We have seen blog posts about the Swinglet Cam from senseFly here and now the guys from senseFly have a new product, the eBee.
From the site
The eBee is lightweight enough to be launched by hand. It is fully autonomous during its entire flight. When it comes to landing, the eBee can either land in a circular clearing or, when space is limited, use its advanced ground sensing technology to make a fully autonomous straight-line landing.
The eBee comes with a mission planner
The included eMotion 2 software lets you plan, simulate, monitor and control the trajectory of the eBee both before and during flight. With simple drag&drop actions you can designate the area to be mapped, generate a flight plan and with a single mouse click you can update your mission or return the eBee to its starting location.
3D processing
With its 16MP high resolution camera, the eBee can capture images with a ground resolution of 3 to 30cm per pixel. Areas from 1.5 to 10km2 can be mapped in a single flight depending on image resolution and flight altitude. The eBee package includes Postflight Terra 3D (a fully automated 3D processing desktop software powered by Pix4D). After the initial data check in the field (overlap control and low resolution orthomosaic), Terra 3D automatically creates a precise geo-referenced orthomosaic and digital elevation model (DEM). Advanced users can further optimize their models through operator defined ground control points and seamlines.
Highlights
I haven't been able to find a price. The product will become available beginning of 2012. More information on the senseFly website: http://www.sensefly.com/products/ebee
Comments
Is anyone out there using the eBee RTK with Trimble? I am having a bit of trouble getting everything working correctly. I have connected my computer to the receiver and can start logging and then when I tell emotion that I am using the Trimble gps it appears as though it hooks it up but when I begin post processing I am never asked for a base station location. Also while flying a mission it says I am flying autonomously.
Can you program an APM:Plane to startup when you shake it, like the eBee? Sensational feature.
630g, flying on winds of up 45 km/h.... mmmmm...... I don't think so.
add a coverage of 10km2... I think this is way too optimistic.
Software is good, but area coverage and wind penetration is totally unrealistic.
I saw both senseFly swinglet CAM and x100 wings recently at a conference. It is true that material wise, they are horribly expensive. BUT, when I saw them in person (or drone), I had to respect them. To ensure out of the box usability, design and program the user interface... it's not that easy, not to mention not every one is able to stick their own APM to a plane and start from a scratch... These pictures and brochures don't do justice to these machines. In person (drone), they are beautifully made both inside and out.
Their previous product was priced at +$10K... probably they'll sell this new version for more than that...?
Correction, it's not that legal in Europe to fly such drones. In Belgium for example it's just NOT legal to go to a place and throw the drone into the air. You'll need to do some paperwork beforehand and wait to get a permission. I've seen the sensefly in action, and it does what it promises. When I was attending a demonstration (UAVg conference in Zürich), two of these drones were flying simultaneously. You'll pay for the out-of-the box aspect, the impressive autopilot (eg. on the sensefly, the engine stops each time you take images) and ease of use. Deployment was indeed: take out of the box, connect battery, shake it to start, throw it in the air, go to your laptop and set flightplan, upload, wait till the drone lands.
The performance of their gear really is top notch...
Another toy from sensefly !
10km2 hahaha my wing fly much much more in one single flight.
Given what they are offering on their site I think it is safe to assume that it will be substantially more than that John. Guess we'll find out early 2013.
I dont know how much it costs but if it works right out of the box I think thats worth at least a few hundred dollars over a DIY version.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next