Think back – way back to December 2019. At that time, Zero Zero Robotics released a video. It showed CGI of a forthcoming drone called the V-Coptr Falcon. And wow, was it cool.
The world of drones has been dominated by a standard design: The quadcopter. There are plenty of flight controllers available for this design, which works very well. So when Zero Zero Robotics released video showing a very different type of drone, it grabbed our attention. The design used but two motors, with a promised flight time of 50 minutes.
That’s amazing.
Where is it?
When the V-Coptr Falcon was first announced, Zero Zero Robotics was taking pre-orders. We can’t recall the exact price, but think it was either $899 or $999. We remember this because we thought the design was pretty ingenious, and considered putting in an order. After all, who wouldn’t want 50 minutes of flight time?
Plus, we’ve always been a fan of non-traditional drone designs. We really like tri-copters, for example, even though they appear to be few and far between. So when we saw this “V” design, with tilting motors, we thought: This is intriguing.
If you haven’t seen that launch video, here’s a reminder:
Still waiting
We’ve been waiting, pretty much ever since that video. Zero Zero Robotics has taken down its pre-order link. And though it did show off the V-Coptr Falcon at the 2020 CES, the machine was not flown at the show.
Delays in the tech world are not uncommon. But because technology leapfrogs so quickly, it doesn’t take long before features that looked amazing in 2019 look less impressive in 2021. For example, this drone has a retail price (when available) of $999 US. It has 4K video resolution. The DJI Air 2S, also priced at $999 for the base drone, features 5.8K and a host of other features.
Yes, the 50-minute flight time is impressive. But some of the other features are already starting to lag.
A “Mini” V-Coptr?
A weekend Twitter post got us thinking about Zero Zero Robotics again, because it showed what appears to be a mini version of the same design. Here’s the Tweet:
A little further down the internet rabbit hole, and we discover that this model is indeed produced by Zero Zero Robotics, and is called the “F-Birdie.” It was unveiled publicly at the 2050 Conference on April 23-25 in Yanqi, Hangzhou. There’s also a video, which unfortunately we can’t embed.
Interestingly, the video shows that the drone is equipped with a laser. And the last frame in the video shows a desktop interface showing one drone versus another. So that makes us think these drones might be equipped to carry out battles against each other, with scoring wirelessly transmitted. Cool idea, if that’s what it is.
If you’d like to see that video, scan this QR Code:
The product is not showing on the Zero Zero Robotics website. We’ve put in a call to the company and will update if we hear back.
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