Get ready for a drone you can play games with
WowWee is bringing pro-level drone moves down to earth.
The new $79 Lumi, which is now on Indiegogo, can dance, learn choreography and, like drones that cost hundreds more, avoid obstacles on its own.
Designed primarily for indoor use, Lumi is a relatively small drone, but features a surprising number of sensors. There are at least four in the base so it can see the world around it and the floor below.
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The concept, WowWee execs told Mashable, is to provide “accessible flight,” and some fun.
At the heart of the quadcopter is its ability to play games with users and with other Lumi drones. The product will also ship with a beacon that you can place on the floor and have Lumi stabilize directly over it. You can also pick up the beacon and Lumi will follow wherever it goes.
One game, Lumi to the Beat, taps into any song you have on your smartphone and challenges the user to fly Lumi in sync with the beat.
There will also be a free app so pilots can remotely fly the Lumi Drone. Through it, users will be able to perform one-tap drone stunts like a flip.
What the drone doesn't have is any kind of camera. So even though it can kind of "see," it can't take a picture or video of you.
Even with obstacle detection, some might be concerned about flying Lumi indoors and around people. The flyer does come with a thin plastic guard that should keep fingers away from the spinning, plastic rotor blades.
WowWee is also providing an open API for the Lumi to so enterprising pilots can program their own drone games.
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Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
