clock menu more-arrow

Drones

GoPro is recalling its Karma drone

by Chris Welch

As most of the world focuses on the US presidential election tonight, GoPro just announced a recall of its first-ever drone, the $799 Karma. Approximately 2,500 Karma units sold since October 23rd (meaning all of them) are impacted. GoPro says “in...

16 comments

Alphabet’s drone division drops deal to air-deliver Starbucks

by Nick Statt

Alphabet Inc.’s Project Wing, the drone delivery team that began as part of the Google X “moonshot” factory, has canceled a tentative partnership with Starbucks, according to Bloomberg. Members of Project Wing and Starbucks apparently clashed over...

3 comments

DJI will likely announce its next Inspire drone later this month

by Rich McCormick

After images that appeared to show a potential follow-up to its Inspire drone leaked late in October, drone maker DJI appears ready to announce its next device this month. The company has sent invites to an event it's calling "Control/Create,"...

1 comment

Sweden places ban on flying camera drones without surveillance permits

by Zoya Teirstein

The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden just ruled that camera drones qualify as surveillance cameras and require a permit under Sweden's camera surveillance laws. The ruling requires owners to cough up a sizable fee in order to get their...

13 comments

The UK government is crashing drones into airplanes to see what happens

by James Vincent

As consumer drones become increasingly common, governments around the world are keeping a close eye at the dangers they pose — especially to regular aircraft. The UK government has even commissioned a series of test crashes between drones and...

4 comments

This flying 1,000 watt spotlight drone creates eerie, beautiful footage

by James Vincent

God bless YouTubers and their insatiable desire for messing around with electronics and drones. The latest fruits of their collective labor comes from YouTube channel rctestflight, which managed to strap a 1,000 watt LED light bar to the underside...

24 comments

The best way to stop a rogue drone is with another drone

by Ashley Carman

A company called Airspace is launching a bounty hunter drone that’ll capture other drones that infringe on airspace. It won’t traverse the country seeking out a specific drone, but it’ll keep your property intruder-free, or at least that's the...

14 comments

Drones begin delivering blood in Rwanda

by Amar Toor

Rwanda has launched the world's first national drone delivery system, which will be used to deliver blood to patients in remote areas of the country. The drones, manufactured by California robotics company Zipline, will begin delivering blood to...

Behold, the first drone with Intel outside

by James Vincent

Intel continues to make inroads into the drone industry, announcing this week the company's first branded drone for commercial use. The Falcon 8+ system is a complete package designed for "industrial inspection, surveying, and mapping," and is...

3 comments

Verizon will soon start selling data plans for drones

by Nick Statt

Verizon will soon start offering data plans for drones, allowing pilots to connect their devices to the telecom's network to stream video and transmit other data to a computer or smartphone on the ground. The plans will start at 1GB for $25 a...

10 comments

GoPro Karma or DJI Mavic Pro?

by Thomas Ricker

Two drones; in one corner we’ve got the DJI Mavic Pro from China, and in the other we’ve got the GoPro Karma from the United States of America. Which will you choose? Both drones shoot 4K, both fold up to carry in a backpack, both feature a...

30 comments

DJI helps China pivot from global copycat to tech innovator

by Thomas Ricker

Verge reporter Ben Popper describing the rise of DJI in his report from China yesterday:

8 comments

Rise of the RoboMasters

by Ben Popper

The lights dimmed inside the Shenzhen Bay Sports Stadium as the countdown to the match began. “Wu, si, san, er, yi!” A chime sounded and two teams of robots sprang into action across an intricately constructed battlefield. In the stands, thousands...

25 comments

This poor drone can never leave its box

by Ashley Carman

Wouldn’t it be nice to not need batteries to power our gadgets? Like if our drones could fly without us needing to plug them into the wall for some juice? One researcher at the Imperial College London is working on that goal. Dr. Samer Aldhaher...

1 comment

Take your old Legos and turn them into a working drone

by Ashley Carman

Legos are great, but they'd be way more fun if they could fly around. Obviously. Flybrix is a company dedicated to getting our Legos in the air. Its "Make Your Own Drone Kit Using Lego" launched today and comes with everything you need to get your...

7 comments

GoPro's Karma drone is easy to fly, but I still broke it

by Sean O'Kane

I’ve never flown a drone before, so of course I crashed the GoPro Karma. Okay, "crashed" might be a strong word for it — I broke a rotor when I landed the quadcopter too close to a rock. Other than that, my first flight was a blast. GoPro’s been...

32 comments

GoPro's Karma drone folds up and fits in a backpack

by Sean O'Kane

GoPro has finally taken the wraps off of the long-awaited Karma drone. Initially teased at the 2015 Code Conference and delayed earlier this year, the quadcopter was just shown off for the first time alongside two new action cameras at an event in...

30 comments

ESPN upgrades its drone coverage with new race season starting October 23rd

by James Vincent

Back in September, ESPN dipped its toe into the waters of FPV drone racing with a live stream of a three-day event in New York followed by an edited one-hour broadcast. The experiment seems to have been a success, and the network has now announced...

1 comment

Holland's drone-hunting eagles are ready to fly

by Amar Toor

Police in the Netherlands are ready to deploy a team of eagles to take down rogue drones, in a bid to protect airspace over airports and other sensitive areas. As the AFP reports, Dutch police have been training the eagles since 2015, and...

Here’s a drone with claws

by Ashley Carman

Japanese company Prodrone showed off a new drone his week called The PD6B-AW-ARM. Its main feature?  Terrifying arms. The claws can grab anything up to 44 pounds and deliver it. It is very cool and very scary looking. I’ll never own this drone...

4 comments

Who needs a friend with a boat when you can get a drone to drag you across water?

by Dami Lee

Smell ya later, friends! Don't need your dad's boat, Tanner, because I'm going dronesurfing. We've seen cases of droneboarding before, where drones are used to drag people across snow with underwhelming results. (The verdict was that it needs b...

9 comments

Parrot’s new robot developer kit will give any drone eyes

by Ashley Carman

Parrot introduced its new Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk developer kit this week. The kit works with software that’s based off the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm (aka S.L.A.M.). That algorithm allows drones to take in and map their...

1 comment

Alphabet partners with Chipotle to deliver burritos using drones

by Nick Statt

Google parent company Alphabet is teaming up with fast casual chain Chipotle to test drone delivery for Virginia Tech students, according to a report from Bloomberg. The pilot program marks a turning point for Alphabet’s Project Wing division,...

9 comments

DJI’s next drone might be foldable

by Ashley Carman

DJI is reportedly working on a new quadrocopter called the Mavic that’ll fold up for easy transport. Heliguy reports that photos of the drone leaked this past week along with some specs. The drone will supposedly come with a 4K camera and two-axis...

4 comments

GoPro might have accidentally given us our first look at its Karma drone

by Andrew Liptak

GoPro might have accidentally given us a sneak peak of its Karma drone. The company announced earlier this week that it would be unveiling the anticipated aircraft for the first time later this month. A since-removed preview on several of the...

8 comments

Parrot's new Minidrones look like they can fly the Death Star trench run

by Chaim Gartenberg

Today, Parrot announced its new Parrot Swing and Parrot Mambo Minidrones. The Minidrone line serves as a good entry point for people looking to get into the hobby, with their smaller, cheaper, and more toy-like designs versus larger and more...

4 comments

Yuneec released an affordable drone designed for social photography

by Micah Singleton

The latest drone from Yuneec isn't targeted at drone enthusiasts, but at people who want to step up their Instagram game. The Yuneec Breeze is a $499 "flying camera" that can take 4K video and 13MP images that can easily be shared to your social...

FAA regulations for commercial drones are now in effect

by James Vincent

New legal regulations for commercial drone pilots in the US come into effect today. The rules were outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) back in June, and cover unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kilograms) that are...

0 comments

This year's summer blockbuster is a drone ad

by Ashley Carman

China-based company Wingsland launched its new S6 drone this past week with probably the best short action film that hawks a product. The movie turns the S6 into a protagonist that eventually helps track down criminals with its spotlight and...

4 comments

This flying egg drone is yours to preorder for $1,288

by James Vincent

The PowerEgg is up and flying. Those aren't words I expected to write this morning, but sometimes life surprises you. The Egg in question is actually a drone made by Chinese company PowerVision. Renders of the craft were first shown off earlier...

0 comments

Parrot’s Disco drone is coming next month for $1,299

by Ashley Carman

Parrot showed us its fixed-wing Disco drone at CES this year, and now the company is saying it plans to release it next month. All a user has to do to fly the Disco is toss it in the air. It’s equipped with an accelerometer, gyroscope,...

3 comments

Intel's new Joule system can help gadgets see and understand the world

by Nick Statt

Intel today introduced a new chip module it calls Joule, a tiny board for developers designed to bring powerful computer vision technology to cheap and easy-to-make prototypes. Joule is essentially a tiny and powerful computer with all its...

2 comments
More Stories