14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, we told you the story of HEXO+, which is a little drone smart enough to know where you are, so it can follow you around and film whatever you are doing.
Well, today we bring you word of a similar invention, which has been dubbed AirDog. But unlike the HEXO+, this flying pooch has been entirely 3D-printed.
The drone has been created by a company called Helico Aerospace Industries US LLC and is currently up on Kickstarter gathering funds and hoping to raise up to $200,000 / €146,540 to make it go mainstream.
As in the case of HEXO+, the AirDog will become your best friend, following you through the air, in order to record everything you need to have recorded.
Of course, the device is aimed at active users who are inclined towards extreme sports and such. So individuals who want to record their adventures but don’t want to rely on another person to help them achieve this (sometimes that’s not even possible if you’re escalating a complicated mountain) can turn to AirDog.
The system works by having the user wear a device on their wrist called the AirLeash, which looks quite chunky at the moment, but the team promises its size will be shrunken down.
The drone has been designed to follow the leash, so it will videotape everything that happens in its vicinity in six possible modes including Auto-follow, Relative position follow, Follow track, Hoover and aim, Circle and Look down.
But a little known fact concerning the AirDog is that the creators have been relying mainly on 3D printing techniques in order to bring it to life.
Apart from the electrical and sensor components, the AirDog is made up of Stratasys’s FDM-based ULTEM material, which has enabled the team to make the drone light and efficient.
The wearable part of the system, the AirLeash has also been 3D printed using Stratasys’s PolyJet multi-material 3D printer.
While the first prototypes of AirDog have been relying mostly on 3D printing technology, the consumer focused models will apparently use more traditional ways of manufacturing instead, because of supply constraints and deadlines that are to be met.
Anyway, the friendly AirDog companion and its AirLeash wearable will arrive with a price tag of $1,500 / €1,099, so if you too are an active surfer or mountain climber, you better start saving up.