Palm-sized drone, perfect for selfies – haven’t we heard this before?

25 May 2017

DJI Spark drone. Image: DJI

Drones fulfil many non-essential roles in life. But what is the most non-essential aspect of life today? Selfies, obviously. Now drones are here to help.

We’ve been here before. Manufacturer promises a drone small enough to hold in the palm of your hand, which will fly beside you, take a selfie and land back in your hand.

Unlike the doomed Zano drone – which raised £2.3m on Kickstarter before failing miserably amid legal concerns, cost-control failures and general disappointment – today’s devices are backed by a little more security.

DJI, one of the largest manufacturers of drones, revealed its Spark mini drone this week, destined to be your selfie-taking friend.

DJI Spark drone. All images: DJI

DJI Spark drone. Image: DJI

Interestingly, the company claims that this particular creation can even work without a controller or a smartphone – all you need is your hand. The drone reacts to how a user manipulates their hand as it flies in the air, takes a picture and returns back to their palm.

“Controlling a camera drone with hand movements alone is a major step towards making aerial technology an intuitive part of everyone’s daily life, from work and adventure to moments with friends and family,” said Paul Pan, senior product manager at DJI.

“Spark’s revolutionary new interface lets you effortlessly extend your point of view to the air, making it easier than ever to capture and share the world from new perspectives.”

The size of a can of rock shandy, Spark weighs just 300g. DJI claims it can take off in seconds and can also rely on a remote control or, of course, a smartphone.

DJI Spark drone. All images: DJI

DJI Spark drone. Image: DJI

As is the way with modern devices, the colours offered aren’t your bog-standard primary options; rather, Spark comes in alpine white, sky blue, meadow green, lava red and sunrise yellow.

The kit is made up of a 12MP camera armed with a 1/2.3in CMOS sensor. It can film in 1080p, with a “2-axis mechanical gimbal” allowing for a steadier shoot.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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