Autonomous micro UAV planned for $49US

Have you always wanted an unmanned aerial vehicle that could follow you around, obey voice commands and shoot video? Your dreams may be answered as company Always Innovating are promising a quadrotor device for only $49.

The MeCam is a cool little gadget, but it is still under development, with a release date reported for next year. The San Francisco firm aren't planning on producing the device themselves, but are looking to license the technology to a customer.

Inside the UAV is an ARM Cortex A9 processor with 1GB of memory, an SD card slot. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are also supported.

So far the plans are that the UAV can be launched by hand, controlled by voice and will be able to record and save video footage as it travels. Video streaming is also a possibility – direct to a tablet or laptop. Voice controls should be able to raise and lower the UAV and it can follow the owner automatically. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2hgsdeYyo']

There are 14 sensors on board which work in real time and two Linux based auto pilot algorithms should help keep crashes low. The device will also have a video stabilising system on board to try and reduce judder as the UAV flies around. The company are also planning a real time sound filter to remove the noise of the rotors.

You can visit the product page over here.

Kitguru says: only $49? seems like a bargain to us.

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