GoPro has pretty much dominated the action camera arena for a
few years now, and its not an unfamilar sight to see one strapped to
the underside of a quadcopter during flight. Now GoPro appears to want a piece of the airborne action itself as, according to the Wall Street Journal,
the company is working on its own line of camera-equipped drones.
It's
early days yet, but according to the WSJ, GoPro is developing a range of
drones costing between $500 - $1,000 (£316 - £633) ready to ship by the
end of 2015. The company itself hasn't commented on the
rumours but since going public back in June has invested heavily in
R&D. According to the WSJ, the company shipped 2.8 million cameras
in the first nine months of 2014.
Game of Drones
GoPro might be looking at drones, but its not the only tech company looking to control the skies.Amazon Prime Air
Amazon's well publicised drone delivery service is reportedly well on its way. Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos announced in a letter to shareholders that the design team were already on their seventh and eighth iteration.
Meanwhile the company was flight testing its fifth and sixth generation drones. Our public policy team, with the help of many allies, worked patiently for four years on this, at one point loading a test plane with 150 active Kindles. Yes, it all worked fine! said Bezos.
Oculus Rift
The Facebook-owned virtual reality company hasn't officially partnered with any drone manufacturers, but that hasn't stopped students combining the two.
The students (from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology) took a regular quadcopter, and instead of opting for just one camera, they put two on it – then hooked it up to the Oculus headset.
The budding engineers then used the Oculus Rift to send signals to the cameras.
As a result, the cameras tracked head movement and adjusted accordingly – in real time.
Facebook, when it's not busy trying to connect everyone on the planet, is apparently interested in pioneering Wi-Fi drones. Facebook’s fleet of drones will fly autonomously for extended periods of time at altitudes of up to 65,000 feet.
With commercial airlines flying at about 30,000 feet, the drones won’t be at risk of bumping into a Boeing. The project is in capable hands as Facebook confirmed it’s hired top aerospace aficionados from Ascenta, a firm that’s already built solar-powered drones for NASA.
