Haye Kesteloo

In the summer of 2017, the US Army decided to stop using DJI drones citing security concerns. Then in November, there was an article in the NY Times that talked about DJI possibly sending information captured by their unmanned aerial vehicles in the U.S. back to China. Last week at CES 2018, AT&T withdrew from a distribution partnership with Huawei Technologies under pressure from US lawmakers.

In an interview at CES, DJI’s Managing Director of North America, Michael Perry explains how the rising tensions between the US and China affect their business and decisionmaking.

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DJI just released a new teaser video for their upcoming event in New York City on January 23rd.

In the video, we see a number of quick shots showing New York City, commuters, a beach, planet earth, urban environments, people, a fingerprint, cells, a nerve system, storms, lightning, crashing ocean wave, rain, growing plants, ants, a match lighting, an iris and…

Parts of the design of the new Mavic Air!

The video wonders if we are ready for what is to come. I think we are!

Update: it seems we have the name DJI Mavic Air confirmed!

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Good morning, in today’s news, the focus is on Russia with a nuclear underwater drone and the recent attacks on Russian military bases in Syria. As well as DJI’s upcoming event in New York and the product they will be announcing, Our money is on a new DJI Mavic Air. Greb a cup of coffee and enjoy!

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More news from Russia today. According to leaked Pentagon papers, the Russians apparently possess a nuclear underwater drone that has the ability to carry a 100-megaton nuclear warhead. The drone is called “AUV” or autonomous underwater vehicle and is featured in a chart that lays out Russia’s various nuclear delivery vehicles in the draft of the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review.

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PHOTO: OLGA BALASHOVA/RUSSIAN DEFENCE M/ZUMA PRESS

Last week we reported on the drone attack on the Russian airbase, Khmeimim as well as a naval facility in the city of Tartus on Syria’s western coast. In these attacks, 13 drones had been launched from as far as 35 miles away, according to the Russian defense ministry.

Today we learn that the heavily armed Russian military bases in Syria are ill-equipped to defend themselves against drone attacks from insurgent rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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This morning, we received DJI’s invitation to its “Adventure Unfolds” event in New York City that will take place on January 23rd.

The invitation seems to provide two clues as to what the Chinese drone manufacturer may be introducing later this month. We think it will be a new version of the Mavic Pro drone that is smaller, lighter and faster. We also believe it will be called the DJI Mavic Air. Read on and see how this adventure may unfold.

Update on 1/16: DJI just released their teaser video for the event.

Update 2 on 1/16 : it seems we have the name DJI Mavic Air confirmed!

Update 3 on 1/17: dual cameras with a zoom feature for the Mavic Air?

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Many people were expecting Chinese drone manufacturer, DJI to showcase new drones at the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas this week. But they did not. Instead of new drones, DJI showed a redesigned Osmo Mobile 2 and an all-new Ronin-S stabilizer. Both seem to be great products, but we did feel some disappointment that no new drones were announced. Luckily, it now seems that this may change soon as we just received an invite to a DJI event in New York City on January 23rd to announce new gear.

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One million drones have been registered with the FAA as of this week, announced Elaine Chao, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation at CES 2018. This figure includes 878,000 hobbyists. Hobbyist drone pilots receive one registration number for all the drones that they own. Then there are also 122,000 commercial, public, and other drones that are individually registered.

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Good morning. After a busy week of covering CES 2018, it is now Friday the last day of the event in Las Vegas. We did our best to cover the entire event for you.

Some of the highlights as far as I am concerned are; the Tello toy drone from DJI and Intel, for $99 that seems like the ideal beginner drone. The UVify Oori micro race drone. Very excited to get our hands on that one. For photographers and videographers, one of the highlights must be the new Yuneec Typhoon H Plus drone with a one-inch 20-megapixel sensor and a “large-aperture” lens.

Another exciting part of CES this year was the development of passenger or taxi drones. Unfortunately, Workhorse’s Surefly test flight was canceled. That really was too bad. I would have loved to see that. Hopefully, they can have another go at it soon? Volocopter completed its indoor ‘cage-flight’, which was awesome. Lastly, of course, we had the Uber/Bell Helicopter simulator. Less exciting perhaps but still good to see that Bell is involved in developing a passenger drone. The next few years should be exciting as these taxi drones become a reality.

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The PowerDolphin underwater drone does it all! The underwater unmanned vehicle was introduced at CES 2018 this week. PowerVision, the company behind the underwater drone, calls the PowerDolphin, a lifestyle robot that will precision drop bait for you and catch fish for you, map the ocean floor, deliver lifesaving equipment to people in need.

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AEE Aviation Technology Inc. and SELFLY Camera LLC have partnered to launch the Selfly, a smartphone case, and drone in one. While the drone-case will not fly with the smartphone still attached, the idea is that you carry your phone, and thus your drone, with you at all times, allowing you to take selfies from new heights and angles. The Selfly was announced at CES 2018.

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Yamaha makes a lot more than motorbikes, outboard engines, and watercrafts. Apparently, they make drones now as well. At CES 2018, they were showing off a new drone, the YMR-01, for pesticide application in the agricultural industry. Since the nineties, Yamaha had been using the R-Max remote helicopter to do the same but a drone should be easier to fly and therefore offer a larger market for Yamaha to cater to.

The Yamaha YMR-01 features an interesting rotor design with six arms but eight rotors. The double rotors in the middle are called“vertical coaxial” rotors. Yamaha states that the design of the drone is to create the most effective downward air currents for optimal application of pesticides. Smart.

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A little rain canceled the Workhorse Surefly taxi drone flight because the aircraft is not waterproof. After receiving approval from the FAA, the passenger drone was supposed to make its maiden flight on Monday, but it stayed grounded because of safety concerns. The cool Nevada air with some mild drizzle proved to be too much for the aircraft that is supposed to be the future of commuting. What a bummer.

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During the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas, the Volocopter 2X, an 18-rotor air taxi drone, made its debut flight. Volocopter works closely together with Intel and after the tech giant completed their keynote presentation, the taxi drone to make its short first flight over the stage. Granted it was a very short flight but the first, nonetheless for Volocopter in North America.

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Boeing unveiled an “unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype”, which boils down to a giant cargo carrying drone, capable of airlifting 500 pounds of payload. The aerospace company said it is a prototype for future cargo-carrying unmanned aircraft.

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DJI just released a new firmware update for the DJI Mavic Pro drone. Version:V 01.04.0200

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Good morning. CES 2018 is going at full speed and we will have a lot more news for you today and later this week. Stay tuned and check out the articles below.

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Intel has been showing off its skills in flying swarms of drone yet again. We all have seen their drone show at the Bellagio. Now Intel has taken one hundred tiny drones, that flew as a group, in a coordinated fashion over the crowds, without GPS, inside. If that sounds impressive, well, that is because it is.

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Seagate just announced the LaCie 2TB DJI CoPilot, a portable external hard drive specifically designed for drone pilots when they are out in the field. According to Seagate, 2TB should be enough for about 65 hours of 4K video footage at 30fps or around 20,000 RAW photos.

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Uber and Bell Helicopter are showing off a four-passenger taxi drone simulator at CES this year. The drone is meant to fly people from A to B on fixed routes, for instance from a train station or parking garage to an airport. The drone can be flown manually by a pilot or it can fly itself. Neither Uber or Bell offered any details on the propulsion system, unfortunately. We do know however that it has VTOL capability, i.e. vertical take-off and landing.

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Last year at CES, UVify introduced the Draco racing drone. This year they are introducing the Oori, a 60MPH micro racing drone. The Oori is much smaller and lighter than the Dacro quadcopter. In fact, it is so small it easily fits in the palm of your hand. The small form factor promises very fast and agile flying ability. The Oori is aimed both at beginning drone pilots as well as speed addicts. According to UVify the Oori is very easy to fly and can be flown safely indoors with the use of the lock-on, pop-off propeller protectors.

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