Drone mechanics
In a short few years, the word drone has gone from something that the US Army does in the forbidding hills of Pakistan to the increasingly ubiquitous quad-copters floating around, taking stunning aerial photos of people and parks. Modern drones still owe a lot to their garage-hacking days, closely resembling the block-shaped, X-frame mass of propellers, struts and landing gears, but evolution comes where there is action, and Power Vision’s Power Egg is attempting to up the design quotient, with more than a pinch of science fiction.
Resembling something that could be mistaken as a UFO (or a Alien egg, mechanised), the Power Egg is Beijing-based Power Vision’s first consumer drone, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to give their proper name. The goal was to create one that would be easy to ease beginners in, while remaining robust enough for experts. For the latter, there is the standard two-axis controller, one stick controlling height and the other controlling horizontal movement. That can be daunting for users unused to three-dimensional controls, so beginners can opt for a Nintendo Wii-like gesture remote for more intuitive controls.
Catering to the neophyte crowd doesn’t mean the Power Egg is entry-level. Within its 2kg, football-sized body is a 4K UHD 360 degree camera with a 95 degree field of vision. A 6,400 mAh replaceable battery delivers about 23 of continuous flight time, and the Power Egg communicates with your smartphone with a variety of automated modes, including Follow Me and Selfie. A range of more than 5km is possible, and if it gets lost, it has a return-to-home setting. Its design, however, is the most striking. In dormant mode, it is an easy-to-carry rugby ball. When in use, propeller and landing gear struts extend from the body, with an imaginary hiss of a sound effect, then retracting back sleekly when the mission is completed. You have to admit, that’s pretty cool. Cool enough to pay US$1,288 (RM5,376) for.
