Features

AirDog: The Drone That Will Auto-Follow You In An Airsoft Game

OptimusPrime

For the ultimate selfie-taker or the action sports film maker, this thing will be a godsend. I was very much impressed after watching the video and just a bit disappointed that the product will be shipping in November rather than now as it's a season for many airsoft events and this drone will be very helpful. AirDog, which its designers claim to be World's First Auto-follow Drone for the GoPro Camera, is something for airsoft players and even organisers should look forward to.

There are drones which already have the "follow me" features though the implementation is more of an afterthought. AirDog's basic concept is the same, with the exception that it's designed from the ground up to do just that function --- follow its owner like a dog on a leash.

The AirDog Drone is just half of AirDog, with the other half being the leash, or the Airleash as called by the developers. This is the wireless device that  sends information about your movement to the AirDog Drone so it will follow you accordingly. It can also send commands such as altitude and angle  to the drone. It is still bulky but buttons are easy to operate even with your gloves on. The developers said they could have gone with the smartphone as the Airleash but  you need more precise tracking points so they developed the Airleash. Besides, I would not bring my smartphone whilst wakeboarding or surfing.

AirDog will tenaciously follow the owner as long as it gets information from the Airleash. The most important thing here is that you will not need a camera man to control the drone to follow you with what you're doing. Just turn on both AirDog and Airleash, input the elevation and angle from which to follow you then off you go and the AirDog will be just right behind or above you. Now, you get aerial videos of your airsoft games with yourself being in the middle of the action rather than being in the sidelines controlling the drone with no footage of you.

For now, here are the "Auto Follow" or "Follow Me" Modes of AirDog:

  1. Auto-follow. Will work with almost any sports. In this mode AirDog will follow you repeating exactly your movement trajectory while maintaining its position in preset distance and altitude from you. It will follow you at speeds up to 40 mph.
  2. Relative position follow. In this mode AirDog will maintain constant offset relative to magnetic north from the rider. For example, you can set it to keep a 10 meter distance at 4 meters high to the east from your position. Even when you change your direction, the AirDog will stay at the same preset angle from you. We suggest this mode for straight line wakeboard cable parks, surfing, and some other sports.
  3. Follow track. This is the safest way to operate AirDog. Simply go for one lap with AirLeash and it will record your track. Then adjust AirDogs trajectory to your liking in smartphone app. AirDog will repeatedly fly over the exact set trajectory and the camera will be continually adjusted to aim at the rider.This is the most creative mode where you can become a true director of your movie. Adjust AirDog's trajectory to avoid obstacles like buildings or trees. You can even make it to shoot you from different angle on different spots/kickers in the track. It might sound complicated, but its a simple few tap process in AirDog smartphone app.
  4. Hover and Aim. The Hover and Aim setting allows AirDog to stay in one position above the ground, but constantly directing the camera at the AirLeash. This setting is perfect for tight places such as smaller skateparks, narrow forest trails, or for activities such as bungee jumping or base jumping, where clearance from equipment is important.
  5. Circle. In this setting, AirDog makes circular rotations on a set radius and altitude, keeping the camera aimed at the AirLeash. This for slow speed or static shots to show impressive view around you.
  6. Look down. The most simple mode but can produce very stunning results. Simply "walk" your AirDog above a ramp or kicker where you are about to throw some epic tricks and with push of a button it will freeze its position and aim camera straight down. Now make sure you don't go too high.

They are also implementing the no-fly zone and obstacle avoidance via software. This will then make the Airdrone go or not go into areas as determined by its owner.

Already convinced? You may want to support this project and get your own AirDog by making a funding pledge on Kickstarter. With just 2 days remaining, they had already raised around US$1.8 million which is way over their initial funding request of US$200,000. AirDog is seen to be retailing over US$1,500 when it hits retailers after the campaign and thus, you can get an early bird discount by pledging to give funds to this project.

I guess the only problem is for most narcissistic selfie takers out there who might just abuse the use of AirDog, but other than that this is a very cool project that can be very much useful in airsoft. Drones are already making their presence felt over the airsoft fields and AirDog will just make aerial film making in airsoft even easier when it gets released.

The Latest News

Feature Story

Airsoft Guns and Gear Reviews