We thought we’d seen everything. Clearly – and this is a lesson for the future – we have not.
So we were spinning quickly through Twitter today, checking out some of the accounts we follow for drone news. And on one of those accounts, @Skydio, we saw a Tweet like no other. It seems a creative Californian (albeit now living in France) decided to have the Skydio tracking him on a ride-on lawnmower. He took the result and turned it into an Augmented Reality-style experience.
He calls it: Mow-rio Kart. And it’s pretty cool.
Tracking, tracking
The Skydio R1, though now a legacy product, is known for its ability to lock on and track objects on the ground with uncommon accuracy and an eerily human feel. Ian Padgham (@origiful on Twitter), meanwhile, is known for his skills with creating short animated works or works that are augmented with animation.
He also, as it turns out, has a friend who works at Skydio. And so a drone reached Padgham in France, where he currently lives. And then Padgham made the magic happen.
Ian Padgham
Some of you might recognize that name. Ian was super popular when Vine was around and has also put his skills to work with brilliant mini-videos like this one:
Skydio tweet
As we told you, Skydio posted Ian’s creation on Twitter. And yes, it’s pretty cool:
Skydio blog
Skydio, quite rightfully, thought this was worth a blog post. So the company asked Ian a few questions. These two Q&As come directly from its blog post.
What is your favorite activity to pair with your Skydio?
As a middle-aged dude with a seasoned dad-bod I’m not exactly crushing the ski slopes or tearing up mountains on my bike. But I also really wanted to try the tracking features on my Skydio and so I decided to play to my strengths and start testing lawn mower shots. It has been a blast!
What is your favorite video that you’ve shot with your Skydio, what do you love about it?
For sure my Mow-rio Kart video. It has been a labor of love and a fun experience putting all the pieces together. But I’ve also had a lot of fun just making clips with my kids on nature walks – it’s a great and surprisingly easy way to capture a unique perspective of special family moments.
DroneDJ’s take
This is awesome! Lots of fun, Ian and Skydio!
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