attention to the gaps in the area where this blue part is attached to the four corners. Here is the part to install the action camera.


A hook and loop fastener is affixed to the clearance and three thin parts like this are installed, so remove it.


Insert this into the gap near the tip of the arm ... ...


Attach the opposite side to the landing gear that you deployed earlier.


It was a reinforcing member of the gear.


I turned it over and tried it.


When charging of the battery is completed, it is attached to the lower part of the unit at the center.


It is a very simple structure that turns on the power when connecting the plug to this battery and turns off the power when pulling it.


I opened the rotor which was folding, extended the main arm which was shrinking (the lower left of the photo), and I was able to take off.




The size of the unit in the center of the body is smaller than the iPhone 6s Plus.


This is about the expanded rotor.


When you connect the battery, preparation for takeoff is completed.


......, but deburring is insufficient up to the feathers of the rotor important for flight, or even if the landing gear is unlikely to be able to support the droning when landing, it is a drone that should be precise , I feel uneasy about the aircraft receiving the impression of "miscellaneous" very much. Since there was information that the maneuvering application will be released for Android and iOS at a later date, at that time, at the time of flying by themselves, we first checked how the reactions of people who have already received Pocket Drone I tried.

Then, if you look at this figure, expectations are to come, but the reputation is scattered. First of all, Mr. Lake HartwellSimon publishes a video on YouTube with the title "Airdroids Pocket Drone DO NOT BUY IT (You can not buy Airdroids Pocket Drone)". People who became a backer by seeing Pocket Drone at Kickstarter in February 2014, commented "It was the worst shopping."

Airdroids Pocket Drone DO NOT BUY IT - YouTube


Since this movie is an aerial photograph from Pocket Drone, it starts from where it is stopped in the landing area.


Started rising slowly.


As I rise while turning to the left, I will show the figure of Simon who is maneuvering.


Furthermore, since the left turn continues, the landing area which flew away soon became visible soon.


Then it climbed. Simon looking up at Pocket Drone. It seems to be going well.


But when the video switches and slow motion comes up ...


Pocket Drone approaching the building. Probably there is a shock that seems to have contacted the balcony on the second floor we saw earlier, and the landing gear which is off the front of the camera will fly.


Pocket Drone already seems to be uncontrollable, and it shows the appearance of Simon who bows down and avoids drones.


In that case as well, the landing gear is off and it is flying.


At last it crashed into the wall.


Pocket Drone rolling the ground on the ground and Simon looking at it.


Pocket Drone finally stopped moving upside down. Simon left his line of sight.


That should be that, Simon bought DJI Phantom 2 too much, so I liked it too much, so I bought two other sets in a different set and now it is a drone lover who owns 3 aircraft only with DJI Phantom 2 . Pocket Drone gave us extraordinary expectations, so this result is angry that "This is the worst of the things I bought".


Whether Lake Hartwell Simon's maneuvering is poor or if Pocket Drone that arrived to Lake Hartwell Simon is a defective item, it is never such a thing.

Pocket Drone part 1 - YouTube


DeltaBlast of Pocket Drone purchaser. I will fly Pocket Drone to the sunny weather enduring the drones.


Mount for camera mounting on the back. By the way, similar mounts are prepared for "sports camera" bundled with the main unit, but DeltaBlast seems to be using GoPro.


Stretch the landing gear to the maximum and keep the camera at the ground.


Connect the cables ......


It is flying.


Lake HartwellSimonPropoAlthough I was performing simple maneuvering only, DeltaBlast is using the attached GPS unit to display the map.


The flight itself is doing quite well.


But the problem landing. If you look carefully, the tip of the landing gear of Pocket Drone has not yet landed but it is plapling.


Naturally, I can not land cleanly, in a shape that makes me cramp and knees.


Moreover, turning off the pairing with the propo stops the rotation of the rotor, but it is a little time consuming and it continues to turn around as it is in a stagnant state.


I turned inside over and confirmed that one of the landing gears was disengaged. Since it is a structure that can be folded originally, there are many things that bend, but how is it that there are many things that go off ...?


DeltaBlast self-made and publishes the user guide "How to prevent everyone from repeating mistakes made by themselves".

Pocket Drone Community User Guide - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1228qdHqRJl8wtawLndP614OMkK76A9CZbh0TrNuFp9o/

According to the user guide, since the main body is incomprehensible in the first place, it is necessary to confirm it before skipping. On the other hand, it is talk of how much hurdle it is a drones, but NorthOlbo has published the results of challenging following this guide.

Life (brief) and Death of the AirDroid Pocket Drone - YouTube


NorthOlbo confirms Kickstarter's page. This was still under acceptance, and 1545 comments were received.


And what comes with the real thing that arrives is a fluent manual ......


A feather that can not keep equilibrium.


The charging speed of the battery is very slow ......


After charging, I installed the battery in the slot under the main body, but when moving the aircraft to the left and right though it should have been clicked it will move with hula.


The tail rotor is repaired before flight according to the aforementioned user guide.


Fasten the screw securely, OK with this.


But preparation is not over yet. For calibrationMission plannerIt becomes necessary software called.


It should have finally been able to fly Pocket Drone successfully.


Now, to the flight!


... ....


Kurun, I turned inside out.


Retry and take off safely this time.


However, it seems to be very difficult to navigate and it has risen quickly in a blink of an eye.


I think that it comes back by North Olbo and it is going to collide.


It rose again, but I could not hear the operating sound.


Pocket Drone going straight down.


The fuselage is safe thanks to felling over the roses. However, it is hard to recover because of the prickles.


It seems like it has started to make it fly well with a few times challenge ... ...


Originally, hovering should be stopped in the air without moving on the spot.


However, Pocket Drone moves about in a sway without the wind.


Furthermore, I will cross the fence that should have been set as "Do not go from here on ahead".


Eventually yawing began. Yawing is the movement that rotates around the vertical (up and down) direction of the aircraft. Rolling if this is horizontal (front and rear of the aircraft), pitching around the left and right direction of the aircraft. That is why the drone began to turn sideways (to the left and right).


The rotation does not stop.


For safety, NorthOlbo decided to land.


However, as in the past examples, it is difficult to land Pocket Drone cleanly.


Again landing gear was blown away.


LakeHartwellSimon who released the first movie also knew that the compass was not good, and according to this user guide, he said he was using the mission planner to make corrections. It was Pocket Drone "aiming for GoPro in the multicopter world", but a typical "Cheap and bastard"Lake Hartwell Simon commented," Please buy a product of DJI, money will not go to waste and good results will be obtained. "

By the way, if you have so many user guides, I thought that it would be good if we take the official in order to make improvements even a little, but the official website has already disappeared.

http://www.thepocketdrone.com/(404 error appears as of November 2015)

The official Twitter account has been left unattended in the process of making Pocket Drone. Since I was reporting the progress on the Kickstarter project page, I thought whether or not I put the direction on that.

AirDroids, Inc. (@ AirDroids) | Twitter
https://twitter.com/airdroids

The last tweet is that AirDroids' CTO (Chief Technology Officer) is instructing the assembly of Pocket Drone.


There was also an online store (shop.airdroids.com), but since airdroids.com is transferred to thepocketdrone.com it is not connected. It is not likely that you will be able to launch a pilot application for Android · iOS as it is already unknown where the development team is going ....

There are many dreamlike projects in Kickstarter,Ultra small aerial drone "ZANO" project collected over 400 million yen has been disruptedAs I did, it is not "to succeed because many money gathered", so those who are thinking about investing should feel about "Lucky if the project fails as a matter of fact, failure succeeds".

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in Review,   Hardware,   Video, Posted by logc_nt