Zero Zero Robotics, the Hover Camera is a compact UAV with an integrated high-definition camera and an intriguing design. The drone folds in half when it’s not in use so it can be stowed easily, and then it opens into a square shape when it’s ready to launch.
It uses face and body recognition to lock on to a subject and slowly follow them around autonomously.13-megapixel camera records video at resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD. The device can also rotate in place to take 360-degree panoramic photos, and it has plenty more tricks.
“We had a few design goals in mind: Create a personal flying camera that’s portable and very safe, but also super easy to use for everyone,” says the CEO and founder of Zero Zero Robotics, Meng Qiu Wang
The final model is 238 grams—just over half a pound—which required a lot of efficient design and miniaturization to save weight. Its rectangular frame is somewhere between an iPhone 6S Plus and a notebook in size and fits in a purse.
Hover needed to be indoor-safe, so they wrapped its four propellers in a carbon fiber mesh cage that’s light yet strong enough to endure serious stress. Since the carbon fiber interrupted lots of airflow, the team calculated entirely new aerodynamics models, programmed algorithms to speed up the custom rotors to compensate, and made custom DC motors to handle the higher speed. Finally, the team had to embed all that AI and computer programming onto a tiny 3-by-5-centimeter chip no bigger than a stick of gum.
Zero Zero Robotics is aiming to price the Hover Camera at less than $600 when it’s made available sometime this summer, and the company is currently making early models available to a small number of users in a limited release.
