- Title: Drone-kite hybrid keeps UAVs on a tight leash
- Date: 23rd May 2017
- Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (APRIL 25, 2017) (REUTERS) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, LAUNCHING FOTOKITE PRO DRONE OUTSIDE WIDE OF ZAHNER FLYING FOTOKITE DRONE CLOSE OF TETHERED DRONE IN AIR VIEW FROM ON-BOARD CAMERA CLOSE OF SCREEN ON FOTOKITE CONTROLLER SHOWING VIEW FROM ON-BOARD CAMERA WIDE OF CONTROLLER / SCREEN / PAN UP TO DRONE CLOSE OF DRONE IN AIR (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, SAYING: "One of the fields we have been using it in is broadcast. So journalists are taking out the drone to the field, fly it themselves, and acquire the footage. Another field we've been using it in sports analytics. So you film football players or soccer players from above and then see where they are moving. Key features that are important in both of these fields are that the vehicle is very autonomous. So no one needs to pilot it and it can fly for hours. Meaning that you can actually plug the Fotokite Pro into the wall and then it basically doesn't need to come down and be maintained whilst it's up there for hours." VIEW FROM ON-BOARD CAMERA ZAHNER CATCHING DRONE AS IT RETURNS TO HIS HANDS VARIOUS OF ZAHNER TAKING FOTOKITE PRO OUT OF BOX CLOSE OF FOTOKITE PRO ON DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, SAYING: "It's the first commercially available drone that has been approved to fly around and above people by the FAA in a commercial way." ZAHNER LAUNCHING DRONE VARIOUS OF ZAHNER FLYING DRONE CLOSE OF SCREEN SHOWING ZAHNER FROM CAMERA'S VIEWPOINT MORE OF ZAHNER FLYING FOTOKITE PRO CLOSE OF DRONE MORE OF ZAHNER FLYING DRONE / CLOSE OF LOGO ON CONTROL CLOSE OF CONTAINER WITH FOTOKITE PHI INSIDE VARIOUS OF ZAHNER TAKING FOTOKITE PHI DRONE OUT OF CONTAINER (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, SAYING: "The Fotokite Phi is basically a drone-kite hybrid. It flies just like a kite but is a drone instead, so we don't need wind to fly it. It makes the gathering of the real footage available to everybody in a very easy and safe manner." ZAHNER LAUNCHING FOTOKITE PHI (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, WHILE FLYING FOTOKITE PHI, SAYING: "The Fotokite Phi's control is gesture based. To rotate the vehicle and place it in the air I can simply press one button and rotate my hand. And the vehicle will follow my command. To place the vehicle in the sky where I want I press another button and also rotate my hand, and the vehicle follows and remains in the position where I command it to." CLOSE OF CONTROL IN ZAHNER'S HAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, SAYING: "It solves flight time issues, it solves safety issues and also basically makes the drone accountable to its operator." MORE OF ZAHNER FLYING DRONE CLOSE OF ZAHNER PRESSING CONTROLS MORE OF ZAHNER FLYING DRONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARKUS ZAHNER, CONTROLS LEAD AT FOTOKITE, SAYING: "I think Fotokite might become even bigger, even more accessible, so they can fly higher and carry larger payloads. So that basically any sensor can be flown and fly for hours." ZAHNER FLYING DRONE / ZOOM IN TO CLOSE OF DRONE VARIOUS OF ZAHNER BRINGING THE DRONE BACK IN, CATCHING IT AND WALKING OFF
- Embargoed: 6th June 2017 17:32
- Keywords: kite FAA Fotokite ETH Zurich UAV drone
- Location: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
- City: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0016I74BX7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Aerial photography using drones has long been touted as the future of broadcasting, especially in news gathering and at sporting events. The fledgling technology has faced allegations of privacy invasion, as well as safety concerns with free-roaming unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying unregulated over crowded areas. But the makers of the Fotokite Pro say it eliminates many of the problems with drones by literally keeping it on a leash.
It's powered up with a quick twisting gesture to activate the four rotor blades. The operator then simply lets the drone go and directs its ascent with the controller up to a height of 30 metres. Flight time using the on-board battery is about 40 minutes, although it can fly for hours on end when plugged in to a ground power source.
The drone-kite hybrid was developed by engineering researchers from the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich). Their spin-off company built the Fotokite Pro; a lightweight flying camera system for professional video filming.
"One of the fields we have been using it in is broadcast. So journalists are taking out the drone to the field, fly it themselves, and acquire the footage," said Fotokite's Markus Zahner. "Another field we've been using it in sports analytics. So you film football players or soccer players from above and then see where they are moving. Key features that are important in both of these fields are that the vehicle is very autonomous. So no one needs to pilot it and it can fly for hours. Meaning that you can actually plug the Fotokite Pro into the wall and then it basically doesn't need to come down and be maintained whilst it's up there for hours."
The drone is always tethered to the operator via a retractable cord. In this way it flies much like a kite, the team says, with no piloting skills required. The tether provides a permanent physical connection between drone and operator, and a built in fail-safe means that if the power fails the leash will automatically come back to the user.
"It solves flight time issues, it solves safety issues and also basically makes the drone accountable to its operator," said Zahner, adding: "It's the first commercially available drone that has been approved to fly around and above people by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S.) in a commercial way."
The team also developed a crowd-funded consumer model, the Fotokite Phi, with a sensor-filled gesture-based controller that makes piloting it a breeze: "It flies just like a kite but is a drone instead, so we don't need wind to fly it. It makes the gathering of the real footage available to everybody in a very easy and safe manner," said Zahner.
Other tethered drone systems, such as one developed by engineers from the University of Southampton with British firm Cardinal Security, aimed to build a low-cost observation platform for both military and civilian security operations. Such 'eye-in-the-sky' solutions could offer around the clock aerial surveillance with the drone drip fed fuel from a ground station via the tether.
Fotokite says its devices are designed to be much more affordable and portable, helping professionals and enthusiasts achieve high-quality aerial photography.
The next step is to develop bespoke aerial solutions for different industries, with Fotokite's drone potentially able to carry a much heavier payload for scientific equipment, for example.
"I think Fotokite might become even bigger, even more accessible, so they can fly higher and carry larger payloads. So that basically any sensor can be flown and fly for hours," added Zahner. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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