AirDog Auto-Follow made its maiden appearance at the famous crowdsourcing platform focus on innovation, Kickstarter, where it was able to muster up a whopping 1.3 million dollars. This was followed by their award winning show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015. Ladies and gentleman, we bequeath unto you the world’s first auto-follow drone that has been built specifically to cover action and adventure oriented sports. It has the ability to follow you wherever you go and it doesn’t even need a pilot to do that.
This amazing Auto-Follow drone was released a few months back on March 31, 2016. A huge number of enthusiasts reserved their pre-orders for the AirDog drone at Amazon. However, many dronies didn’t get the chance at Kickstarter go to waste and got their hands on this splendid gadget during the funding round. Well folks, now is the time to take a closer look at this wonderful device and decide whether it is worthy of all the hype and plaudits that it has been getting from the drone aficionados all over the world or is it just a bubble that will soon pop up.
Table of Contents
AirDog Drone – An Easy to Use
Autonomous flight feature is the first thing that comes to mind for an auto-follow drone which does not require a pilot. You don’t have to be a veteran who has been toying around with drones for a fairly long time to get a hang of it. It’s not that tough to get it out of its original packing and set it whizzing through the air. As far as the looks are concerned, they don’t appear to be really attractive to be honest. But believe me, this machine is absolutely brimming with tons of sensors that ensure that the drone follows you accurately and smartly as you move around without any glitch.
Some of its sensors include a gyroscope to ensure that it remains stable during the flight, a barometer that keeps track of the atmospheric pressure, a magnetometer to measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field, accelerometer that determines the acceleration undergone by the drone and an integrated Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) mechanism that uses pulsed laser to measure ranges.
By harnessing the amazing power provided by these sensors, the drone knows where the target object is, keeps a close eye at the surrounding environment, and also keeps track of the speed with which the target object is moving to ensure that the captured video footages are without any jerks and thoroughly professional.
AirLeash Your AirDog
You must be wondering how does the drone know where the target object is? Well, if you want yourself to be captured, as is the case for adventure sports, all you’ve got to do is to put the AirLeash device on your wrist and the drone will follow you automatically. This device is actually a type of controller with which you can set a number of flight parameters such as the altitude at which you want the drone to fly, distance that the drone should keep from you, and its location of landing. All this detailed information can be changed from this remote package right from your wrist even if you are in the middle of exciting sports. No fuss whatsoever!
Here’s another advantage you get with the AirLeash. It is completely waterproof so you do not have to worry, even under water, that it’ll get wet. As a matter of fact, AirLeash has been designed in compliance with IP67 standards which imply that you can even submerge the device in up to three feet of water for about half an hour and it won’t suffer any damage at all. The remote controller sports about 820 feet (250 meters) of Bluetooth range which means that you can exercise complete control over your drone from at least a couple of soccer field lengths away. In case, you are not interested in strapping it up on your wrist, there is an assortment of attachment options that comes with AirLeash in the form of clamping systems.
Designed for Adventure Sports Actions
The creators of the AirDog Auto-Follow drone had developed it with the aim to revolutionize the concept of commonplace drones across the board and build something that is dedicated to cover action oriented outdoor sports. AirDog is able to capture the scintillating moments with stunningly professional output when you are jogging, running around, scaling a mountain, hiking, skiing, fishing, kayaking, snowboarding, swimming, riding a motorbike, driving, cycling or even sunbathing at a beach. Plenty of research has been put in to understand the nature and types of a number of adventure sports. Based on this research, the inventors of AirDog came up with this outstanding solution that is extremely easy to use, learn and does not need any experience in terms of the flying skill. The pilot-less drone does it all by itself!
Flight Modes of AirDog
What really makes this drone special is the pre-programmed settings with regard to the nature and type of each adventure sports. As discussed above, a lot of research has been carried and based on the outcomes of this research, the creators have come up with flight modes. So, instead of the drone aimlessly following you everywhere, the flight modes let the drone follow you in accordance with the kind of adventure sports that you are indulged in.
- Surf Mode: When you are at the beach, you just need to strap the AirLeash to your wrist, grab your surfboard and off you go surfing in the splashing waves. Once you are done, just give your AirLeash a tap and the AirDog will make a landing exactly at the spot from where it took off!
- Kiteboard Mode: At the time of taking off, the AirDog determines the environmental conditions including the wind speed and direction to ensure that the conditions are conducive for a safe flight. Similar to the surf mode, the drone will stay in the air as long as the weather conditions remain favorable and will return to base once you are done with flying the kites. In this mode, however, the drone makes a flight at an altitude that is comparatively higher than the surf mode so that it does not get tangled with your kite lines.
- Ski and Snowboard Mode: As an object moves down a ramp, the speed is inevitably going to increase while in snowy conditions, obstacles such as trees and cliffs are also a possibility. So, when you are skiing or snowboarding, the AirDog will avoid obstacles using its state of the art sensors. As you go downhill, the drone will keep a safe distance from you as well to ensure that the video shoot remains seamless and the device does not collide with any hindrance on the way down.
- Skatepark Mode: Skateparks are more often than not small sized and do occupy a large space. So, AirDog has been programmed to keep circling over the same place for as long as you are skating. The AirLeash remote controller also includes directional keys that can be used by the person in control to change the direction of the drone in whatever way deemed fit.
- Wakeboard Mode: As far as wakeboarding is concerned, it is essential that the drone stays away from the trajectory to avoid any potential accident or crash. So, Air Dog, in this preset, maintains a safe distance from the line to ensure that the video recording remains of the highest quality possible while appropriate attention is paid to the safety aspect of the flight as well.
Dog is Compact
The AirDog has a built that is immensely light in weight and boasts a design that contains retractable body parts. Hence, it is astonishingly easy to wrap it up in your backpack and carry it wherever you want. The propellers can be removed whenever required while the arms can be retracted to ensure comfortable portability into the outdoors. This is yet another area where AirDog takes an edge over its competitors which, in general, are quite sturdy, heavy and almost impossible to carry from one place to another. [easyazon_link identifier=”B0182N93Z4″ locale=”US” tag=”100300d2-20″]AirDog Propellers[/easyazon_link]
Improve Your Training
The video footage and still photographs captured by the AirDog Auto-Follow drone are not only to be shared with your friends and loved ones. These can also help you in your training sessions to determine where you are going wrong and which parts of the game you have aced. As the drone follows you in your practice sessions and records your practice drills, you can see yourself in action and make appropriate adjustments in your techniques, approaches, exercises, warm ups, cool downs, planning and plenty of other stuff. Monitoring your progress over a period of time is no more impossible with this wonderful auto-follow gizmo.
Technical Specifications of AirDog Drone
- Flight Duration: 10-18 minutes (dependent on conditions)
- Battery: (interchangeable and rechargeable 14.8V 5600 mAh, Lithium Polymer batter)
- Top Speed: 44 mph (70 km/h)
- Ceiling: 11,500 feet
- Range: 820 feet (250 meters)
- Weight: 4.38 lbs (1.98 Kg)
- Connection Type: Bluetooth
Final Thoughts
The distance covered by the drone technology over the past decade or so is absolutely mind-boggling. Being a completely auto-follow drone, the AirDog Auto-Follow drone has been able to gain a lot of traction with the drone junkies as well as rookies alike. It’s an entirely different beast from all the other drones that have hitherto hit the shelves.
The AirLeash allows the user to exercise massive amount of control over the drone through a simplistic and uncluttered interface. The device is waterproof and provides a control range of about 250 meters, ensuring that the drone is able to professionally cover your adventure sports. Moreover, this drone boasts a design that is retractable so you can fold it up and carry it along as you hitch hike in search of adventures across the globe. So, if you are a sportsman who plays soccer or someone who takes a fancy to adventure sports such as skiing, snowboarding, surfing, hiking etc. or someone who just wants a gadget to shoot brilliant video footages of himself/herself, we believe that the AirDog is a wonderful choice for you and an investment that won’t let you forget even for a nanosecond!
