The Lily Camera

[GiddYupJoe]

Thanks @GiddYupJoe. Guess I should have looked before I posted. Looks like a blast!

Nah... I'm just a nerd when it comes to all these tech toys! It wasn't big news. Suprisingly.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

Disclaimer... @Ronnie DO NOT click on the following link. You do not need this. This is not a post to get you to buy more drones.

This is the first I have seen like this. http://uncrate.com/stuff/sprite-portable-drone/

 

[Ronnie]

That is very cool (floats, waterproof and follow me function as well as compact) @GiddYupJoe but with a phantom 2 vision on the workbench and two other drones on order (one through kickstarter whose delivery date has been pushed back to the end of the summer), I'm going to pass on this one.

 

[Chris K]

wifey pre-ordered it the other day for fathers day.... Guess i get a receipt this fathers day for something i hope to get by next fathers day. she is excited to be riding down the lake, and toss it out and see if follow us... I have high hopes that it does what it shows in the video. I imagine that will cause me to have an inverter on the boat to charge it up... She is also wanting to watch movies on the sandbar on a 46 inch tv that we have to find a place to mount on the boat.... figure the first catfish coming by looking for scraps on the sandbar at dark will end that.

 

[Ronnie]

In the video they launched the lily by throwing it several times as well as let it take ff from the ground. I am sure that I will be launching from the ground or my hand more often than not. At least until I'm confident that the motors will spin up fast enough to keep it off the ground when launching by throwing it.

Next Father's Day if we are lucky. I bet they run into some last minute design or production problems that will delay shipment. Now that they have some "early adopter" money hopefully they will use some to set up a website to keep us informed of their status . Airdog is doing this now, not always great news but it is better than no news.

 

[Glassman]

Have you seen the new DJI Matrice 100 and Guidance ?

I wonder if Guidance can be adapted to my Phantom 2 Vision?

http://dev.dji.com/en/products/devices/guidance

 

[txav8r]

When I listened to the Matrice 100 video, the last few statements indicated to me, something I have wondered about for a long time. He said, "we are not pilots". The 10's of thousands of hours I have spent flying, I know all too well the things that come up. And I get the question all the time, "will they ever have pilotless commercial aircraft?" Technology is amazing, and these things are going to fill the sky I am sure. I have already seen a drone in commercial airspace and avoidance taken at LAX. One of these things could easily cause catastrophic damage. All of that aside, I still wonder about not being present in the actual aircraft, whether you have a video image to deal with or not. The conditions and the way you react is often felt, not seen, and without some pretty sophisticated sensing devices and instrumentation, it seems to me that the more expensive they get and the more urban they become, the higher the danger rate will be. If you can't use on on a ski slope, why the hell would it be ok for a commercial entity to use them in neighborhoods and urban areas? Piloting isn't just about controlling the aircraft, it is about those hairs on the back of your neck, the expectation and anticipation that only experience and being there gives you. I am not knocking the skill that being a drone driver takes, except for the Lily and other self directing drones, I am just concerned about the proliferation of them in our communities and environment. I see a definite place for them, and I too would enjoy having one to make myself famous in my own mind...I will have to follow the technology, but I am not ready to invest in it at this point. But I am waiting to see when the quadcopter becomes capable of having a pilot "inside" it and being affordable as a full sized aircraft!

 

[christopherglenn]

I am not sure if it will ever hit the market. The FAA doesn't allow full autopilot - autopilot is allowed, but a human must be at the controls. I didn't see controls for this drone.

 

[Glassman]

.... I have already seen a drone in commercial airspace and avoidance taken at LAX. ...

It wasn't me! I was someplace else and not flying anything I swear!

(I actually live just inside the restricted area for LAX, I'm allowed to go 120 meters up.)





how much is a meter?

 

[motorboater]

I am not sure if it will ever hit the market. The FAA doesn't allow full autopilot - autopilot is allowed, but a human must be at the controls. I didn't see controls for this drone.

The maximum distance it will fly from the tracking device is 100ft with a maximum altitude of 50ft if I recall correctly. So pretty much within range of where you can toss a stone.

 

[BigN8]

When I listened to the Matrice 100 video, the last few statements indicated to me, something I have wondered about for a long time. He said, "we are not pilots". The 10's of thousands of hours I have spent flying, I know all too well the things that come up. And I get the question all the time, "will they ever have pilotless commercial aircraft?" Technology is amazing, and these things are going to fill the sky I am sure. I have already seen a drone in commercial airspace and avoidance taken at LAX. One of these things could easily cause catastrophic damage. All of that aside, I still wonder about not being present in the actual aircraft, whether you have a video image to deal with or not. The conditions and the way you react is often felt, not seen, and without some pretty sophisticated sensing devices and instrumentation, it seems to me that the more expensive they get and the more urban they become, the higher the danger rate will be. If you can't use on on a ski slope, why the hell would it be ok for a commercial entity to use them in neighborhoods and urban areas? Piloting isn't just about controlling the aircraft, it is about those hairs on the back of your neck, the expectation and anticipation that only experience and being there gives you. I am not knocking the skill that being a drone driver takes, except for the Lily and other self directing drones, I am just concerned about the proliferation of them in our communities and environment. I see a definite place for them, and I too would enjoy having one to make myself famous in my own mind...I will have to follow the technology, but I am not ready to invest in it at this point. But I am waiting to see when the quadcopter becomes capable of having a pilot "inside" it and being affordable as a full sized aircraft!

Amen brother! I believe they have been banned by ski slopes not so much from a danger to skier factor but a nuisance to the tranquility and sheer beauty and mystic that a ski slope provides. Proliferation is the key word. It's hard not to envision a future where you have a bunch of teens and "middle aged teens" trying to make a highlight reel of themselves and a swarm of drone bees following behind all the way down the mountain. I've already seen multiple drones trying to fly way to close to people in party cove trying to get up close action shots.

It's kind of sad to see how technology has taken over the way it has. We can't live in the moment anymore. Have you been to a concert lately? It's a sea of smart phones raised in the air all shooting crappy video of the top playlist songs. I admit I was guilty once. But, then you get home and watch the video, with the shitty audio and you say to yourself, wow this seemed so much cooler in person. Because it was! Then you delete the video and move on. After the first time I never do it anymore. Now I soak it all in, and live in the moment of my favorite songs, and when I relive the moment to my friends and tell the story I'm sure I embellish how great, or close, or loud my experience was. It just seems we need to get back to living in the moment and not worrying about cataloging our cool experiences or trying to get that cool pic or video just so we can impress our "friends" on facebook. And if you get video of yourself doing some action sport it's never as good as it seems in your head! Right?? That huge creek jump I hit on my YZ 450 must have been 50' wide and I was like 20' in the air and in 5th gear pinned, but then you see the video or picture and you were in 3rd gear and the creek was maybe 10' wide! Also, never video yourself swinging a golf club! Trust me, I videoed my golf swing and my game went to shit for about 3 months. In my mind I swing the club just like Phil Mickelson or Rory!!! And that is okay, cause I can still hit the ball 300 yards...........sorta.

 

[Ronnie]

The lily and air dog have wrist mounted controls / homing devices. I think the sprite would have to as well. My local rc heli store is taking preorders for re dji matrix.

I don't see how this could get cheap enough to make delivery drones economically feasible. Plus there would be a lot of restrictions on what may be delivered. Probably a prohibition against alcohol, cigarettes, fuel, weapons, rx drugs, etc.

imho, there should always be a person in the background ready to take control if needed. Two plus pounds dropping out the sky at speed can kill or mame a person easily. What happens if one of these flys into the engine or wind shield of a jumbo jet?

 

[farrelltravis]

That seems pretty cool that it follows you. Also seems like "issues" could happen. But, nonetheless, awesome video!

 

[Ronnie]

Hopefully this is not a repost, but here is a link to a review of the lily.

 

[H2Oload]

Pretty neat. 20 min of flight time isn't much.

 

[Ronnie]

I just got an email from the company stating that the first round of preorders is over. Anyone ordering now won't receive their units until may 2016 at the earliest.

20 mins is actually a lot of time when you have to fly the thing but probably won't amount to much if this is a true set it and forget it thing.

 

[subysti]

Yea and the lily is up to $699 now. I was actually going to order one but at $699 I can't justify that for a toy.

 

[Ronnie]

Lily just moved its offices to SF and they are send me a lot more information about the company these days. Time will tell if they make their ship date but I still have my doubts.

 

[biffdotorg]

So to follow up an old topic, who has an ETA on their Lily pre-order yet?

DJI just announced the Phantom 4, and you guessed it, better follow-me features and obstacle avoidance.

http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-4?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=edm&utm_campaign=p4-release-en&sc_src=email_559464&sc_eh=ab027f37c78089f71&sc_llid=77351&sc_lid=12883630&sc_uid=F64PSUnV7V

Starting at $1399 of course.

 

[Ronnie]

Lili had not changed its anticipated ship date of early this summer.

Airdog had to postpone shipping since one of their beta units caught fire. They have since replaced all the batteries with newer versions. I expect mine any day now, as it's only 3 months late, so far.

I'd bet lily will push delivery back at least a few months. I'm not in the market for another phantom.