The waterproof HoverAir Aqua was announced for pre-orders and demonstrations this week, a significant step in the product's development after previously being known only as a crowd-funded drone concept, and met with some scepticism by many!
The HooverAir Aqua is a drone for surfers, paddleboarders, kayakers, jet skiers, fishing fans, and boaters, boasting features like 4K/100fps slow-mo and Level 7 wind resistance. It can not only fly over water, but also take off from it.
While the HooverAir Aqua was initially announced last year, the drone came first to IndieGoGo. But this week, pre-orders have opened outside of crowdfunding in some regions, including the UK and Japan. The drone is not listed on the company's US website, likely due to the foreign-made drone ban.
According to the company's UK website, pre-orders are expected to begin shipping in late May.
HoverAir began its journey by effectively introducing the concept of the 'follow-me' drone, which uses its camera or other sensors to follow the subject and record them, like an angelic action camera.
The HoverAir X1 drone made some compromises compared to the established competition when it came to flight time, but they were the right ones. As it turned out, a few people wanted to be followed by a drone for half an hour without intervening to change settings, so the X1 design worked just fine. It was also innovative – introducing a safety cage and a light, easily pocketed folding frame.
The HoverAir X1 Pro and ProMax models developed the concept, and later had to face competitors too – like the DJI Neo. This new 'Aqua,' however, is an entirely distinct product, tackling a different area of drone operation (and another which has eluded other firms).
It is not wise to fly over water in most drones – certainly not near it. You certainly need to keep your hands firmly on the controls, as you only have GPS as backup. The problem is that the more precise positioning is done optically by pointing a camera down and tracking the landscape's contrast fingerprint using technology called the Vision Positioning System or Optical Flow.
Because water tends to look the same from above (or be moving), optical positioning systems have problems. Even more so if you hover near the water, disturb the surface, and push up spray. This has been a problem for drones wanting to operate near the surface – meaning HoverAir's drones couldn't be used by surfers, even though they could follow the humans. Until now, that is.
The solution used, apparently, is RTK (Real Time Kinematics), a technology where the drone knows where the user is (because they wear, in this case, a wristband that acts as a "lighthouse" for the drone). RTK has been used in drones for accurate positioning, but usually only for mapping, not as a consumer tech.
As an additional failsafe, the drone is sealed and buoyant, so it can land on water if needed. The design makes it highly visible, like a life preserver.
With demos having begun at legendary Tokoy electronics stores on April 14, pre-orders are presently being taken for the drone in some regions (Japan, UK) at what we're told is a discounted price (HoverAir bundle £1411 £1129).
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