Lily – Drone camera - duck
======
dang
The submitted URL was https www . lily . camera.

We've taken it out above because it now redirects to a porn site.

------
bglazer
This is really, really cool.

That said, flying objects are inherently dangerous. I was at a bike race and a
guy was following the pack with a DJI drone. One motor suddenly failed and the
thing plummeted to the ground from 40ft and broke into a bunch of pieces.
Luckily, it didn't hit anyone but it would have been a major incident if it
had.

There's a lot of excitement about the cool, flashy features of these drones
(following, waterproof, nice camera) but no assurance that it won't suddenly
break and kill someone.

I want 99.9999% reliability and strong safety guarantees as a feature.

~~~
stinos
_One motor suddenly failed_

Maybe drones need to start to incorporate parachutes to slow down the fall in
case of problems like these, or maybe even airbags to ease the crash. Not that
it would make it 99.9999% reliable, but it should be better than nothing. And
also won't completely thrash your drone when it crashes.

 _edit_ seems nine_k already commented with a similar idea

~~~
Istof
Quadcopters can also be saved if only one motor fails using only the 3 other
motors and an algo: [http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/new-algorithm-can-
save-a...](http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/new-algorithm-can-save-a-
quadcopter-after-one-motor-prop-failure)

~~~
robotresearcher
Recent research has had controlled landing on 2 motors in real robots (and one
motor in simulation only). The main trick is to spin the whole vehicle around
the z axis (up-down) very fast, and modulate the speed of the remaining rotors
to apply forces at different places around the centre of gravity. IIRC the
one-rotor version didn't work on a real robot due to limits on the frequency
response of the real-world motor controller.

~~~
Istof
Sounds plausible but I haven't read about this before and would like to know
more, do you have a reference handy?

~~~
aannoonn
In regards to turning on the z-axis to be able to land with engine failure, I
believe User is referring to Autorotation:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation)

~~~
gcr
I thought autorotation was only useful if you're moving ahead very fast (high
ground speed) while also falling. Is that right? Most drones are essentially
hovering much of the time.

------
eclipxe
Video made me want to have a more active life. I thought "cool!" but then I
imagined my video output would be hours of me typing, browsing HN & Reddit.

~~~
javert
Somebody should do a spoof video of their marketing video that shows exactly
that.

~~~
cybrjoe
Same concept:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VudWv9pQNdE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VudWv9pQNdE)

~~~
pron
Looks like an episode of Peep Show.

~~~
noja
Season 9 coming this year
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peep_Show_episodes#Ser...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peep_Show_episodes#Series_9_.282015.29)

------
josefresco
I wonder how this handles obstacles. The trails we ride are not wide open ski
slopes, or rivers, often times they are tight/wooded trails. Would like to see
how it handles "close following".

Lastly, the part in the video where the guy just tosses it into the river was
definitely mind-blowing.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
The biggest showstopper for me on this is the hugely disappointing top speed
(40 km/h). I'm an alpine skier (ex-racer) and the only times I go that slow is
on transport stages. This thing literally wouldn't be able to keep up with
Usain Bolt running the 100m. It needs at least twice the top speed.

~~~
wahsd
Usain Bolt does around 38 km/h

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Yeah, but I bet he accelerates faster.

Edit: he accelerates from standstill at 9.5 m/s^2. I couldn't find data on
what drones do.

~~~
jonknee
Drones usually accelerate quite rapidly (electric motors and all).

~~~
freehunter
Well electric motors can accelerate rapidly, but if they're pulling something
heavy, all you'll get is rapidly spinning electric motors and a slowly rising
object.

------
gambiter
I'm very impressed by the capabilities. I've seen 'follow me' drones before,
but I don't know if I've seen any that are waterproof or as compact as this.
And the smiling face on the front is a nice touch.

It's still hard to part with my money (even at 50% off) when the ship date is
next year though. I've been burned by various kickstarter projects that get
delayed ad infinitum.

~~~
bezaorj
From the FAQ: "What is your policy on refunds? If you decide to cancel your
pre-order before Lily ships, we will provide a full refund to you."

~~~
jamie_ca
And if you believe that, read up on the drama with
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pirate3d/the-
buccaneer-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pirate3d/the-buccaneer-
the-3d-printer-that-everyone-can-use/comments)

TLDR; during development of the printer, a number of things have changed
(including a noticeable reduction in print volume). Refunds were offered
August of last year, and the vast majority of refund requests are still
pending (and currently half a month behind their own deadline for the latest
update.

Not that I have any knowledge on whether the people behind Lily have better or
worse communication and management skills, but just because they're happy to
offer refunds doesn't mean they'll offer them promptly.

~~~
jonknee
Kickstarter is different than a direct purchase. Kickstarter maintains they
aren't a store so when things don't happen to plan you're kind of on your own.
With a direct purchase you can do a chargeback easily and get your money back
one way or the other.

~~~
CPLX
> With a direct purchase you can do a chargeback easily

Not after 90 days you can't.

------
evo_9
It's impressive, no doubt, but I wonder about the actual utility of the
device.

My main concerned is the 20m battery life/record time - that is pretty
limiting. If I were to use this to record myself snowboarding (like the video
shows), that would be a problem. Here in Colorado a typical blue rated
mountain run is easily 20m from top to bottom, esp. if you aren't gunning it
the whole way. When I ride alone I can maybe go top to bottom in slightly
under 20m but I'm flying and really pushing it the whole time, I wonder if the
drone could even keep up in that situation (speed would be over 25mph almost
the entire time).

Pretty cool but I personally think there is much bigger market for a device
designed to record kids playing hockey, basketball, soccer etc... imagine a
tripod that tracks your kid, that would be way way more killer and useful for
most people and probably a ton cheaper as you could use a smartphone as the
camera.

Technically it's impressive as hell, I just don't know about how practical is
in actual use.

~~~
JeffL
There is a tripod that automatically tracks you. I get ads for it on YouTube
all the time. [http://www.gizmag.com/soloshot-automated-
tripod/25453/](http://www.gizmag.com/soloshot-automated-tripod/25453/)

~~~
baddox
I haven't been able to figure out how these work. GPS alone wouldn't give the
resolution and responsiveness required. It doesn't seem to be CV-based either,
since there's often no line of sight of the tracking device. Perhaps the
tripod has two directional signal strength sensors so it can tell if the
beacon is to the left or right, and move in order to keep the beacon centered.

~~~
ceequof
The popular theory is that it's a RTK differential GPS system: base station in
the tripod transmitting correction information to the remote unit. The
explains the warmup time, the accuracy, as well as the big price tag.

[http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/73083/how-
doe...](http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/73083/how-does-
soloshot-work)

~~~
dakridge
This was my question on Stack Exchange! I was so angry because I was so
curious how this worked, but I was downvoted to hell.

~~~
ceequof
Ha! I found your question a couple months ago after youtube hit me with the
soloshot ad, and I couldn't figure out how it worked. Despite being downvoted,
it still ranks fairly high on the SERP for "how the hell does the soloshot
work, their site is useless".

~~~
dakridge
I guess Stack Exchange isn't the place for discussion, just question and
answers only

------
ricardobeat
List of previous similar products:

[https://www.airdog.com](https://www.airdog.com)

[http://hexoplus.com](http://hexoplus.com)

[https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris](https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris)

[http://www.airmind.co](http://www.airmind.co)

~~~
OrwellianChild
Thanks for these! Prices/status for reference:

    
    
               Status       Release    Price
               -----------  ---------  ------------
      AirDog*  Pre-Order    Q3 2015    $1,295
      HEXO+*   Pre-Order    Sept 2015  $1,299
      IRIS+*   Available    Now        $750
      Mind4*   Kickstarter  Failed     $900-$1,489
      Lily     Pre-Order    Feb 2016   $519-$1,019
    
      *Note that all but Lily require a $300 GoPro camera.
    

Price ranges are for Pre-Order vs. Post-Ship pricing.

EDIT: Found Lily release date...

~~~
rasz_pl
They dont require a gopro, you can use $75 Xiaomi that is ~equal to 3+silver.
Lily stated video parameters match xiaomi perfectly.

~~~
minouye
Link?

~~~
rasz_pl
[http://www.banggood.com/Original-XiaoYi-Ambarella-A7LS-
BSI-C...](http://www.banggood.com/Original-XiaoYi-Ambarella-A7LS-BSI-CMOS-
WIFI-Sports-Action-Camera-p-969228.html?p=L90908952558201412PO)

$71 free shipping

review:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tybp5I9ow3I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tybp5I9ow3I)

------
DEinspanjer
Awesome, but my experience with current-gen pseudo-autonomous UAVs, these
questions immediately come to mind:

Can it follow you around the corner of a building without clipping it?

Can it avoid bumping into a tree?

Will it climb above the trees to follow you through a wooded area?

Can it avoid getting tangled in an overhead utility line?

~~~
gtirloni
[https://www.lily.camera/terms](https://www.lily.camera/terms)

 _Purchaser agrees to stay clear of anything in the range of the UAV, or
anything it could possibly collide with such as power lines, buildings, other
UAVs etc._

~~~
Grue3
As if there is a place where it can't possibly collide with anything! Oh, your
Lily divebombed into the ground? Well, you shouldn't have launched it near the
ground!

~~~
gtirloni
Perhaps I should have been more verbose. The information being asked is
nowhere to be found through the official channels. The only mention of
collisions and objects is in the terms document. I believe it's safe to assume
the Lily doesn't have that and they made sure to add clauses that shield them
against such claims (that it failed to avoid collisions).

I just tried to contribute with relevant information and got two sarcastic
replies in return. Well done, folks.

~~~
roryokane
I read Zezima as being sincere, and Grue3 as being sarcastic towards the terms
of service, not towards your helpful comment.

------
ericz
That is one of the first videos I've seen in a long time where I've thought
"wow we can do that now?"

~~~
blrsk
Thank you! This is just a glimpse of what one can do with Lily. Check out our
website www.lily.camera for more information.

~~~
wingerlang
The submission is literally a link to the website.

------
IanDrake
These are cool, but...

1) 20 minutes is great if your sole purpose is getting video, but not if your
sole purpose is surfing (let's say). A surf session might be 2 hours. Taking a
break to put your dead flying camera away in the middle of it isn't ideal.

Still there could be work around for this at some point.

2) Air space. The real problem. If you're surfing (again) or skiing you'll
annoy everyone with the sound of your drone.

Still for the more adventurous who get to surf or ski alone, this does look
pretty awesome, but will never be as ubiquitous as the GoPro.

~~~
louhike
This drone does not seem at all to be optimized for surf. It even says in the
FAQ to be cautious when putting it in salted water.

But yes, 20 minutes is really short, it's its major default. I suppose it was
a necessary sacrifice to make this kind of product at this time.

------
ep103
It would be cool if the remote in your pocket had a "Call 911!" button. So
like, if I was out snowboarding, and saw an avalanche coming, I probably
wouldn't be able to call 911. But this little drone is a good deal above me
and the avalanche/murderer/shark/whatever, it could call 911 for me, and when
they recovered it, it would have video of what happened to me. It could even
fly towards a preset location (known ranger station), broadcasting along the
way if there is no cell signal available.

~~~
grecy
In an avalanche you can't call anyone to save you. It will take them too long
to reach you, and you'll suffocate before they can reach you.

The chances of survival drop severely after 15 minutes of burial.

The only people that can save you in an Avalanche are the people in your
group.

Source: Canadian ski patroller.

~~~
tajen
What if the drone has a 2-3m acuracy of the position? At least in ski resorts
the bystanders can immediately rescue the person. Off tracks, it often happens
that 1 person is aside of the snow corridor.

~~~
jonjenk
That level of accuracy would be hard to achieve. Most radio signals (eg. BTLE)
don't travel well through water (eg. snow).

Additionally, if you've ever dug someone out in the field (or practiced doing
so) it takes a lot of effort to move snow. Being within three meters isn't
good enough.

------
rsync
One feature (or use case) that I would like a follow-me drone for is path-
lighting.

That is, let's say I'm going on a walk in the dark and I don't want to use a
flashlight or wear a headlamp - I've thought of a drone flying 8-10 feet up, a
few feet ahead of me, shining a light to light my way.

Since the Lily people seem to be here answering HN comments, I wonder, how far
off is your product from doing that ?

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Sorry, what? How on earth would this be better than a headlamp, apart from the
"look at my drone, my drone is amazing" part?

~~~
CPLX
> "look at my drone, my drone is amazing"

This is actually a fairly compelling reason to do things.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
True dat. But then the lamp part is just extra weight that also drains
electricity from the batteries.

~~~
CPLX
...while keeping the user perpetually in the spotlight.

------
Nadya
That's really, really nifty. Was wondering when a "point and shoot" drone
would hit the market.

I really want one but I've grown wary of pre-ordering products that haven't
been manufactured yet...

~~~
blrsk
Thank you Nadya! We are shipping in February 2016 and will be sending out
frequent updates. Stay tuned at www.lily.camera.

------
Mithaldu
This is some of the best marketing i've seen in a long while.

Just in case it's not obvious: I'm not complaining or being sarcastic, this is
honest praise.

------
GigabyteCoin
Just a personal gripe, but I hate it when websites don't work without the
pointless www. in front of their domain.

I just text a friend to visit [https://lily.camera](https://lily.camera) and
he'll never see it, because it doesn't exist.

~~~
chrischen
While I agree they should make www redirect, its not pointless. If you serve
sub domains or plan on serving them, www as your primary helps differentiate
cookies.

~~~
dpark
> its not pointless

It is entirely pointless to not redirect. There's no reason the URL posted
shouldn't redirect to the www version.

------
ccozan
Nice. We were doing sailing last week and was quite hard to figure the whole
activity with a GoPro, because I was focusing only on what I was doing, but my
fellows trimming the sails were not that much in the video.

So I was thinking of a drone to film us from the side or above, but our
skipper thought that no drone could handle the 15-20 knots with 30knts gusts
winds we were sailing in.

~~~
imaginenore
There are definitely drones that can fly way faster than 30 knots, but they
are not waterproof, and the ones I've seen are rather dumb, they don't follow
you.

Here's a drone that can fly at 100 mph (87 knots):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p5uDf9i_Yc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p5uDf9i_Yc)

~~~
dmix
That's oddly scary to watch for some reason. I'm not sure why?

Maybe due to the fact drones are primarily used for war at the moment...

~~~
sean-duffy
Primarily? I'd highly doubt that. Small multirotors and model aircraft like
these are far more ubiquitous than the machines weighing upwards of 2,000 kgs
which are used by the military.

~~~
dmix
Regardless of form-factor the military is the primary player in the drones
industry. The vast majority of operations and spending are classified.

I was thinking more about the future applications of high-speed small drones
when they become ubiquitous. Even if it is simply reconnaissance.

------
bradbeattie
Without a human operator assessing risk, what's to stop the drone from
accidentally flying into someone and cutting them up with its blades?

~~~
eclipxe
I can't speak for the Lily blades, but I have a couple of drones a little
larger and the blades are harmless - they stop as soon as they detect
obstruction and they are flexible/not sharp. It won't cut anyone.

~~~
lsaferite
I have NEVER seen a controller that would "stop as soon as they detect
obstruction" like you say. In reality the flight controller is likely to do
the opposite. Once it detects that the current speed of the blade is not
enough to provide the desired lift, it will INCREASE the speed.

Telling people the blades are harmless is very irresponsible.

~~~
jdiez17
The electronic speed controllers we use in RC have a loop time of a few
milliseconds and are fully programmable. Some of them are capable of sensing
the current going into the motor. You can also monitor the voltage instead
of/in addition to the current. It's easy to cut the throttle when there is an
unexpected power surge.

I personally haven't seen this technology in DIY multirotor parts, but I know
that the AR.Drone has what they call "cut-out detection". They use it to
prevent damage to the craft rather than humans, but the technology could be
tuned for this as well.

------
hustle600
I'm going to start building 'No Drones' signs and selling them to ski resorts
in anticipation of how annoying these will be when every 13 year old has one.

------
binoyxj
If this Guardian video is any hint, this drone needs to be worked on to make
it perform like advertised
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td5fZhGNz9M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td5fZhGNz9M)

~~~
fuzzywalrus
I was ready to throw my money at this until I saw this. As a developer, I know
the pains of alpha and beta demonstrations but this now seems more like a
kickerstarter project than finished product. Getting this off the ground (pun
intended) looks like its quite aways off.

------
Svenstaro
Please leave the scrolling behavior alone already!

------
rebootthesystem
I've been designing, building and flying model airplanes and later helicopters
since I was ten years old. I've always flown in the context of a registered
flying club and carry one million dollars insurance for my activity.

I continue to be horrified by what is happening with these multicopters.
People fly them outside of controlled environments and with a total lack of
consideration towards others or their property.

The vast majority of these things are cheap hobby-grade toys with laughable
"safety" features. I own RC helicopters costing in excess of $3,000 and use a
radio that costs well over $1,000. I still consider them dangerous toys not to
be flown outside of club controlled environments.

What sucks is this morons are going to kill somebody and this will ruin the
hobby for those of us who have been responsible flyers for decades.

~~~
sprkyco
While acknowledging the fact that drones being operated by "morons" do not
amount to safe. Could you fill me in on what safety features a 3k copter
offers over one of these smaller and arguably less threatening drones. Googled
a couple "high dollar" copters most seemed to be in range of ~4kg range with
large fixed carbon fiber blades as opposed to (in this particular case) a 3
pound object with collapsible polycarbonate blades. Honestly seeing this trend
of "automated" drones the only human controlled factor of idiocy would be
removed in part due to the automated nature of this drone, this would seem to
favor a trend towards safer operations.

~~~
rebootthesystem
I think you missed my point. Real model flight enthusiasts will only fly their
birds at RC clubs. Clubs impose structure, safety rules, etc.

In other words, even if you are flying total crap the probability of hurting
anyone or causing property damage is greately reduced.

To anser the other part of your question. A $3K heli has significantly better
electronics and mechanics when compared to something like a DJI quad. And, of
course, there's the fact that it has excellent autorotation with full control
on the way down.

Yet, again, the point is we don't fly over people, roads or buildings and we
have far more experience flying than most drone buyers.

~~~
sprkyco
It would seem we are missing each other's. "Club's impose structure, safety
rules etc" given this and other automated drones the imposition of structure
and safety rules is/can be written into the software. There has been mention
of providing no-fly zones that people could register and given a companies
interest in brand preservation the drones would respect the no-fly zones as
long as untampered with. However, I do understand the risk to life issues that
need to be confronted. I just wouldn't leap to the conclusion that there is a
mass of people buying drones, acting irresponsibly, and inciting a heavy
regulation of all hobby level flying.

~~~
rebootthesystem
Responsible model airplane enthusiasts are members of the American Modelers
Association. They, among other things, interface with the FAA and other
regulatory agencies on our behalf. We get regular reports on relevant
regulation, meetings and negotiations. Believe me, it doesn't take a mob of
people to create problems for AMA members.

No software today can do what a reponsible human being flying at a club does.
It's the equivalent of letting people take off and land full scale airplanes
and helicopters from anywhere, fly at any altitude, in any manner they wish
and without traffic control. In other words, unthinkable.

I do not fly over people or property. Software cannot make that decision for
me. And software certainly cannot restrict people buying a $300 quadcopter
from flying it above a group of kids at the park or over a crowd elsewhere. It
is a simple matter of individual responsibility and consideration for the
wellbeing of others. I choose to fly at a club because after 30 years of
experience flying (and, yes, crashing) all kinds of model aircraft I know
these things can fail anywhere, any time and for a million different reasons.
It is beyond irresponsible to fly these things in uncontrolled airspace.

------
naryad
Related drone camera projects on kickstarter
[https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?term=camera+dr...](https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?term=camera+drone&sort=most_funded)

~~~
Zombieball
Some of these projects are crazy. They could be straight out of the South Park
episode "Go Fund Yourself".

These campaigns are essentially people just asking you to buy them a drone:

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1430324424/drone-
scouti...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1430324424/drone-scouting-and-
videography)

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1802912897/drone-
build-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1802912897/drone-build-mark-1)

I wasn't aware campaigns of these sorts actually existed. Probably because I
have always stuck to the front page of kickstarter.

~~~
listic
Kickstarter has fewer projects of this kind than the other crowdfunding
platforms.

I thought they are not allowing them completely, but apparently not. Yet in
general, Kickstarter has higher quality content than other platforms.

------
digitalpacman
Their video of "actual footage" is 100% edited after they shot it. That is NO
way actual unedited footage.

Also.
[https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris](https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris)

------
digisth
This is a great step. Things I'd like to see:

\- Real obstacle avoidance so it can work in urban areas so people could do
news / tour guide broadcasts like some people are doing on Periscope these
days. Rather than holding your phone up in front of you (which gives you a
pretty shaky video), you could just tell it to follow you while you talk to it

\- A sliding viewfinder that stays on your "face side" so you could see
exactly what is being shot at all times.

\- The ability to stream the video to another device (like your phone attached
to an external HDD) would make it so you could shoot longer form stuff - maybe
even complete solo movies, like some of those Assassin's Creed-esque parkour
videos.

------
jjwiseman
I applied to YC with a speech interface for drones, one application of which
would be hands-free operation of selfie drones like this. E.g., if you're
mountain biking you probably don't want to take one hand off the handlebars
and try to press the button on the remote that means "Switch to leading shot".
Instead, you'd just talk into your earbud: "Switch to leading shot" or "Climb
to 100 feet", or more complex cinematographic instructions like "Pan from me
to tracker B"

Especially in the extreme sports selfie video genre, hands-free operation
would be a big advantage.

~~~
jdiez17
Interesting idea. I think the biggest challenge would be to filter out noise
(i.e wind blowing on the microphone). But in a limited domain such as this you
can do aggressive filtering and get fairly good results in very harsh
environments.

Really cool idea. Now I have a strange urge to break out the ArduCopter.

~~~
jjwiseman
I have an early test at
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBa11gdbeU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBa11gdbeU)

------
zellyn
This is great. Now, we're just waiting for better batteries: stretching out 20
minutes of flight time across a day or even morning of skiing, kayaking, etc.
is going to be difficult. I guess you can carry batteries with you.

~~~
timmaah
Battery is not removable.

~~~
crimsonalucard
That's horrible and possibly a deciding factor. I guess it had to be done in
order to make it waterproof.

~~~
mapt
I concur, you really need the possibility of multiple battery loads in order
to get full value out of this stuff.

Can you do non-conductive power transmission at reasonable weights and
efficiencies? I mean, my toothbrush does it, but I can't speak to the charging
rate.

~~~
crimsonalucard
Wireless power transmission can only be implemented using alternating current
through induction. Very hard to implement this in any meaningful way for
battery powered digital devices.

------
dharma1
There are a lot of drones that can do pretty much all of these things already,
or you can build your own using an open source flight controller like
ardupilot.

The main job here (which they have done well) is turning it into a mass
consumer product, easy to use package. DJI has done a pretty good job for
prosumers on it but this is another notch up.

Like the waterproofing!

Video suggests a higher level of autonomy than I think they have right now
(obstacle avoidance, automatic landing on your hand) but a year might be
enough to cram it in there.

I think we will see many more consumer drones like this.

------
libc
I'm curious how it homes in on the tracker.

~~~
mdpopescu
Apparently based on the hand device.

~~~
gr3yh47
i think the question is what tech does it use do accomplish this

~~~
libc
Yes this is what I was wondering. Some brief searching on similar devices
suggests it's a combination of precise sensors and algorithms to tie
everything together.

------
hougaard
Thats totally the Mario 64 camera :)

------
hoopism
Serious question. Is this not a thing being sold already? The design is really
nice and the video is really well done... the waterproof seems maybe a new
thing.

I have seen multiple promo videos for various drones offering same "follow me"
feature.

Here's one I found in few seconds
[https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris](https://store.3drobotics.com/products/iris)

The 3d mapping on this one is amazing.

------
ChuckMcM
Oh goody more vaporware for HN :-(. I get the concept, the ultimate selfie
movie, but I fear for the future of youtube's fails collection :-)

------
multibear
Does this actually exist? Looks neat, but I want to know if preorder money is
being used to develop the product that I'm preordering.

~~~
joeblau
This is my number 1 concern. There are so many vaporware hardware projects
now-a-days that I'm hesitant to pre-order. I feel like I'd rather just wait
because by the time this is eventually released, there may be 2-3 other
products that do the same thing, only better.

------
benpink
Here's a video of it being demonstrated for a Guardian journalist in Central
Park:
[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2015/may/12/test...](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2015/may/12/testing-
the-selfie-drone-in-central-park-video)

------
sean-duffy
The video looks cool and everything, but I don't really understand the
mentality around these kind of hands-off 'follow me' drones. If you want high-
quality aerial cinematography, you need a lot more than just an autonomous
drone in your general vicinity. Does this thing really have the intelligence
needed to correctly frame and compose shots?

~~~
TkTech
Why does it need to be high quality? Mom and dad aren't exactly pro
photographers and they still enjoy taking pictures.

Just look at the design of the thing, it's clearly more for play than work.

~~~
sean-duffy
Mom and dad probably aren't into extreme sports or spending $500 on toys
either, though. Which is why I think in a lot of these new drone ideas are
disconnected from their target audience.

~~~
krschultz
What? Parents have been buying GoPros as Christmas presents for their kids to
film their skiing down a blue square run at Stratton in droves. The last time
I was at a resort like that it seemed like every other 13 year old kid had a
video camera to capture their day.

I don't want to see the drones flying at the mountain when I ski, but the
blocker is definitely not lack of parents with money willing to blow it on
stupid toys for their kids.

------
thomasfl
The most exciting new products on HN is hardware in combination with software.
it used to be mostly software and websites.

------
kentf
If you live in or near Toronto, I have started a timeshare for a Lily -
[https://www.tilt.com/campaigns/lily-drone-
timeshare](https://www.tilt.com/campaigns/lily-drone-timeshare)

~~~
OoTheNigerian
You may want to put a better description in your tilt page. You are assuming
everyone visiting it know what that device is.

------
organsnyder
Extremely well done on the marketing. I watched the video with my 2- and
2-year-old boys. After we watched it a few times (we all wanted to watch it
again and again), the 4yo was talking about the features of the drone ("It has
a camera!" "It lands on your hand!" "It's waterproof!"), while the 2yo kept
repeating "Want one!" "Want one!" (which I don't think I was saying out loud
myself).

I wouldn't preorder one at this stage (even if I had a spare $500 lying
around), but this is one of the coolest gadgets I've seen in a while, and the
marketing is top-notch.

------
irl_zebra
Wow! Preordered, but used my AMEX in case it turns out to be VaporWare.

~~~
sc00ty
Out of curiousity, what does your AMEX card offer if this is VarporWare?

~~~
exelius
Amex allows you to dispute charges very easily. Their dispute resolution
process is slanted in favor of the cardholder rather than the merchant.

~~~
shortstuffsushi
Is this a reason that many merchants don't accept AmEx?

~~~
exelius
Partially, yes. But Amex also charges higher transaction fees, which come out
of the merchant's profits. Between the two, and the fact that only ~20% of
people have an Amex, many merchants decide Amex isn't worth the trouble.

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
In the video they looked apprehensive for a moment when lily landed in the
river next to the kayak. Or maybe that was just me feeling apprehensive for
them.

------
jmilloy
I can't help but imagine a time when, instead of smartphones or wearables,
it's not uncommon to have a little drone that flies around after you.

------
steven2012
Sorry, but I'll believe it when I see it being sold in stores. This has
Kickstarter syndrome written all over it. Meaning, a really cool idea and
flashy video, but it's in "pre-order" and there's no guarantee when it will
actually ship. And even when it does, I'd rather wait for reviews to tell me
how good it works rather than trust a marketing video.

------
srameshc
Very cool. I always thought mounting a camera on a drone is the way to take
photos when out but this is totally amazing the way it follows you.

------
darrelld
This is cool. I've been dreaming about something similar. In my mind though it
would be smaller and could hitch a ride on your shoulder.

~~~
6502nerdface
I imagine that one problem is that if it's too small, it will be unstable in
wind... So since they need a certain amount of weight for stability anyway,
might as well devote it to big batteries (rather than being small and dense).

~~~
darrelld
You're right. I wait for the day when we can make the batteries smaller /
motors more powerful.

------
stevewilhelm
I predict Silicon Valley lacrosse, soccer, baseball, football, and swimming
leagues will find it necessary to include language in their 'spectator code of
conduct' bylaws that restricts the use of these kind of drones at tournaments
and games.

I suspect some sports will allow limited use during practice and scrimmages
for training purposes.

------
farzher
I found this in the Youtube video comments:

> Currently, Lily does not have any obstacle avoidance capabilities. We have
> found that most outdoor activities do not need obstacle avoidance because
> Lily can follow the user's path. But again, there are no guarantees that
> Lily will not hit anything while it is following you.

"no obstacle avoidance" o_O

------
jreed91
I see someone like Gopro acquiring these guys

------
EvanAnderson
A step along the way to the drone cameras from Bruce Sterling's "The
Artificial Kid" coming to real life.

------
codeshaman
Would be interesting if you could have a bunch of these shooting from
different angles, positioned so that they don't shoot each other.

Basically it's like having your own cameramen, so you can have spectacular
camera angles without involving huge crews. This could be cool for TV shows,
documentary and indie films.

~~~
grecy
The FAQ says they're working on having multiple cameras follow one subject.

------
mmrasheed
Finally a drone with elegance and purpose. A truly consumer oriented drone.
Like it. Will wait for the v2.0 :)

------
taternuts
20 minute flying time is pretty bad - kind of delegates this to a "We want
this picture" or "We need this shot" type of thing, not "Turn it on follow
mode and let's see what we get after our walk/game/session" which would be a
lot more useful

~~~
dharma1
That's what the current energy density of lithium polymer batteries roughly is
on a drone with this size props and weight. Not much that can be done aside
from hoping for better battery tech!

------
basseq
The FAA doesn't appear to have any guidance on automated flying: e.g., it
doesn't say anything (at least in a 1m search) about a human pilot. (I was
surprised by this.)

So long as you stay within recreational use guidelines (e.g., don't upload
videos to YouTube), you should be fine.

~~~
titanomachy
Why would uploading to YouTube necessarily be a problem? Most people don't
make profit from YouTube uploads.

------
csel
What happens when you have multiple lily's up at the same time? Is there any
collision prevention?

------
moe
I'm a bit worried about that "throwing start".

What happens when the battery is low or when I give it a tad too much spin?

"Whoops, did I just lob my $500 gadget into solid concrete?"

Well, I suppose it probably has safer take-off modes, too. Can't wait until
they shrink it down to tennis ball size.

~~~
DarkUranium
There exist plenty of tiny camera drones, except those aren't autonomous. An
advantage is that crashes are less prone to damage (less mass => less momentum
and kinetic energy), and if they do get damaged, repairs are [typically] far
cheaper.

I don't know about battery life, though, and that might be a large
disadvantage of those. Also, fitting a GPS unit into one might be tricky.

------
MichaelTieso
Shared on Facebook and sadly showed up as "Home page - Lily" with no meta
description. If you're looking for more people to share and click, try fixing
your meta tags so when people share it shows full a good teaser of the product
is.

------
alexchamberlain
I'm not a web designer: just wondering, how does someone go about designing a
website with such animations as you scroll? I know there are a lot about these
days; are they all custom, or is there some tool chucking all these out?

~~~
vonklaus
with anything there are a lot of ways to do it. This is sort of a parralax
type of animation. There are many librarys that handle this, but one way is to
(at a certain place on the site) decouple the scroll from actually moving
further down the page, and use it as the keyframe engine for the animation.

This is a basic overview, but if you are interested google keywords like
"parralax" and "parralax animation"

------
alphonse23
It's finally happened, the robots are here. The future we were all promised!

------
vladgur
Since this looks like a drone that automatically follows you, how does it
negotiate with other drones that are around them.

What if there is another person snowboarding on that slope with Lily? And
he/she slides close to you?

------
siavosh
Dawn of the personal drone/robot/servants. I'm wondering if it's able to
navigate around tree branches or corners without slamming into anything as
opposed to the wide open spaces they show.

------
binarydogs
Brilliant video. Felt the need to watch it twice through in quick succession.

------
guruparan18
When I first saw, it reminded me of the 1997 Flubber house robot. For its
size, Lily takes just video. It would be good if there is some more smartness
and can be used indoors. Just like the house robot.

------
web007
Reminds me of [http://flynixie.com/](http://flynixie.com/) \- this one seems a
lot more robust, less "snap a quick shot and come back".

------
euphemize
The max speed is 40 k/h - I'm no expert cyclist, but what happens when you go
60, 70, 80 down a long hill? Can the Lily catch up to you, and up until how
far? What happens if it can't?

~~~
dharma1
It would get left behind. It looked like there is a little handheld GPS/wifi
beacon used for follow me. My guess is RTL (return to launch) as a failsafe
once you get outside wifi range

------
ape4
What if you throw it off a bridge only to realize that its out of charge.

------
bigtunacan
This reminded me of the Sphero Selfie bot April Fool's joke.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaR4X2iJo6M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaR4X2iJo6M)

------
oneiric
It seems like the propellers get close to each other. Usually quadcopter
propellers are spaced out much more than this to reduce vibrations. Does
anyone know if they do something special?

------
kelvin0
This will truly revolutionize the selfie. I am joking!! Seriously this is
truly going to sell like hot cakes. The film industry would probably love to
use these more ... Good job guys!

------
Tloewald
This seems kind of implausibly cheap for what it's offering.

~~~
titanomachy
$500 preorder vs $1000 later.

So either 1) they expect you to pay more later 2) they are selling the
preorders at a loss (woo venture funding! do things that don't scale!) or 3)
their markup will be _huge_ (>100%) when they start making regular sales.

------
akshatpradhan
The target market is vloggers. They would love a device that automatically
videotapes what they're saying as they're walking around Boston Common or
somewhere else.

------
CodeSheikh
__Correction Lily - Quadcopter camera

It is annoying that everyone started calling Quadcopter a "drone", which is a
very generic term. Flippin non-tech marketing peeps. -_-

~~~
oaktowner
I don't think that's a correction. You are being more specific, but Lily is
definitely "an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate
autonomously"...which is what a drone is[1].

[1]
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/drone](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/drone)

~~~
CodeSheikh
Since you have referenced dictionary.com, a very authentic source for tech
terminology, I would like to argue why a plane is not called "vessel" in
everyday usage?!
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vessel](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vessel)

------
snomad
Just idle speculation, what happens when 30 follow-me drones are on the slopes
at the same time? Will they all be able to avoid each other?

~~~
semi-extrinsic
The minute drones like these start shipping they'll be banned from all ski
resort faster than you can say pow.

Also, with a top speed of 40 km/h this isn't able to keep up with anyone who's
past the rookie stage skiing/snowboarding. So their marketing is very
misleading, either by intention or because these guys don't know shit about
skiing.

~~~
grecy
Anyone going faster than about 40km/h isn't really doing anything worth
filming anyway, other than ski racers.

All the interesting stuff for filming on the slopes happens at relatively low
speeds - park, moguls, jumps, butters, etc.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
If you're going any slower than 40 km/h the only thing you'll be doing in a
terrain park is falling on your face. This [1] cable-driven terrain park "for
children and adults" pulls you at 40 km/h. If you're looking at landing
anything bigger than a 360 you'll need to be going closer to 60 km/h. Ski
racers are not happy until they're going (a lot) faster than 90.

[1]
[http://www.al.no/en/html/aktiviteter/vinter/ski_snowboard_ca...](http://www.al.no/en/html/aktiviteter/vinter/ski_snowboard_cable_park/)

~~~
grecy
I'm a level 3 snowboard instructor in Canada, and I would say I infrequently
go over 40km/h. It's only when I stand still on a groomer and "go fast", or
for the run-in for the L/XL jumps.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Have you actually measured your speed though? Because the difference in speed
sensation between a snowboard and a car (or bicycle) is just unbelievable if
you haven't measured it.

The pull rope I linked above is for kids with small/medium jumps, and that's
40 km/h.

~~~
grecy
Yep, sometimes we race with GPS to see how fast we can go.

80 km/h on a snowboard is _fast_.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
That's interesting. Way back when I was a ski racing kid (about 14) we once
did a speed test where we closed off 400m of one of the children's slopes and
put a photocell at the bottom, and we would hit 90+ km/h on that thing. Mind
you, this was in racing gear with racing skis, but that was a flat-ass slope.
The fastest we ever clocked in a race was around 120, when I was 18, in the
worldcup downhill course in Åre.

~~~
grecy
Yep, having two planks and two edges on the ground is a huge advantage.

------
evan_
This looks cool but $999 is a lot of money for something I might use a couple
times a year. Maybe I'll be able to rent one sometime.

------
riq_
Nice concept, I want something like that... but it says "shipping Feb 2016"...
lot of things can happen during these 9 months.

------
todd3834
I have wanted this for so long. I wish it had longer flight time but I still
orderd this immediately, before the trailer even finished

------
redindian75
Tweeted Lily support about Obstacle Avoidance. Sadly no - it doesn't steer
clear of electric wires, branches and buildings.

------
bennesvig
Impressive. One typo in the video. It should say 120 fps at 720p. When I saw
the text I wondered why anyone would film in 720p.

~~~
storitn
Good point but storage capacity is a reason to use 720p

~~~
baddox
I don't do anything particularly serious, but I always shot my drone footage
at 720p. It's quicker to copy onto my PC and quicker to upload to YouTube, and
YouTube doesn't give you significantly higher quality on 1080p than 720p
anyway.

------
gbajson
Lily looks cool - but flies where it wants ;)

Is it possible to control it manually using standard RC controller and RC
modules (i.e. Frsky)?

------
dsap5432
Pretty cool..! You need a british guy in your team that can pronounce Aluminum
like Johny Ive and you sell like crazy.

------
amelius
It's waterproof, but still the lens will get wet. How did they solve that?

Also, does it have built-in collision avoidance?

~~~
jonknee
Solve what? The lens gets wet just like any other waterproof camera. At least
this one will blow dry itself off in short order.

------
fideloper
Wonder what kind of payload it can carry is :D (I imagine that was part of a
trade off for battery life)

------
efsavage
If they had made this look like a Star Wars Probe Droid I believe the Internet
may have actually broken.

------
genieyclo
Reminds me of the Kino from Stargate.

------
edmack
I've wanted this for ages for run filming! Excited to see if tracking works
well.........

------
aarondf
Did anyone else get nervous when he threw it off the bridge?

"Come on Lily... power up, POWER UP!"

------
jharig23
At 10"x10"x3", you're going to need really big pockets!

------
bottled_poe
Perhaps a stupid question - but where are the collision avoidance sensors?

------
soheil
Love the demo video, any idea what company/person did this?

------
pranade
Awesome stuff, guys!

------
amolgupta
what if you realize its out of battery after you throw it off. Starting the
rotors before throwing would make the user feel more confident.

------
jmboling
what happens when 10 skiers all release their lily cameras at the same time
and womp it down a slope at variable speeds ?

------
rblkenny
Great, more trash in our fields and streams.

------
guiomie
Potential acquisition for gopro?

------
sunilkumarc
Loved the video. Really nice :)

------
hienchu
I like ZANO more actually :)

------
yuncun
Hey Henry! We had calculus BC together at Westview. Congratulations, this
looks great. -Eric S.

------
wehadfun
Awesome website

------
cmstoken
Wow. This is purely amazing! Definitely ordering one.

------
jnsaff2
#selfiecopter

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Like a selfie stick, but way cooler.

------
ygmelnikova
"The new introspectiveness announced the demise of an established set of
traditional faiths centred on work and the postponement of gratification, and
the emergence of a consumption-oriented lifestyle ethic centred on lived
experience and the immediacy of daily lifestyle choices."

If my generation was called the "me" generation, how would you describe this
generation?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation)

------
imaginenore
Damn, that's impressive. I want to know the top speed and what kind of wind it
can handle.

------
wehrkeoruw
How fast can this go? Can I throw it out my car window and go down a street? A
highway? What does it do when it's lost the homing signal -- hover? Land?

------
zxcvcxz
Are there lightweight drones that can fly continuously with just solar power?
If not how far off are we?

------
supercoder
Reminds me of [http://flynixie.com](http://flynixie.com)

------
thrownaway2424
One more way for narcissists to annoy naturalists.

------
sagivo
the next generation of selfie

------
1ndex
Like GoPro, just 10x better?

------
wellboy
Like GoPro, just 10 times better?

