The world’s first glimpse from Skydio 2 [video]

The makers of the amazing R1 drone are getting ready for the launch of their successor drone. Today, Skydio shared with us the first footage from the Skydio 2. We’re expecting this new drone to be smaller, lighter, less expensive, and better than the original Skydio R1. The video shows us three short clips. The first one is some FPV-style action footage of the drone following a motorcyclist riding through a forest. The second part is a more revealing cinematic shot of a man running into the ocean. The last shot is of a mountain biker, but this time the drone flies in front of the subject, keeping her in the frame, while avoiding trees and bushes. The first and last sequence especially seem to show off the incredible obstacle-avoidance Skydio is getting ready to bring to market with their Skydio 2 drone that will be launched later this year. We don’t know if Skydio 2 will be the official name of the new autonomously flying unmanned aircraft. Stay tuned.

Obstacle avoidance of the Skydio 2

Here’s what the team from Skydio had to say about their new Skydio 2 drone:

Building a drone that can actually fly itself and avoid obstacles is an incredible challenge. In fact, we’re the only company that’s managed to do it. Now we’re raising the bar again on what a self-flying drone can do and how incredibly cinematic its video can be.

How? We’ve developed an entirely new and breakthrough flight algorithm.

With this, the drone can do so much more than just avoid crashing. Now it can determine exactly where and how to fly to get the most stunning cinematic shots possible. The type of shots that until now only expert pilots were capable of capturing.

Below are a few clips from recent testing that start to show our new autonomy capabilities (as well as the stunning image quality from our completely redesigned camera). They are the very first glimpses of what our newest machine can do. We’re super excited to share them with you.

Improved autonomy is just one of many advancements that make our next drone, Skydio 2, awesome. We can’t wait to show you more.

What do you think about the Skydio 2? Let us know in the comments below.

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