The Verge reports:
Fatdoor's plan is to allow neighbors with drones to synchronize their flight paths and even set landing locations outside their homes, making deliveries easy. Those deliveries will have to stay fairly light though: the Skyteboard will only hold around a pound of cargo, but that should at least let you borrow a cup of sugar. Fatdoor also recommends mounting a GoPro camera onto the Skyteboard. The drone already has one camera built in, and Fatdoor thinks that a two-camera system will make it perfect for neighbors who want to record their kids' soccer games with drones flying overhead — however strange a sight that might be.
Fatdoor's goal is to have its network and drones facilitate interaction throughout local communities, restoring the lost communication from a more innocent time in the world. It even thinks that a squad of drones might be able to fly a banner around a neighborhood advertising an event, getting everyone up and out of their homes for a block party. Most neighbors might call that a nuisance, but Fatdoor is hoping that believers in its dream of a connected neighborhood will get together to raise $300,000 to make it happen. Drones are being offered as rewards for $1,099 a piece.
From the Kickstarter listing:
The Skyteboard 3G features onboard 3G cellular, WiFi, and a payload capacity of 1 lbs. This allows you to add a GoPro Hero 3 Camera to compliment the Skyteboard 3G’s impressive internal Full HD camera, enabling two cameras on the single quadcopter. We hope to achieve a flight time of up to 15 minutes (and extended with an extra capacity battery). In addition, attachments to the Skyteboard 3G can be made with a 3D printer of your own, so you can design a payload extension that meets your wishes.
Folded up Skyteboard is easy to transport!
Installing the Skyteboard's Full HD Camera
With foldable bottom rotors, the Skyteboard 3G is comparable in size to a skateboard, and is easily transported when not in use. It is designed in collaboration with one of the world's best design agencies, IDEO in Palo Alto.
We have already built functional prototypes of the Skyteboard 3G. The Skyteboard currently works via radio frequency control (RC), but we already have an iOS and Android app for the social network built (available now on iTunes and Google Play) for our social network. We also now have the Skyteboard coordinating with our mobile app over WiFi, and are about 2 weeks away from having the Skyteboard prototype communicating both its position and altitude with our backend database via 3G. We have a world class team from the world's leading institutions for aeronautics and robotics from Stanford, NASA, and U.C. Berkeley, complemented by experienced social networking software developers with a track record of creating amazing products such as Cafe Press and Trademarkia.
Hairong, Manuel, and Jose priming the Skyteboard for flight in Mountain View, Ca
With more than sixty patents pending worldwide, the Skyteboard 3G is defining a new class of socially networked aerial vehicles. The Skyteboard 3G has a whole new shape and function - one that is designed to inspire users to think differently about safe and friendly neighborhood interactions and flights in the air. Please help us make the Skyteboard a reality by donating to our campaign today! Thank you!
Comments
Basic Plan? 300k? FAA? In addition to the ridiculous price tag and design they are charging a subscription fee? I don't like to bash on someones "idea" but this is a fail...
There does seem a influx of crowd sourced projects from major players. I'm beginning to think that this is just a new marketing strategy. Where's Bill Hicks when you need him? ;-)
Where is Jack Crossfire when we need him? I want his comment on this :-)
We should remind them that the Parrot AR.Drone and to be coming Parrot BeBop are also so called "social quadcopters" as you can share flight paths etc. So that niche is already taken.
I'd love to know on what basis they've been granted patents for the skateboard design other than it's exact dimensions the only thing I can think of is the foldable booms and that's been done loads before. To me this stinks of patent trolling with a view to stamp on or sue to death private innovation and/or licence to big business for profits they don't intend to share with the Kickstarter sponsors who they want to help them get started.
So why the need for Kickstarter...?
http://www.fatdoor.com/fatdoor-patents
Here's part of the patent list - can anyone find a link to the quad patents? I can't...
Knowing how much a patent costs, having sixty of them in preparation, I guess these guys then are already founded enough and do not need to make us believe they need to raise more money...
Sixty patents? These guys sound evil. Perhaps the drone is a formality and the real aim is to troll the industry.
I'm sorry, but I hope that they don't arrive to the goal.
If people starts promoting drones+patents at the end will be impossible to develop open source drones without violating the law.
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