Who is Lilly?
What you probably don’t know is that “Lily” is a fully automated drone, that’s right no controller. Just throw it in the air and it will sit there, awaiting your instructions.
If extreme sports and outdoor activities are your thing, then Lilly will help you capture every second of it, whether your climbing mountains, riding waves or hitting the slopes on your snowboard. Up until now GoPro has been arguably the best action camera on the market and the most popular, it has also been used in a wide variety of drones. One thing all these drones have in common is the controller they come with. While I own a DJI Phantom myself, i must say it can be quite a challenge piloting it and controlling the camera to capture that perfect frame at the same time.
While I own a DJI Phantom myself, i must say it can be quite a challenge piloting it and controlling the camera to capture that perfect frame at the same time. Where Lilly comes into her own is its ability to lock onto your postion and follow your movements, this not only eliminates the need for a controller but allows for one person to film themselves.
What is Lily?
Lily is a drone created by Lily Robotics, a company that was co-founded by Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow, some recent Berkeley grads which obtained funding from Silicon Valley heavy-hitter Ron Conway. The two creators of Lily met when they were studying computer science and working at the UC Berkeley Robotics Laboratory, where they came up with the idea to make a drone that relies on a small GPS tracker. The operator of the drone needs to carry the GPS tracker on his wrist or in his pocket this enables the drone to recognize the person by using algorithms and computer vision technology. Audio is also record via a small microphone on the tracker itself.
Specifications
Lily, the self-flying drone that tracks and chases you costs $499, if you pre-order it, or $999, if you buy it from the market. Considering the price of other manually operated drones on the market we believe its good value for money. The device has a camera inside that shoots at 12MP and can shoot videos at 1080p or 720p at up to 120 frames per second. The high frame rate makes super slow mo shots possible and are easily programmable from the wrist controller. The drone has the ability to shoot 360 degrees and can fly at 25 miles per hour. Its raining outside? it doesnt matter, Lilly is 100% waterproof. Lilly has a maximum range of 100 feet and one charge will last up to 20 mins depending on the type of use it is getting. (My phantom is lucky to get 16 mins)
Meet Lily…
According to Henry Bradlow, Lily could be faster and her battery could last a little longer, But as far as we can tell for now her many positives far out way the negatives, her ease of use ultra portability and her sheer ruggedness are things other drones will definitely have to play catch up on in the future.
If you want to see Lilly in action click play on the below video, so if you want to know what this drone is capable of, watch this video and be amazed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2ld8WDcsg
At CES we were presented two new drones, Airdog and Hexo+, but none of them have the ability to self fly. In a couple of years the skies will be full of drones, Lilly provides and interesting glimpse into the future. We don’t know about you but we’re excited
