Why it matters to you
Want to engage your friends in an aerial battle? The Rockee drone is here to help.
Who says you can’t relive Top Gun in your own backyard? Certainly not the makers of the Rockee, a new Indiegogo project heralded as the “most enjoyable DIY athletic battle drone” on the market. These tiny little first-person-view (FPV) drones allow pilots to exercise their control via a smartphone or a remote.
And thanks to its virtual reality capabilities, flyers can don a pair of VR goggles to effectively sit in the Rockee’s cockpit, seeing everything from the lens of a 720P HD camera. That means that you’ll be able to receive real-time images by way of a Wi-Fi connection, capturing every detail in a battlefield (or you know, the great outdoors). And thanks to the pressure-set-height system, the Rockee promises to prevent feelings of dizziness or queasiness for pilots who may not have their VR legs completely under them just yet. Regardless, this drone promises high-definition recording and photographing.
With a control radius of up to 150 meters and an ascension limit of 100 meters, you can fly quite far and quite high with this FPV drone. After all, this drone weighs in at less than a pound, which ought to make it supremely maneuverable and navigable in the air. Indeed, everything about this drone is about getting more bang for your buck. It’s said to take just 30 minutes to charge, and can fly up to 10 minutes.
You can also battle your friends with the Rockee by using its “highly sensitive infrared shooting” capabilities. When you fire an infrared “bullet” and hit another Rockee drone, the affected drone will flash red, simulating wounded rotation, and will land automatically after being hit three times. Think of it as aerial laser tag — because why should you have to enjoy the thrill of flying a drone alone?
You can order a battle pack of Rockee drones (which is to say, two of them) for $170 from Indiegogo now. Shipment is estimated for November 2017. Alternatively, you can order just one Rockee drone for $99, though this is one product that certainly seems to work better in pairs. Spare batteries can also be ordered for $20 for extended flight times.