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The makers say
their safe and 'friendly' drone offers a new and innovative way
for brands to interact with their audiences in public settings.
Where current advertising is often limited to displays and
billboards, Skye can float safely around and interact with
people.
"It's a unique flying machine which is safe enough to interact
with. So you can touch it in flight; it's basically filled with
helium which provides most of the uplift," said Daniel Meier,
co-founder of company Aerotain which developed the Skye drone.
Despite being around three metres (approx. 10 ft) in diameter,
Skye is extremely agile and able to perform almost any movement
instantaneously thanks to its four small electric motors. Its
engineers designed algorithms that keep it on course, even when
performing a range of aerial tricks.
"This is where the magic happens; four motors are allowing it to
perform any movement, so you can really move it in the air like
a flying eye," Meier told Reuters while demonstrating Skye's
operation. "There is a computer on board which knows exactly how
it's orientated in the world, and then it gives commands to the
motors to actually align it to where you want it to be. And
there are four motors on it which can rotate around their axis
and with them you can precisely control it in any environment,
basically."
Skye is lightweight, which combined with its small energy
requirements, give it a flight time of about two hours on a
single charge.
By eliminating exposed rotor blades typical of most drones, Skye
makes it possible to operate around crowds without fear of
injury.
Meier added that regular drones could also be dangerous if they
malfunction. "There is even one bigger issue; that is if the
electronics fail it will just fall down to the ground. This
can't happen with Skye because helium is providing the buoyancy,
so if ever something goes wrong it becomes a huge balloon and
people could play with it," he said.
Aerotain says its technology could disrupt the advertising
industry by allowing companies to engage directly with the
public in a way never seen before. At public events, such as a
sports game or concert, Skye can autonomously float above the
crowds or with a pilot at the controls. Skye's surface can be
designed individually, for instance to depict a product or to
show the name of a brand, with its uniqueness naturally
attracting people's attention. It's also strong enough to carry
on-board cameras for live streaming and aerial cinematography.
Skye is currently on display in the Swiss Pavilion at the CeBIT
2016 technology fair in Hanover, Germany.
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