Sprite: The Drone With A Twist
Let’s play spot the drone! Found it yet? At first, neither could I – then I watched their Kickstarter video and my jaw dropped. Now, this isn’t a quadcopter – so the video you get from this won’t be the incredibly stable stuff you get from something like DJI’s Inspire 1, but on a 1 axis gimbal, the 2MP 1080p30 (or 720p60) camera does do a pretty good job of keeping everything relatively stable and good looking. Now, for me, this… helicopter drone, is one of the coolest designs around. If you watch the video, you will notice the LIPO batteries inside are actually in a shock absorbent mount to save them from exploding – a nice touch that makes this a rather rugged and awesome drone. While the announcement of the Lily drone a week or two ago was interesting, for me this is even more so, as you get all the functionality of the Lily, such as waterproofness, the ability to have it follow you and such, but also some added features like you can draw where you want it to go on a map, and at each waypoint tell it to wait, circle, point the camera somewhere or change almost anything. That, for me is amazing.
Another benefit over the lily, is the thing they point out in the bottom right (and left) of the image above. It’s modular. That has kind of become a buzzword these days, but after watching the video, you’ll know what I mean. You can easily remove the camera module, plastic housing, battery or almost anything else to fix, swap out or tinker with – something I like a lot. They are advertising that this now comes with a 2-axis GoPro Gimbal as standard, along with the 2MP camera+mount. Being a bit of a drone geek myself, I know most drones (even the one I built) doesn’t exactly last that long on battery life – normally about 10 minutes, depending on the mAh rating of the battery, the Amp draw of the motors and the C rating of the batteries, but unfortunately they haven’t listed any of that information yet (EDIT: after checking their FAQ out, they mention that you can use a 2,600mAh-3,000mAh 3S LIPO battery with a standard XT60 connector). One thing I did notice however, was that the drone in the video was actually using a standard LIPO battery (for you nerds like me, it looks like a 3S 1500mAh battery from what I could tell, with an EC3 connector on the end.)
Sprite is controlled by either, and I find this really cool, a smartphone, tablet or standard 2.4GHz RF transmitter. Is it just me who thinks that alone makes it pretty awesome? I know ArduPilot lets you fly by GPS or control, but to see this in a production drone that you don’t have to solder bullet connectors onto ESCs is pretty awesome! Also, while on the topic of RF signals, Sprite is FPV ready, meaning all you need is an FPV receiver and goggles (or screen) and you are good to go! That is just awesome!
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Finally, the rather unique tube design is actually something I quite like, as it means it can fit in a bag easily, without having to carry a pelican bulletproof case just to carry your drone in (*ahem DJI*). I’d like to see them include some rubber bands or something to keep the propellers in place during travel though, or maybe some kind of sock (or use your own I guess..) to keep them safe – but other than that I am just outright impressed. At $799 for the cheaper version (no lipo battery charger or RF transmitter), they are technically still cheaper than the Lily drone (which is currently on pre-order for £499+$20 shipping, but will be going to $999+shipping after it launches), but won’t be shipped until December this year, and will likely begin regular off-the-shelf type sales after then. As of writing, the Kickstarter had around $164,000, with a goal of $200,000 to reach by the 14th of June – something I assume they will get to pretty easily!
Would you guys buy one? If I had the money I probably would, but I already own a drone so I guess I have an invested interest.. Let me know what you think of both this drone, this article and all other forms of madness in the comments down below, or on Twitter (@techteamgb) or Facebook (http://facebook.com/techteamgb)!
