The drone market is steadily growing in popularity. A number of companies have entered the space with different types of consumer drones.
Lately, drones are being positioned in the market as flying cameras, and these have started becoming more popular. One such drone, called The Lily, allows the user to simply throw the drone in the air, after which they can leave it alone and have it follow them.
"Cameras right now are limited by the skill of the human operator. Most of the time that means non-professionals getting less than ideal shots," said Henry Bradlow, one of the creators of The Lily. "With a flying camera, you can get amazing shots and angles regardless of who is using it."
The Lily was created to try to mimic the functionality of an action camera, and includes a polycarbonate shell that is able to withstand crashes.
The technology certainly goes behind making it easier to take selfies. It is easy to imagine a family buying a drone for family vacations or gatherings in order to prevent the problem of having someone left out of the photo to take it.
In fact, this seems to be the market that The Lily is pursuing. The goal is to build a family-friendly device. It can currently capture stills of 12MP and video at 1080p and 60 frames per second or 720p at 120 frames per second. Of course, the camera itself is not the main feature with which the company is trying to differentiate itself.
The real kicker is how easy it is to use. The drone launches into the air then orbits the user. Not only that, but the device is also waterproof, making it usable around things like pools and lakes. The device can only currently fly for 20 minutes on a single charge. Of course, in order to know where to go, the device has a small remote, which serves as a location beacon.
"We want to be in the GoPro space, not the drone space," said Antoine Balaresque, co-creator of the device. "We don't see this as a drone. This is robotics technology applied to cameras ... To me, a drone is a military device that just flies around and shoots people. The only thing I see with Lily is camera that flies. I guess it's a matter of wording."
The device itself is available for pre-order from the company's website starting today, and is available for $499 for the first month and $999 after that.
