iRobot founder’s new drone is a rock-steady flyer
I flew a groundbreaking new drone on the roof of Mashable’s headquarters. Here’s how and why.
The LVL 1 drone by CyPhy Works seeks to solve this issue with six rotors, instead of four, and custom "Level-Up" programming that forces the drone to fly level no matter the weather.
Greiner and Sebesta had been making the media rounds with their two LVL 1 prototype drones, explaining why this consumer drone, which is seeking backing on Kickstarter now and should be available in retail next year, is different than all others.
Now they’d come to my office to do something they’d never done before: Fly the drone and test its leveling technology on a rooftop in Manhattan. "It's something I dreamed of doing, but not this soon," said Sebesta.
Sebesta, who also flies real airplanes, was a little nervous. "If there’s too much wind," he said, "we’ll call it off."
I assured him that I wasn't looking for it to hover high above our 18-story building. I just wanted a demonstration that put the sleek-looking flyer 8 or 10 feet off the ground.
I've flown a fair number of drones already, but I had high-hopes for this one. It looked different, employed unique stabilizing technology and has a heck of a pedigree.
Greiner is the co-founder of iRobot and helped birth one of the world’s most popular consumer robots, the Roomba robot vacuum. Before she left the company in 2008, she managed much of iRobot’s military robot business, including the Packbot.
When she left and founded CyPhy Works, Greiner set her sights above ground level, on drones. The company now produces commercial drones, such as its Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC), which is designed to fly for days at a time.
LVL 1 is CyPhy’s first consumer drone, it’ll fly for 20 minutes on a single charge.
Up on the roof
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
A close look at the LVL 1 prototype revealed a drone that bears a passing resemblance to other drones I’ve seen, most notably the white Ghost drone. But the differences are legion. LVL 1’s rotors are not level. The arms leading up to each of them are angled up and each rotor is at an off angle to the ones adjacent to it.
This is on purpose, explained Sebesta; it’s called a Dihedral configuration and is half the reason why LVL 1 can fly fast without tilting.
Sebesta says he came up with this solution two weeks after joining CyPhy Works, after Greiner asked him about building a drone that consumers would recommend to one another. Making it fly steady, and thus record smooth video, was a big part of that.
When I mentioned that Parrot’s Bebop drone achieves super-smooth video without a mechanical gimbal, Sebesta countered that it's a digital solution — one that cuts away a significant amount of video information.
“[Parrot users] have to choose between stabilization and field of view," he said. "We get to have both."
Greiner and Sebesta had been flying the drones all day, which meant we'd only get a few minutes of rooftop flying time. Sebesta used a traditional RC (Radio Controller); the software isn’t quite ready yet. But consumers will ultimately control the finished drone via an iOS or Android interface.
If you watch the Kickstarter video, you’ll see an interface nearly devoid of controls. "Helen tells me the Roomba has one button," laughed Sebesta.
He added that the goal was to move all the demands of flying a drone inside the drone, so the interface could be as simple and consumer-friendly as possible. In other words, it would meet Greiner's litmus test of being a device you would recommend to friends.
We set the LVL 1 down on the rooftop surface. I took note of the camera. It's a Sony — and, once again, it's not the final version. The completed drone will have an integrated 1080p 8MP camera with a wide field of view and the ability to tilt 90 degrees. There will also be a camera in the base, to help with take-off and landing.
Image: Mashable, Lance Ulanoff
It’s a simple and quite powerful concept. LVL 1 owners will be able to use the drone’s app, and their smartphone’s built-in GPS, to walk a virtual fence. As they pace around the perimeter of their desired flight space, the app will send that information to the LVL 1 drone, which is also equipped with GPS.
With that set, the drone will not fly outside the virtual boundary. You’ll even be able to set a ceiling (maximum altitude) and floor (minimum altitude). This could come in quite handy when flying on, for instance, a rooftop.
It was finally time to fly. Sebesta stepped back a bit while the LVL 1 drone made some noises indicating it was connected to the controller (the final drone will connect to your phone via Wi-Fi). The six propellers started spinning, filling their air with a loud whine. Then LVL 1 gently lifted off the ground.
It was swaying from side to side as Sebesta controlled it from a few feet away. "This is with Level Up off," he said. Then he enabled Level Up. The drone started moving in a much more controlled fashion. Instead of leaning in the direction of flight, LVL 1 held steady, looking as if a waiter were carrying it on a tray through a crowded room.
It was a short yet impressive demonstration for a developing drone. Still, Greiner and Sebesta still have a long way to go. They have yet to embed the camera. I asked whether they had considered a 4K camera, but Sebesta said the data requirements, both for storage and for what you could stream directly back to the phone, are too high.
Greiner said it’s not about the megapixels: "Others in the industry are in a spec war and we’re kind of like Apple," she said. "It’s about features and user experience.”
CyPhy’s Kickstarter campaign has already exceeded its goal, but you can still pre-order the LVL 1 for $495. The retail version will sell for $600. CyPhy will also sell a high-performance drone, the LVL 1 Diablo, which comes in red and black, for $995.
