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Screen grab from Kickstarter video

This Social Sharing Drone Follows You Around to Capture Stunning Footage of Your Adventures

“The world’s first social sharing, autonomous drone that follows you on demand.”

| 2 min read

“The world’s first social sharing, autonomous drone that follows you on demand.”

Meet Orbit — the world’s first social sharing drone with a fun twist, designed by Skye Intelligence Technology. Once you activate the drone and mark a subject to follow, the drone will trail behind you as you skateboard, hike, swim, bike, the list goes on. It’s like having your own professional photographer documenting your life at all times.

Orbit’s sleek design was inspired by architect Zaha Hadid’s simplistic and utilitarian design style, with rounded edges and smooth surfaces. “All parts of the drone feel like an extension of the center, rather than pieced together,” the creators write on the Kickstarter page. “The switch design is a far cry from the old bulky handsets and enhances the flight experience.”

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In the past year, the Skye team has rapidly grown from 10 to over 80 people. Pitt Pang, the CEO, graduated from Northwestern Polytechnical University — one of China’s leading research-intensive schools of aviation and aeronautics — and has extensive knowledge of drone technology. His fellow team members come from backgrounds of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Industrial Design, and more.

Orbit boasts a number of impressive features. The designers patented an auto-follow system, which directs the drone to follow behind you, and they also patented a flight control system and tracking technology.

Orbit drone

Credit: graphic from Skye Intelligence Technology Kickstarter page

What’s really neat is the drone’s social sharing system. Skye designed an all-in-one app to control the drone's orbit as well as edit and share videos of the footage. You have the option for high-speed full HD video download from the drone straight to your mobile device, and the app offers diverse filters and background music for unique video editing.

Then, with one easy tap, you can instantly share videos to Facebook, Wechat, and other social networks. The team says they also plan to achieve the function of streaming live videos while flying the drone.

Preparing the drone for takeoff is simple — you touch the top cover to power Orbit up, calibrate the compass, and click “Takeoff.”

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“Wear the tracker, set the filming parameters in the app, frame yourself on the screen, and Orbit will never let you out of its sight,” the creators write. “It’s like how a duckling trails after its mother — always close enough, but never strays too far.”

The Kickstarter campaign has already garnered a lot of attention, raking in over $110,000 with 28 days left to go to reach their $200,000 goal. Early-bird backers can order a standard edition of Orbit for $469 or a professional edition for $539, with guaranteed delivery in July 2016.

“Orbit will free your hands and let you focus on having fun and enjoying the moments.”

Check out Skye’s video below to watch Orbit in motion:

 

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