14 DAY TRIAL // Aerial photography is a field that has really taken off in recent times thanks to drones. These flying quad-copters equipped with cameras are often used to document the world around us from atypical angles, which is great.
We have seen a lot of examples of drone usage for personal pleasure, like taking selfies from a cliff, but as great as these devices can be, they do come with a number of safety and regulatory issues.
A new quad-copter aims to make drone-usage easier
Well, Sergei Lupashin came up with an unusual yet clever idea of how one can bypass these restrictions to enjoy your drone to its full potential. His invention is called Fotokite, which is basically a camera drone… on the leash.
So how did Lupashin come up with the idea? He was inspired by a group of independent photographers in Russia who wanted to capture the extent of people protesting in response to the Russian Federal elections.
This event made him see the importance of drones in our everyday lives.
The problem is, drones come with a few caveats. For starters, they can be dangerous objects if you don’t know how to handle them well.
That's where the Fotokite tether drone comes in, a quad-copter put on a (dog) leash. The neat thing is that you don’t need a joystick to fly this thing. What you do is turn it on and then point it in the direction you want to fly it, give it a little twist and voila, there it goes.
Lupashin claims the Fotokite provides a safe, direct way to fly and the physical link between owner and drone allows clear visual accountability for third-parties.
The inspiration for the drone comes from good old kites
Like its name suggests, the Fotokite has been inspired by traditional kites and Lupashin hopes it will be regulated as such.
As for the main operations, framing a picture is said to be as easy as rotating your hand-held monitor and you can check out the video below to see the first test flights performed by the team behind the project.
Lupashin sees drones as becoming an integral part of photo journalism but also of everything human, so he hopes his Fotokite idea will help better regulate drones in the future.
He also hopes people’s reluctance towards drones will be appeased, once they discern the clear connection between quad-copter and owner.
The Fotokite isn't a real product just yet, but Lupashin and his team are working towards that. If you want to be kept up to date with what happens with the project, you can sign up on the Fotokite website to receive news and updates about the product.
