Engineering:Nixie (drone)

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Nixie
Nixie-Drone-Prototype2014.jpg
Nixie concept rendering (2014)
DeveloperChristoph Kohstall, Jelena Jovanovic, Michael Niedermayr[1][2][3][4][5]
TypeWearable camera drone
Release dateUnknown[6]
Introductory price"Slightly higher than GoPro" (expected)[5][7]
CPUIntel Edison chip[4]
Graphics1080p HD images and video[2][5][8]
Mass< 45 g (0.1 lb)[2]
Websitewww.flynixie.com

Nixie was a prototype small camera-equipped drone that can be worn as a wrist band.[1][3][9] Nixie can be activated to unfold into a quadcopter, fly in one of its pre-programmed modes to take photos or a video, and then return to the user.[2] Competing against more than 500 other participants,[4] Nixie's developers became the winning team in the development track of the Intel's Make It Wearable competition on November 3, 2014, thus securing $500,000 in seed funding to develop Nixie into a product.[5][10][11][12][13] The developers stated their goal to develop the drone into the next generation of point-and-shoot cameras.[12]

(As of March 2016), the device was in development and was not commercially available.[6]

Features

Nixie is a drone that unfolds into a quadcopter and is worn as a slap bracelet.[14] It weighs < 45 g (0.1 lb), captures full HD images or video, and syncs with a smartphone.[2][8] The drone uses an Intel Edison chip.[4] In October 2014, Nixie prototypes had good functionality, but lacked durability and design perfection.[1][2][15] At that time, an important engineering challenge was to identify flexible, light, and durable materials to achieve the look of concept renderings.[2][14] In November 2014, an updated prototype added image recognition capabilities to identify the user,[7] and the primary goals were improving propellers, motors, and object navigation.[10] The overall goal for the project was stated as building a light, portable, and user-friendly drone that could serve as a "personal photographer".[2] Accordingly, the drone was named after a playful water spirit Nixie of Germanic mythology.[9] In the media, Nixie has been described as a "wearable selfie drone"[9] and as a "wearable camera drone",[10] with such images being nicknamed "dronies". The developers emphasized that Nixie is intended for taking framing-worthy pictures and videos, not only selfies.[7]

Applications

Prototype of the drone flown by Christoph Kohstall (2014)

Even though a wearable camera drone was suggested to have applications in rock climbing, mountain biking, and other adventure sports,[2][3] in November 2014 the developers announced plans to market Nixie to a niche audience of rock climbers first, before expanding to a general audience.[8][10]

Operation modes

Sensors and motion-prediction algorithms are used to guide Nixie along one of four pre-programmed paths for taking photos or video.[2]

  • In a boomerang mode, the drone flies a set distance from its user, takes a photo, and then returns.
  • In a panorama mode, it takes photos to fill a 360° arc.
  • In a follow me mode, it serves as a third-person view camera by trailing the user.
  • In a hover mode, it hovers for use in jib shots and can be controlled from a smartphone.

History

Nixie prototyping workshop (2014)

According to Wired,[2] the first Nixie prototype was built by Christoph Kohstall. After tinkering with a quadcopter that he received as a gift, Kohstall built a drone model of eyeglasses with propellers, as well as a prototype that could dive underwater and then reemerge from under the surface.[2] To better address the poor usability of quadcopters, he then had an idea to create a "flying wristband" with a camera.[16] Kohstall's partner Jelena Jovanovic was involved in creating the first prototype and later became the project manager.[2][16] Together with Michael Niedermayr, Kohstall and Jovanovic entered the 2014 Intel's Make It Wearable competition as team Nixie led by Kohstall.[9][16] Once the team became a finalist on September 3, 2014,[1][9][16][17] Nixie received significant amount of attention,[1][2][3][9] and > 5.9 million views on YouTube.[14][15] As one of ten competition finalists, the team was provided with mentorship, design assistance, technical support, and $50,000 for further development.[1] The team presented the final prototype at the Intel Make It Wearable Challenge Finale on November 3, 2014,[15] winning the $500,000 seed funding grand prize to develop the prototype into a product.[11] In their second interview with Wired,[10] the developers indicated that their primary goals for improving the drone were optimizing propellers, motors, and object navigation, as well as miniaturisation of Nixie.

Developers

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Kumparak, Greg (28 September 2014). "A wearable drone that launches off your wrist to take your selfie". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/28/a-wearable-drone-that-launches-off-your-wrist-to-take-your-selfie. Retrieved 11 October 2014. 
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Flaherty, Joseph (6 October 2014). "The inventors of the wristwatch drone share their vision of the future". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2014/10/wear-a-spy-drone-on-your-wrist. Retrieved 8 October 2014. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Domanico, Anthony (26 September 2014). "Nixie lets you wear a selfie-taking drone on your wrist". http://www.cnet.com/news/nixie-wear-a-selfie-taking-drone-on-your-wrist. Retrieved 10 November 2014. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Takahashi, Dean (4 November 2014). "Nixie wants to give rock climbers (and other adventurers) a flying camera drone on a wrist". VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/2014/11/04/nixie-wants-to-give-rock-climbers-and-other-adventurers-a-flying-camera-drone-on-a-wrist. Retrieved 11 November 2014. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Das, Sumi (11 November 2014). "Selfies take flight with Nixie wearable drone". http://www.cnet.com/news/selfies-take-flight-with-nixie-wearable-drone. Retrieved 14 November 2014. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Official Nixie website". Nixie. http://www.flynixie.com. Retrieved 3 March 2016. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Murray, Sara (10 November 2014). "Meet Nixie, the Selfie-Taking Drone". The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/video/meet-nixie-the-selfie-taking-drone/41DA4D50-7058-410E-82BF-763C1C929C05.html. Retrieved 11 November 2014. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Singh, Manjot (13 November 2014). "Nixie wearble drone for selfies". Technology News. http://www.etechnologynews.com/2014/11/nixie-wearable-drone-for-selfies.html. Retrieved 13 November 2014. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Monckton, Paul (29 September 2014). "Nixie, the wearable selfie drone". Forbes : Life. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulmonckton/2014/09/29/nixie-the-wearable-selfie-drone. Retrieved 8 October 2014. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Collins, Katie (3 November 2014). "Nixie wearable camera drone wins Intel's $500,000 tech challenge". Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-11/03/nixie-drone-wins-intel-wearable-competition. Retrieved 10 November 2014. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "2014 Intel Make It Wearable competition". Intel. https://makeit.intel.com. Retrieved 4 November 2014. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Drone wins Intel's wearable challenge". CNBC. 4 November 2014. http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000327355&play=1. Retrieved 14 November 2014. 
  13. ↑ Drury, Jim (6 November 2014). "Nixie wearable drone promises the perfect selfie". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/video/2014/11/06/nixie-wearable-drone-promises-the-perfec?videoId=346831680. Retrieved 14 November 2014. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Introducing Nixie: the first wearable camera that can fly". Nixie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfzqUsGMHE0. Retrieved 11 October 2014. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "Make It Wearable finalists: Meet team Nixie". Vice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VFsdPAoI1g. Retrieved 11 October 2014. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 "Finalists of the 2014 Intel Make It Wearable competition". Intel. https://makeit.intel.com/finalists. Retrieved 11 October 2014. 
  17. ↑ "Announcing the 10 finalists of Intel's Make It Wearable Challenge". The Creators Project. 3 September 2014. https://mydeardrone.com/. Retrieved 3 November 2014. 

External links



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