Drone can hit 70 mph has replaceable legs
The Teal drone can hit 70 mph, so it's a good thing it
has replaceable legs
July 20, 2016 6:00 AM PDT
Teal is more than just another quadcopter: It's a platform.
As it stands in 2016, consumers can pick out a
ready-to-fly drone for aerial photos and video or for racing or just to fly
casually. Teal is meant to appeal to all of these buyers, regardless of skill
level, and eventually to commercial pilots, too.
Behind Teal -- the company and the drone -- is 18-year
old George Matus who has been flying quads since he was 11 and built his first
one at 14. The drone is the result of an evolving list of dream features he's
been making since then.
The quad can go fast at up to 70 mph (112 kph) in up to
40 mph (64 kph) winds, it's weatherproof, can be controlled with an iOS or
Android device or a regular radio controller and is small enough to slip into
backpack. In front is an electronically stabilized 13-megapixel camera that can
record video at 4K resolution.
Teal is also modular, and that doesn't only mean removing
the battery. Each arm can be popped on and off, as can the drone's top section.
With other drones, if you were to break one of the prop arms you would have to
send the whole thing in for repair. With Teal you'll be able to easily replace
it on your own. Plus, this opens the possibility for specialized arms for
specific tasks. Teal is also currently planning to release modules for the top
section including thermal imaging, obstacle avoidance (something it currently
can't do on its own) and a secondary camera for first-person-view racing.
Here's where it gets even more interesting, though.
Inside Teal is an Nvidia TX1 computer with an octa-core processor to handle
machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. The idea here is
that by having the modular design, powerful hardware running the drone's Teal
OS as well as making an SDK available, it can be a platform to be developed for
consumer and commercial uses.
For the moment the drone is targeted at consumers and
will have three apps available at launch: one for flight control, another for a
Follow-Me mode for automatic subject tracking and a racing application so you
can compete against other Teal pilots. Matus hopes after an app store has been
built and grows, that licensing of the platform with other hardware
manufacturers will soon follow.
The biggest downsides we see are the same things we see
with a lot of drones: battery life and price. Teal has a 1,800mAh lithium
polymer battery that will provide around 10 minutes of flight time. This is
shorter than larger camera drones, but is in line with most racing drones. Teal
should be releasing extended batteries at some point after launch, too.
The other issue is that Teal is a new comer and at $1,299
the unit is not cheap and it is far off with the earliest units shipping right
before Christmas 2016. While the rest of the orders placed by August 15, should
ship by early 2017, which is quite some time. And that's if all goes according
to plan.
The company is accepting preorders on Teal Drones site
and you won't be charged until the drone ships.
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