A nanocopter camera that follows you around, streaming video to your smartphone
February 14, 2013
MeCam (credit: Always Innovating)
Always Innovating is developing a $49. tiny flying video camera called the MeCam, due out in 2014.
The camera streams live video to your smartphone, allowing you to stream or upload videos. A nanocopter with 4 spinning rotors houses the camera, with an ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, WiFI, and Bluetooth.
The MeCam launches from the palm of a hand and hovers instantly. It streams video to an Android or iOS phone or tablet. You’ll control the device with voice commands or the follow-me feature.
Comments (27)
by Cybernettr
Let’s not forget Obama’s use of these things to kill suspected terrorists without a trial.
by chris
has any one mentioned the possibility of using this for police counter-surveillance use for recording evidence of abuse of authority?
by Mats Svensson
Hello, good evening, and welcome to “BLACKMAIL”!
And to start tonight’s programme, we go to ….
by sweetmuseek
And you thought mosquitos were bad?
by Bri
I would love to use this for a more mundane task. I’ve wanted to do this for awhile. I’d love for it to monitor my orchids. Whether the pot holding them sent a signal or the copter had a sensor, it would then fetch water and give them the appropriate amount at that time. That simple task I would utilize in a variety of ways. It’s docking station could have a solar charger, so it could be totally autonomous and tend them when I can’t be there.
by melajara
This is the most poetic and refreshing(!) comment I read here.
Waiting for the perfect artificial bee, maybe this could help you in the mean time
http://www.sensorscope.ch/
by melajara
I meant this http://www.sensorscope.ch/solutions/precision-agriculture
by Richard Sittel
I can see this causing a surge in pellet gun sales, buying stock now….
by Rosanne Cleveland-king
As a photographer, I can see a myriad of uses, if the resolution is decent.
by Marcos Marin
You guys are creeps! Here is a PERFECTLY legitimate use:
If it is fast enough, I’ll set it to fly 300+m ahead of my bike so I can drive at full speed on the road and know the exact timing to go AGAINST traffic around those sluggish trucks!
add radars or lasers, and cameras might not even be necessary.
by Bob L.
A cute name, but I suspect that the real target audience is for its use as a ‘YouCam’ or spycam. A bit cynical but realistic, I think! What is the resolution?
by Gorden Russell
You got right there, Bob L. The paparazzi will surround Kate Middleton with a cloud of these cams.
by John Fields
This would be nice to inspect my roof. This could even be cool to bird watch in the tops of the trees where I can not safely go.
by Gorden Russell
Which birds do you want to watch, John Fields? I admire the crows in my neighborhood, but I can tell you, that if I send a cam up to watch their fledglings, they will mob the cam like they do a hawk or an owl. (There’s a researcher in nearby Ithaca who now has to wear a mask to escape mobbing after he banded the feet of the crows he was studying.) (There’s even evidence that the adults teach their offspring to dive and peck at researchers.) (Y’,know, even when it is possible to build a robot crow that can fool people and spy on them, the crows will know what it is and they will go after it.)
The last time I could watch such a nest was when it was built in a tree beneath a fifth floor window where I worked.
by tim the realist
This would makr for some great videos of your kids soccer games, or flying indoors at a wedding or other events.
by Khannea Suntzu
1. enter someone else’s home
2. unfold stealthy walking legs
3. crawl to any nearby PC
4. insert spyware/bank hacker USB stick
5. leave and wait
6. profit!
by Tommo
For point 6. I guess you meant theft!!
by Cybernettr
You forgot picking the picking the locks step.
by Khannea Suntzu
Wow the possibilities for blackmailing vids are endless.
by Tom
It only flies for a few minutes before needing to be recharged. No big deal.
by melajara
Would be nice to link this with the EPFL news to have this device powered by an encasing carapace fully coated with a film of solar cells to provide better if not real autonomy.
by Gorden Russell
Also, melajara, a flyer could recharge by induction if it sits up on a power line.
by cameronarndt
The military / rescue applications for this are endless
by Ian Clarke
The ‘must-have’ gadget for 21st century Peeping Tom’s – no need for ladders & less risk of getting caught!
Although I’m sure there are also some legit uses for it. :-)
by melajara
Sure, and even more if it is (hacked?) working in stealth mode, i.e. you fly the device in a room, chose a convenient observation spot, land, orient the camera and then switch off the rotors and possibly video transmission keeping just snapshots waiting for the action to start and full video to be resumed ;-)
by Vin
Not sure they targeted the right demographic (sad old geezer?), otherwise quite neat. I wonder what the range is? I could do with one to keep an eye on my guttering.
by Editor
Range would be defined by the Bluetooth or WiFi transmitters used and presence of obstacles.