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10 Futuristic Drone Concepts & Designs

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Technology has been moving so fast that new devices and machines emerged to better help people. Take for example, the evolution of communication devices — from pagers to candy bar phones to the many variations of smartphones and tablets we see today — brought better and better features and enhancements. 

And technology has moved far beyond than that: now, advanced technology mechanisms are used everywhere, such as in creating the likes of autonomous vehicles, in which the most popular at the moment are aerial vehicles we know today as drones. And now drones have become so popular that individuals and companies alike have found tons of possibles uses for then. Here are some of the drone ideas we found:

GoPro’s Karma Drone

Image via: GoPro

There had been a lot of camera drones out there in the market today. And of course, GoPro, the company famous for manufacturing action cameras, won’t allow itself to get left behind. GoPro just launched its Karma system, which it says is a compact and foldable drone system that can actually fit in the back pack that is included in the package. The company has begun to make the Karma system available on its website and in select sellers in Europe and is sold for €999.99, or €1399.99, if with HERO5.

Amazon’s Prime Air Delivery Drone

Image via: Amazon

I recently watched “Storks,” that animated film where storks (yes, the kind of bird) actually delivered packages to customers. Interesting idea, indeed, but we can’t expect storks to actually deliver us packages. But drones can. This e-commerce giant, Amazon, proves that they are aggressive in making delivery faster for each of its customers and decided to work on  drones that can deliver your orders in less than an hour. Currently, the drones are in private trial to select customers. We’ll just have to wait for this to fully rollout. After all, it already has begun its first delivery last December.

Natilus: Cargo Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

Another startup based in California, wants to make a similar attempt to that of Amazon, but bigger. The company, Natilus, came up with an idea of autonomous and amphibious drones that could transport upto 200,000 pounds cargo. Yes, it intends to operate similar to cargo planes at a much cheaper cost!

Jet Capsule’s UFO-inspired drone

Image via: Jet Capsule

This drone looks like a spacecraft that’s similar to those extraterrestrial films I’ve seen before. Though the company behind this idea, Jet Capsule, seems to project the drone as a ship-like vessel that would float on water.

This drone, called UFO, is intended to offer better amenities than your typical private jet, offering a transformable kitchen, a living and dining area, as well as a bedroom, within the two-storey architecture of the drone. This could also be our doomsday escape, if this eventually gets built out as it has a water generator that can covert rain and sea water into potable drinking water. 

Ehang 184 Autonomous Aerial Drone

Image via: http://www.ehang.com/ehang184/

We may also see a similar transportation service drone in Dubai soon. Called EHang 184, this drone is shaped like an egg and can carry a one person with a maximum weight of 220 pounds. That person can also carry a small suitcase or bag with him. Interestingly, this drone had already been tested to fly over Burj al-Arab and is expected to fly around in the Middle Eastern country in July.

Plan Bee Drone

Image via: Cnet

Meanwhile, this drone is made to grow your garden in style. Created by a college student, Plan Bee is a drone that’s intended to artificially pollinate flowers. Now, drones are not only replacing tasks of humans, but also of insects, huh?

Skeeter: Dragonfly biomimetric microdrone for surveillance

Image via: TechCrunch

Another participant in the animal-inspired drone is this biomimetric microdrone that is intended to look like a dragonfly. Conceptualized by British company Animal Dynamics, they wanted a drone that could mimic a dragonfly, including the wing-flapping movement the insect does. The tiny drone called Skeeter, which is expected to weigh just less than 30 grams, is intended cor covert surveillance  While still in testing phase, the company expects to have the machine fly in the next two to three months.

SkyOne: Oil Rig-Inspecting Drones

Image via: S

Drones are totally trying to address various problems across different industries. Another proof of that is Canadian company SkyX’s SkyOne craft, which is intended to inspect any damages gas and oil pipelines, thereby avoiding any catastrophic events, such as explosions from gas leaks. Something pipeline builders could definitely invest to.

DogDrones: Poo Scooper Drones
Image via: The Sun UK

Image via: The Sun UK

Too tired of cleaning up your dog’s mess? Here’s the drone for you! DogDrones consist of a fair of drones. First is the WatchDog 1, an aerial drone that has the capability to spot the dog poo through heat sensors, which would be detected by the installed camera. Once spotted, it will send signals to its tandem drone, Patroldog 1, which will move towards the poo and sweep it up. Problem solved! The drones are concepts of a Dutch based startup. While the idea is still in the early stages of development, all we have to do is wait and manually do the job for now.

Sea Lice-Killing Underwater Drone

Image via: Digital Trends

While most drones are built for aerial purposes, there are also a few ones made for under the water. This one’s especially tailored to solve a certain issue in salmon farming in Norway — sea lice. Apparently, salmon farmers have been spending tons of money to battle against these parasites. So, Stingray Marine Solutions developed an underwater drone to help solve their dilemma. The drone is built with an image-recognition technology to detect sea lice and to throw out a laser pulse that will eventually kill them. How cool is that?

Meet Karma, The First GoPro Drone

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GoPro Karma 1

GoPro cameras have revolutionized the way we see activities as cycling, skateboarding or skiing, but what happens when you mix them with a drone is way, way cooler than that. 

The world around us and especially the world of extreme sports has been revolutionized thanks to GoPro cameras, the specialized devices to record in movement from anywhere. The team behind them has, in the last few years, provided a few cameras for different drones, and we have seen some really impressive videos showcasing what can be done, yet the GoPro team has now decided to jump into the business too and create their very own drone, officially called Karma.

The name of this drone was first revealed through a promotional video that seems to have been recorded using this new drone. The most important thing when it comes to drones equipped with cameras are stability and fluidity, and in this recording of the Karma we got to see, we could appreciate a new, fantastic product doing amazing takes in an open field, and even in some really hard to maneuver areas such as a forest. Furthermore, it seemed capable of pretty impressing speeds, and a surprising ability to quickly turn around and get ready for different, wide shots. Check the video below these lines!

We still don’t know a lot about this drone except for the fact that it exists, so technical information is scarce. Despite this, we can confirm the video published by GoPro is 1080p, so we can assume it can carry cameras up to those specs, but we will have to wait and see to know whether there will be 4K models or not. It is possible that the GoPro drone will feature its own camera, not unlike the GoPro Hero 4 Session, but with optical stabilizing to achieve the fidelity required when you have a device like this travelling through the air.

Karma, the GoPro Drone will come out at some point throughout 2016, but they haven’t revealed netiher the exact date nor pricing. There is a very special clue for those with the keenest eyes: GoPro will be giving away 100 Karma Drones once it releases, and the winners will be picked in April 2016, so we might be able to purchase the drone around that date.

Source: YouTube

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