ONAGOfly is an auto-following, palm-sized drone

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This drone proves big things can come in small packages. 

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In today’s market, consumers have pretty much two choices: cheaper nano drones or larger, pricier quadcopters. ONAGOfly wants to be the best of both worlds. Not only does it let users capture high-res selfies and live-stream footage to their mobile devices, the palm-sized unit only costs $200.

This consumer-friendly drone boasts a safe design, suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, and can be piloted right out of the box. It can be set to automatically follow you, or you can use its accompanying app to control the drone via Wi-Fi (up to a distance of 66 feet).

With its video game-inspired tilt control mode, ONAGOfly can be steered simply by turning its paired smartphone left and right, or up and down to fly higher and lower. Meanwhile, photos and videos can seamlessly sync to a user’s handheld gadget for instant sharing.

ONAGOfly can take off and land right from your hand, and be launched with the press of a button. The tiny UAV features built-in infrared sensors on all four sides, allowing it to avoid any potential collisions with obstacles in its way. Additionally, ONAGOfly’s GPS module enables it to automatically follow someone using the location of its connected smartphone as they run, snowboard, cycle, surf or whatever else.

According to company founder Sam Tsu, the mini ‘copter can be used by everyone of all ages and experience levels. This includes athletes, travelers, wedding planners and other drone enthusiasts.

In terms of its camera, ONAGOfly’s images and videos are being touted as comparable to that of an iPhone 6 (15MP photo and 1080P HD at 30fps video). With P2P streaming, users can watch footage in real-time from a remote device without delay. To maximize group photos, the drone can even recognize faces and detect smiles once all subjects are in the frame, and then snap the picture.

Thanks to a 1000mAh LiPo battery, users can expect around 12-15 minutes of flight time. The ONAGOfly weighs only 140 grams (0.3 pounds), and can reportedly maintain its position in wind speeds of up to 10.8 feet per second.

Interested? Head on over to ONAGOfly’s Indiegogo campaign, where the nano drone’s creators have already flown right by their goal of $150,000. Delivery is slated for February 2016.

12 smart crowdfunding campaigns you may want to back this week

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Every Friday, we’re taking a look at some of the smartest, most innovative projects that have caught our attention on Kickstarter and Indiegogo over the last seven days. 

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BoXZY

This three-in-one 3D printer, CNC mill and laser engraver will bring an entire Makerspace to your desktop. Brothers Justin and Joel Johnson are currently seeking $50,000 on Kickstarter.

ELF

This pocket-sized drone is equipped with an HD aerial photo that allows you to capture videos and photos from the sky. ElecFreaks is currently seeking $20,000 on Indiegogo.

Lumious

This wall-adorned lamp hopes to redefine your relationship with artificial light by bringing the sun inside. Lumilabs is currently seeking $10,000 on Indiegogo.

Project Ryptide

This drone attachment that can deliver an automatically inflating life-ring to a swimmer in distress in a matter of seconds. Led by Bill Piedra, the team of Connecticut high school students are currently seeking $10,000 on Kickstarter.

Trickey

This building block-style keyboard allows you to fully customize your keyboard layouts from scratch. The BreadBoardManic crew is currently seeking $30,000 on Kickstarter.

Electric Eel Wheel

This electric spinning wheel is capable of taking fiber and twisting it into yarn. Maurice Ribble is currently seeking $5,000 on Kickstarter.

IONI

This professional motor controller is ideal for CNC machine, 3D printers, racing simulators and robotics. Granite Devices is currently seeking $15,000 on Indiegogo.

Lumioto

This Arduino-powered prototyping tool lets you easily add expressive LED effects to your designs. SCALAR Electronics is currently seeking $2,5000 on Kickstarter.

Orphe

This smart shoe system uses motion sensors and LEDs to enable new forms of audio-visual expression. No new folk studio is currently seeking $30,000 on Indiegogo.

Disco Dog

This smartphone-controlled LED dog vest displays a variety of animated patterns and custom scrolling text in thousands of colors. PARTY NYC is currently seeking $15,000 on Kickstarter.

WonderCube

This 1-cubic-inch keyring is designed to function as numerous accessories for your smartphone, ranging from an emergency charger to a storage solution to an LED torch. Mutants DesignLab is currently seeking $50,000 on Indiegogo.

Percepto

This plug-and-play computer vision add-on brings endless application potential to drones. Percepto is currently seeking $60,000 on Indiegogo.

Did you happen to miss last week’s notable campaigns? If so, you can check them out here.

ELF is a selfie and virtual reality nano drone

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Sorry selfie sticks, it looks like your days may be numbered.

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If recent projects like Nixie and Zano are any indication of what is to come, 2015 may very well turn out to be “year of the dronie.” Looking to usher in this new era, Shenzhen-based startup ElecFreaks has unveiled a nano HD camera-equipped quadcopter that is capable of capturing videos and photos from a variety of angles. According to its description, the pocket-sized ELF not only features cutting-edge technologies but a fully-hackable platform as well.

Similar to other next-gen flying selfie devices, ELF offers instant takeoff and connects directly to its accompanying smartphone app via Bluetooth. To initiate launch, users simply slide their thumb up, click the “capture” button and the mini UAV heads off into the sky. Meanwhile, an embedded Wi-Fi module enables users to snap special moments and share them online in real-time.

What may differentiate ELF from others available today is its virtual reality integration, which allows pilots to experience first-person 3D views of everything the drone sees without requiring any additional remote control or costly imaging transmission modules. The ELF VRdrone app can even convert these images into “side-by-side” format by merely attaching a phone to a VR cardboard set.

In true Maker form, ELF is completely open-source and hackable. Moreover, the ‘copter boasts a fully 3D-printed hull and motor mounts. This means users can modify the hardware to redefine new functionalities, personalize the app and 3D print their own drone. Beyond that, anyone can learn and start building their own ELF using readily available files including its main board design, electronics layout and schematics.

“We take open-source seriously. It is where we started and hopefully, by being truly open, we can ultimately get more advanced developers involved to help move forward and make the cutting-edge technology accessible to ordinary people,” the team writes.

Based on an ATmega328P, the Arduino-compatible drone is packed with an operating range of 15-30 meters and a flight time of around seven minutes, dependent upon weather of course.

ELF is currently live on Indiegogo, where the ElecFreaks team is seeking $20,000. If able to attain the necessary funds, future stretch goals include adding a “take off” and “land” button to its app, offering compatibility with other VR devices, implementing a “follow me” mode, including 180-degree aerial panaromic shots, as well as developing an SDK for future drone applications. Interested? Head over to its official page here.