Nothing says you are important . . .

[werepossum]

like your own personal flying quadricopter camera platform hovering around you, recording every facet of your life in video. Seriously, part of the program is to hover around you. I'm sure that will be used MUCH more often than peeking into windows, over your sunbathing neighbor's fence, blackmailing that obnoxious neighbor, or chasing that annoying neighborhood dog crapping in your flower bed . . .

Ubercool, it's programmed in an open-source Linux-based software, so if you've ever wanted a palm-sized quadricopter able to record the horrified expressions as it dive-bombs your victims, now's your chance.

Always Innovating calls the MeCam a "self-video minicopter" in the video below. The camera can be operated by voice command, or it can be programmed to hover around you automatically. It has two autopilot algorithms and a Morpho Inc. video stabilizer. You upload video by streaming it to a smartphone or tablet.

Details about the hardware are sketchy. Always Innovating says on its website that the MeCam has 14 sensors and three stabilization algorithms, offers "one-click true panorama," and works without a remote. The company did not respond to our requests for interviews or information.

In a press release unveiling the device in January, Always Innovating says the MeCam is run by a Cortex-A9 SoC. This ARM-based, low-power processor comes with up to four cores. The release doesn't says how many cores the device uses, but it does say the SoC module runs at anywhere from 1.0GHz to 1.5GHz, depending on configuration. That's a lot faster than the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 CPU, a measly 468MHz ARM9. The Cortex-A9 SoC module also includes 1Gbyte of RAM, an SD card, Bluetooth, and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi.

Now that's some news you can use! Somehow . . .

Anyway, it's fun, it's not political, and no one died.

 

[Lanyap]

Future mini-drone.

 

[chucky2]

This would be awesome at the beach. Imagine all the downlooking photos and vids that could be made...

 

[Geosurface]

I would use this to investigate haunted houses

Does it pick up ghosts?

And can I strap an LED light to it without weighing it down too much?

See I'm too big of a pussy to go into haunted houses myself.

I imagine it would go down something like this:

 

[Attic]

I'd like to use that on during hiking if I could live stream to an iPad mini/iPhone. Send the thing 50 ft up and get a lay of the land.

 

[cubby1223]

I'd like to use that on during hiking if I could live stream to an iPad mini/iPhone. Send the thing 50 ft up and get a lay of the land.

Unfortunately would be indoors only, the wind would knock that around pretty severely.

 

[Geosurface]

Unfortunately would be indoors only, the wind would knock that around pretty severely.

I want to take it out on a really non-windy day and do what he said, but I'm going to strap a black hood around my head with an iPad it's streaming to mounted right in front of my face, so it's all I can see. I'm then going to pretend I'm playing a real life RTS or Diablo style game, if I can get it to float at an isometric angle and maintain it... and I'm going to move using only that vantage point for reference.

 

[zanejohnson]

omg i have to have one.

 

[blankslate]

Once the video quality is adequate I can see directors using these for interesting camera angles for movies.

Pretty cool find.

 

[blankslate]

I want to take it out on a really non-windy day and do what he said, but I'm going to strap a black hood around my head with an iPad it's streaming to mounted right in front of my face, so it's all I can see. I'm then going to pretend I'm playing a real life RTS or Diablo style game, if I can get it to float at an isometric angle and maintain it... and I'm going to move using only that vantage point for reference.

Don't do this near any traffic or places where you can fall and injure yourself.

 

[Moonbeam]

I like this one:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/quadcopter-modified-to-carry-machine-gun-20120423/

 

[blankslate]

I like this one:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/quadcopter-modified-to-carry-machine-gun-20120423/

LOL queue the "in Soviet Russia" jokes

 

[werepossum]

I like this one:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/quadcopter-modified-to-carry-machine-gun-20120423/

Okay, that is admittedly super-cool. But a quadcopter with a machine gun hovering around you doesn't say you're important, it says you're a super villain.

Geosurface, I now have this mental picture of you trying to explain to your neighbors why you attacked their Shitzu thinking it was a dragon . . .

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Okay, that is admittedly super-cool. But a quadcopter with a machine gun hovering around you doesn't say you're important, it says you're insane.

FTFY :biggrin:

No way I would do that with a real machine gun that was loaded/live, one good gust and you could be in the line of fire/full of holes.

 

[werepossum]

FTFY :biggrin:

No way I would do that with a real machine gun that was loaded/live, one good gust and you could be in the line of fire/full of holes.

Quite true. Pretty sure though that this quad isn't actually equipped with a submachine gun; rather, it appears to me to be a movie prop, where the "submachine gun" is a realistic-looking barrel where pressurized fuel is released in bursts and ignited to simulate muzzle flash. Which is arguably even cooler for civilians, as you can crash it into yourself or set yourself and/or your surroundings on fire, but not actually gun down yourself. It's one thing to have a cool toy, quite another to have one's cool toy inflict a gunshot wound on oneself.

A true military version would be ubercool. I suspect you'd need a larger model to carry the actual load and provide a stable firing platform though. A Javelin-equipped (or Spike or Predator-equipped) model would be great as well. Or perhaps a couple of 70mm FFAR rockets with dual purpose HE heads and laser guidance kits. Or, to perhaps get more practical, one that brings you water or ammo in the middle of a patrol or firefight - at which point we're almost back to the true utility, a flying camera platform.

 

[StinkyPinky]

like your own personal flying quadricopter camera platform hovering around you, recording every facet of your life in video. Seriously, part of the program is to hover around you. I'm sure that will be used MUCH more often than peeking into windows, over your sunbathing neighbor's fence, blackmailing that obnoxious neighbor, or chasing that annoying neighborhood dog crapping in your flower bed . . .

Ubercool, it's programmed in an open-source Linux-based software, so if you've ever wanted a palm-sized quadricopter able to record the horrified expressions as it dive-bombs your victims, now's your chance.

Now that's some news you can use! Somehow . . .

Anyway, it's fun, it's not political, and no one died.

I can see that breaking the first time it crash lands.

 

[Orignal Earl]

Quadrocopter Pole Acrobatics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp89tTDxXuI&feature=youtu.be

 

[Zorkorist]

Makes me think of the assassin drone in DUNE.

And the government wants to ban guns?

-John

 

[irishScott]

I can see that breaking the first time it crash lands.

This. I don't trust carbon board for structural support. I guess they're cheap enough to be semi-disposable, but still...