Hoverair’s New Floating Aqua Drone Can Take Off And Land On Water

The HoverAir Aqua isn’t acrophobic of h2o and tin moreover correct itself if flipped complete by a wave. | Image: Zero Zero Robotics

Zero Zero Robotics has announced a caller autonomous drone that pairs nan simplicity of its HoverAir X1 pinch nan improved video capabilities of its HoverAir X1 Pro and, for nan first time, complete waterproofing. The caller HoverAir Aqua has an IP67 standing and is designed to float, take-off, and onshore connected h2o alternatively of an outstretched hand. It will perchance beryllium an easier measurement to movie activities connected nan h2o for illustration kayaking while your hands are occupied pinch a paddle, but it’s besides nan company’s astir costly drone to date.

As pinch erstwhile additions to nan HoverAir line, Zero Zero Robotics is making nan Aqua available for preorder done an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, pinch early vertebrate pricing starting astatine $999. The 2.7K/30fps HoverAir X1 launched past twelvemonth astatine $349, while nan company’s astir costly drone, nan 8K/30fps X1 Promax, is $699. Using a 1/1.3-inch sensor nan caller HoverAir Aqua is tin of capturing up to 4K/100fps slow mobility video, and it features a caller hydrophobic self-heating lens to thief clear h2o droplets.

To simplify launches, HoverAir drones typically return disconnected from your hand; an attack that besides gives nan drone’s camera a chance to fastener onto you truthful it tin way you during flight. When taking disconnected from water, nan Aqua usually won’t beryllium capable to spot you, truthful nan drone comes pinch a caller wireless accessory called nan Lighthouse you deterioration connected your limb truthful that it tin way you.

The Lighthouse doubles arsenic a distant power for triggering take-offs and landings and selecting 1 of nan HoverAir Aqua’s 15 autonomous formation modes including pursuing from down aliases filming while flying successful circles astir you.  It boosts travel speeds to up to 34mph, up from 26mph for nan X1 Pro and Promax. And while nan Aqua tin stay unchangeable successful winds up to astir 40mph, battling beardown gusts could trim nan drone’s estimated 23 minutes of formation clip per charge. There’s besides a caller Virtual Tether characteristic truthful that if nan drone floats excessively acold distant while not successful use, it will automatically return disconnected and return to you.

The HoverAir Aqua weighs little than 249 grams truthful you won’t person to registry it pinch aviation authorities, and it’s nan first drone from nan institution pinch a built-in 1.6-inch AMOLED surface for seeing unrecorded previews, changing signaling settings, aliases reviewing footage captured to its 128GB of built-in storage. The Aqua moreover knows erstwhile it’s upside down successful nan h2o and tin flip itself earlier a take-off. And while floating it tin constituent its gimballed camera down into nan h2o for capturing nan action beneath nan waves, but without immoderate of its search capabilities.