Despite promises to the contrary, drones cannot follow you down a mountain on a snowboard. But the video that showed that in 2015 was faked. The new Skydio R1, however, can do that. Just toss it in the air and shove off. This drone is $2500 and can follow you around in a challenging environment like overhead trees, dense foliage and going under arches. And it is completely unattended. The onboard camera is 4K. It’s hard to believe that some of the shots in the above video are hands off. Even if you try to hide behind a tree or other obstacle, the drone predicts where you might have gone.
There’s also a lead mode where the drone films you from the front. The Skydio R1 has 13 cameras so it can stitch together a 3-D Map so it knows where all the obstacles are. This is the technology self-driving cars use. On the downside, the drone does not have dedicated manual controls. It is intended for one type of shot – following a moving target.
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