
Sprite: a different drone - MichaelAO
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ascentaerosystems/sprite-the-portable-rugged-totally-different-small
======
OrwellianChild
Adding SPRITE to the list of upcoming autonomous camera drones I made for the
Lily announcement...

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
      Solo*    Pre-Order    May 2015   $1,399
      Ares HD  Kickstarter  Feb 2016   $999
      Lily     Pre-Order    Feb 2016   $519-$1,019
      SPRITE   Kickstarter  Dec 2015   $799
    
      *Note that all but Ares HD, Lily, & SPRITE require a $300 GoPro camera.
    

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

EDIT: Added Ares HD & Solo.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Add a few things like top speed, range, flight time, tracking method, and
you've got yourself a nice popular webpage/blog post.

~~~
OrwellianChild
Too many pre-production products now... I'm eagerly awaiting the day when
Wirecutter just has a "Best Autonomous Selfie Drone" category though... :)

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TheSisb2
My one concern with all these new drones that keep popping up is the flight
duration. This one is among the worst I've seen: "... flight endurance, which
is currently around 12 minutes". Others in the market don't seem to be much
better, clocking around 30mins - 1hr per flight.

Are any of these able to fly a preset, waypoint path for two or more hours? I
don't want to be thinking about the landing just as soon as it gets up in the
air.

~~~
lambda
Nope. We're pretty much limited by battery technology on that front; you need
bigger batteries to provide more power, but those bigger batteries mean more
weight, which means more power needed just to stay aloft. For a battery
powered multicopter, I think an hour or so is about the highest you can get (I
don't think I've seen any that claim over 40 minutes), and as you point out,
most drones are closer to the 15 to 20 minute range.

Of course, there are other designs like fixed wing planes which can be a bit
more efficient though more complicated to navigate in confined spaces and
without the ability to hover, and you can use internal combustion engines
which can get you much longer flight times due to the higher energy density of
their power source. But I don't think you're going to find any of the
affordable, battery powered multicopters that get you anything over an hour
(and even then, I would set my expectations at more like a half-hour for
anything affordable in realistic conditions).

~~~
6502nerdface
I wonder why more remote-operated drones like this aren't being designed with
gasoline motors rather than electric. I remember flying all kinds of tiny gas-
powered RC planes as a kid, and it's not obvious to me that the benefits of
electric out-weigh the multiple-orders-of-magnitude reduction in flight time.
In fact, what _are_ the principal advantages of electric UAVs over gas-
powered?

~~~
bri3d
Most quadcopters aren't gas-powered because they rely on rapidly adjusting the
speed of brushless motors attached to fixed-pitch props to control their
attitude.

A few hobbyists have built gas quads with variable-pitch rotors, but the
amount of mechanical complexity and hassle involved makes a similar nitro-
powered single-rotor helicopter more appealing for most hobby applications
(stunt flying etc).

As more novel designs that don't rely on precise motor speed control (for
example, this one) come into play, I think gas motors will make a minor
resurgence as people rediscover the energy density (and therefore flight time)
they can achieve.

However, for most hobbyists, electric just makes more sense. It's usually
quieter, works indoors, is generally a lot less of a pain in the ass to deal
with (no need for starters, glow plugs, choke, adjusting mixture, engine
maintenance, etc.), and is usually less heavily regulated.

~~~
SeoxyS
Why not hybrid? Have an onboard gas generator to recharge the batteries. As
soon as the gas runs out, the drone has X min of battery flight time left to
get back to solid ground. No need for mechanical complexity.

~~~
bri3d
There's an MIT spinoff called Top Flight that was working on a hybrid
quadcopter, IIRC. I think the main reason you don't see them in the hobbyist
space is size floor (you need a pretty big machine to make the weight overhead
of the motor, generator, and charge circuitry work out) and money.

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Riegerb
Looking at this from an Aerospace Engineering perspective, the weight
distribution / CG properties may significantly limit the lateral movement of
this vehicle; looks as such in the videos as well. This is because in order
for a helicopter to move laterally it must pitch the rotors (in this case
meaning the entire body) and a cg far from the rotor location makes this
difficult. Something to think about.

~~~
digikata
This application might not need that much lateral performance, and the cg as
is gives you nice static stability margin where you can relax all sorts of
other requirements (control loop can be slower, the nav sensors can be lower
performance, it's less sensitive to wind gusts, etc).

~~~
Riegerb
Absolutely - I just wanted to point this out after seeing some discussion
about this as a 'follow-me' type of sports filming drone.

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Animats
That's a nice piece of mechanical engineering. They crammed two full
helicopter blade pitch control heads into that cylinder and made it rugged.

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emehrkay
In the next 10 or so years, kids will have some pretty cool toys. My son would
love to have this for his bike rides. 2025 these things will be as common as
an iPad and will have things like environment-awareness.

This looks pretty cool. I cannot wait to see how this evolves.

~~~
stephengillie
I'm still waiting for the Perpetual Eclipse.

The Perpetual Eclipse is a quadcopter that calculates where the sun is,
triangulates where your eyes are, and just floats in the direct path light
travels when it gets in your eyes.

~~~
bentcorner
"Point-Defense Sunglasses"

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pdq
Did they really trademark Sprite™? Doesn't Coca Cola own that?

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jellicle
> Did they really trademark Sprite™?

No, or they would have used the R symbol instead of the TM.

> Doesn't Coca Cola own that?

Yes, and under modern trademark law, Coca-Cola will be contacting/threatening
them shortly, so you can expect a project name change.

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

~~~
narrowrail
As mentioned by others, that's not how trademark law works. Soda and drones
are not likely to be confused in the marketplace. I'd bet you $1000 on
longbets.org that KO do not cause this company to change the name of their toy
drone company.

~~~
iamcurious
My understanding of law leaves lots to be desired, but wouldn't the trial,
even if they won, be way too expensive? And there is always the risk of
losing, Coca-Cola can certainly afford better lawyers.

~~~
tobltobs
If I would be a startup I would love that kind of publicity.

~~~
iamcurious
Sure, as long as you can convert said publicity into money faster than you the
lawsuit drains you.

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outworlder
So, it is a helicopter with variable pitch blades.

How does it compare, reliability-wise, with quads? Quads only have to change
rotation speed. This one needs to change pitch, as helicopters do.

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codezero
Can anyone savvy here weigh in on how much having a two-axis rather than
three-axis gimbal will affect the stability of the video, if at all?

~~~
OrwellianChild
The third axis would just provide the ability to pan the video without
rotating the drone itself. With SPRITE's pod-style helicopter design, they may
be able to use the counter-rotor to provide the third axis of rotation
automatically.

~~~
baddox
Yes, the third axis is for yaw stability. While you certainly want that for
professional aerial video, it's not at all necessary for these action sports
products. Also, the aircraft can definitely yaw.

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IanDrake
It looks like image stabilization will be difficult with this design. The
camera seems to be at the bottom of a pendulum that swings as the drone moves
about.

Perhaps that's why the promo video shows very little actual footage.

~~~
OrwellianChild
They're including a 2-axis gimbal that should (mostly) compensate for this.

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peterwwillis
Why does it look like some sort of flying bomb? I'm much more terrified of
that hitting me than a rectangular piece of plastic that doesn't look like a
ballistic missile.

~~~
utku_karatas2
You're not alone. Actually every time I see similar products out there I see
flying death but this one specifically looks like it could drop a bite-sized
doom on me. :)

The fast pace of development and availability of these kind of flying
machinery is bound to create security implications sooner or later. These
things would be great for assassinations or with a fleet of them you can
absolutely terrorize the hell of a sizable area.

~~~
return0
Also great startup opportunities.

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alexander996
Seems like a great thing. :) One question. Are those propellers safe? They are
not covered with anything and may potentially hurt owner or other people
(face, eyes).

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coldcode
Nice design, makes more sense than the quads.

~~~
geobmx540
How does it make more sense? (Coming from someone with no clue and looking for
insights)

~~~
emilecantin
It has a much better form factor for carrying in a backpack than a quad; it
can fit in a water bottle pocket.

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tomelders
Seems like a market that goosoftple will soon be entering, or at least making
some acquihires

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BoardsOfCanada
Am I the only one who just can stand these promotional videos?

 _guitar music_ What if there was a... _CLICK_

I don't know what it is, I just get a feeling of being treated like an idiot
with a wallet.

~~~
bttf
Yeah, I muted the video as soon as I heard those first guitar chords.

~~~
BoardsOfCanada
Thanks, I'm just _amazed_ that someone upvoted my grumpy post :)

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untog
You're obviously new to HN!

~~~
mahyarm
Grumpy snark is engineer default half the time.

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atroyn
Also on product hunt:
[http://www.producthunt.com/posts/sprite](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/sprite)

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biggc
I'm going to be the childish person and say what I'm sure other people are
thinking. This is a very phallic looking drone.

~~~
evan_
No, this is a phallic-looking drone:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRslKeT0EmQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRslKeT0EmQ)

(arguably NSFW)

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hkon
I just wonder, are drones like these purchased by "enthusiasts" in the middle-
east?

~~~
hkon
3 patriots detected

