It bears repeating: Drones Are Hard. Above are some stats on the projects I've backed. I don't regret funding any of them, since I like encouraging these sorts of projects and I learn a lot from their updates. When a crowdfunding project I've backed actually shows up, I'm amazed (I call this being "Kickstartled") and then usually a bit disappointed that it isn't as cool or useful as I'd hoped. But I admire the work that it took into getting that far, and I'll keep backing them. This is my charity work ;-)
It's worth noting that none of these have arrived yet (with the exception of the disastrous Pockedrone, the less said about the better), so these bars will rise.
I've created a public spreadsheet here if you want to add to it. Screenshot from it below:
Comments
Good post
Let me shamelessly add Easy Drone to this list. We delivered our first KickStarter last year (albeit a few months late) and we are now on our second KickStarter that is looking to pull through.
Chris, you forgot about the Plexidrone by DreamQii.
I think they are about a year late, but I can't even remember as they keep on deleting the old promise dates from their IndeiGoGO campaign, setting new dates, missing those, deleting all commentary about those... I don't think they have even set a new promise date after they blew through their last one.
Over sell and under deliver. I thought in April that we were about to slide into the trough of disillusionment from the Gartner peak of inflated expectations.
I think it has begun
Thank Chris for you contribution to Kickstarter projects . My opinion is that after win a kickstarter you need a very good team because going in production with an innovative product is not so simple. Is simple to develop a early version of working prototype but the industrialization of the product need a lot of money that is the reason because some Kickstarter project need the support of VC after doing a good job on kicstarter.
The main error i think is to see the campaign only by marketing point of view and don't evaluate the technical iusse before start a campaign . Actually the kickstarter is for end user could be interesting to implement a similar approach but for core technology ownership . That could be done by dronecode fondation for example.
best
Roberto
A bit off topic but I've also grown fond of my multiple IRISs. They're cheap, decent flight time (without the gimbal) and incredibly durable. I've flown hundreds of hours on them including whacking them into trees and have only had to do minor repairs. Because of the simple design they're also quite hackable - replacing the flight controller is very do-able. On the other hand, with a gimbal they're a bit under powered and without live video they're starting to get long in the tooth.
You're spot on. I'm turning into Ralph Nader - HELP!!!
Jimmy - it would seem that it would take 3-5+ million dollars to bring something like that to market - I wonder how they are going to do it with 100K ??
Isn't it the old story of "if something sounds too good to be true it probably isn't"?
Forgive me my skepticism but it has served me well in many such cases!
The one I'm watching is FLYBi. Lots of features and big claims. Obstacle avoidance, charging station, head tracking...
I am a Zano orphan and am still waiting on RTK GPS.
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