Zero Zero Robotics has quietly launched the Hover Camera Passport, a portable self-flying drone designed to follow its subject and capture candid moments at arm’s length. Designed with casual consumers in mind, the tiny drone trades some functionality for ease of use so that you can grab it mid-flight without fear of losing a finger.

Essentially serving as a hands-free selfie stick, the lifelogging UAV includes sensors along the base to measure distance from the ground and maintain steady altitude when travelling up mountainous terrain or avoid objects when used indoors.

The propellers are safely housed within a carbon fiber grate for safe flights and when not in use, the tiny drone can be folded in half to the size of a DVD case weighing only half a pound. It comes with an 13MP CMOS image sensor and 4K ultra-HD video enabled via iPhone app, but lacks any kind of a gimbal or optical stabilisation, sufficing on digital image stabilisation alone.

While the Hover Camera Passport shares similarities with DJI Mavic and GoPro Karma for being a foldable UAV, don’t expect it to directly compete with either drone. It lacks advanced camera functions and only flies for relatively short 10 minute bursts meaning that the video snippets would be more suitable for sharing social media updates.

Still, Hover Camera Passport deserves credit for being a child-friendly solution to consumer drones and shows that the UAV market has potential to branch out in new directions. The drone currently retails at the early bird price of US$549, and will be later sold for US$599 in the coming weeks over on Zero Zero Robotics’ website here.

2016-10-17 03:00