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 Israeli firm PowerUp Toys showed off a paper plane equipped with
some of the latest drone technology at this week's Consumer
Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
"We are actually introducing first person view flight (FPV) to paper
airplanes. So you experience flight as if you were a pilot but on a
paper airplane that you folded, which is kind of crazy," said
PowerUp Toys CEO, Shai Goetein.
It's certainly crazy, but Goetein thinks consumers will find it
fascinating. A user folds the plane and then follows directions to
install a power supply, an onboard computer, a propulsion system, a
WiFi system, and a myriad of other flight technologies. The end
result is a two ounce paper airplane turned drone that can be
controlled using a smartphone. It's launched by a simple swipe of
your finger.
 "The first experience is flight and control. We have two motors, you
can go up down right and left and you have an app to control the
airplane. This is done by WiFi streaming and we have a range up to
200 meters," said Goetein.
The second option for controlling the paper airplane during flight
is via a virtual reality (VR) headset. The smartphone is placed into
the VR set up and then a user, says Goetein, can enjoy a truly
unique flight experience.
"You control the airplane just by tilting your right, left, up and
down. It is very intuitive. You feel like you are in a drivers seat.
It's actually easier than flying an RC [radio controlled] airplane,"
he told Reuters.
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The plane is made from heavy-duty paper, with a rod running through
the centre. The rod connects the motor at the plane's front to
propellers at the back.
It will go on sale this year for $199 USD, or $149 USD without the
headset. The company has raised over $460,000 USD on crowd-funding
site Kickstarter. Goetein says this will propel his paper airplane
drones to previously undreamed of new heights.
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