Skydio
Skydio is an American robotics and artificial intelligence company that has created an autonomous drone that flies itself without the need of a pilot. In 2018 the company announced and launched its first product[1], Skydio R1, a drone that utilizes 13 onboard cameras to understand and navigate its environment while filming a subject.
History
Skydio was founded in 2014 by Adam Bry, Abe Bachrach, and Matt Donahoe, who met while attending MIT.[2]
Skydio is backed by venture capital firms IVP, Playground Global, NVIDIA, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as notable athletes like Golden State Warriors player Kevin Durant.[3] Skydio has closed its Series B of $42 million, bringing its total funding to $70 million.[4]
Products
Skydio launched its first product, Skydio R1, on February 13, 2018. The R1's primary differentiation from other consumer- and prosumer-tier comes from the company's focus on autonomous flight, which The Verge's Nick Statt argued "transforms the prospect of owning a drone for something you do for the sake of it, or for a very specific niche purpose, into a matter of what you might be able to film when you don’t need a human pilot to fly it or a camera operator to capture footage."[5]
TechCrunch's Lucas Matney noted that Skydio R1's autonomous flight left him with far more footage of activities than one would expect from the effort that goes into controlling it: "Not every continuous shot you gather from the R1 will make the cut, but what’s crazy is that you literally don’t have to do anything. It just follows and records you, leaving you a lot of footage that you’ll be able to pare down in editing."[6]
Tech industry commentators like The Verge's Sean O'Kane have elsewhere highlighted that Skydio's emphasis on autonomy software rather than hardware allows Skydio R1 to improve via free updates: "Regardless, the gulf between what the R1 and what the Karma are capable of when it comes to the idea of “throw and go” drone filming is wider than whatever gap you might dare jump with a dirt bike. And it will keep getting wider if Skydio ships more updates like today’s."[7]
| Tech Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Compute | 256-core Nvidia Jetson GPU |
| Image Sensor | Sony IMX377 -- 1/2.3" sensor |
| Resolution | 4K30, 1080p60, 1080p30 |
| Storage | 64 GB onboard |
| Size | 13”x16”x1.5” |
| Weight | 2.2 lbs |
| Flight time | 16 minutes per battery |
Technology
Skydio’s technology combines artificial intelligence, computer vision, and advanced robotics. The core of their system utilizes 12 navigation cameras to give their drone stereoscopic vision in every direction. From there the information is fed into a GPU to compute simultaneous localization and mapping and motion planning.[8]
Skydio also utilizes deep neural networks[9] to help track subjects. It builds up a unique visual identifier to tell the subject apart from other people.
While other quadcopters have been marketed as "follow-me" drones, Skydio's computer-vision based approach has received praise for delivering on the promise of the concept, with Engadget Managing Editor James Trew writing, "At a technological level, the R1 is truly impressive. It eschews flaky GPS or wearable trackers for smart 3D vision tracking, and it works! This is the first “true” follow-me drone that delivers obstacle avoidance from all angles at speed."[10]
References
- ↑ Manjoo, Farhad (2018-02-13). "The Autonomous Selfie Drone Is Here. Is Society Ready for It?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ↑ "Skydio Demonstrates Incredible Obstacle-Dodging Full Autonomy With New R1 Consumer Drone". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ↑ "https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2018/02/14/skydio-selfie-drone-video-nvidia-16z.html". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-07-19. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Skydio Demonstrates Incredible Obstacle-Dodging Full Autonomy With New R1 Consumer Drone". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ↑ "The Skydio R1 autonomous drone is an action sport enthusiast's dream come true". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
- ↑ "Skydio R1 review: a mesmerizing, super-expensive self-flying drone". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
- ↑ "The Skydio R1 is becoming the drone GoPro should have made". The Verge. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
- ↑ "Skydio Demonstrates Incredible Obstacle-Dodging Full Autonomy With New R1 Consumer Drone". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ↑ Knight, Will. "Drones that dodge obstacles without guidance can pursue you like paparazzi". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ↑ "Skydio R1 review: The ultimate follow-me drone comes at a price". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
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