Get a real bird’s eye view with this open-source VR-enabled drone on Indiegogo

Personal drone pilots are spoiled for choice these days, so a startup really needs something special to stand out from the crowd.

ElecFreaks, a four-year-old startup from Shenzhen, China’s hardware boomtown, thinks it has found a niche no one else has filled yet. Its small six-rotor drone, dubbed ELF, combines another up-and-coming consumer hardware trend – virtual reality (VR). It just launched its Indiegogo campaign about one week ago.

Each ELF drone comes equipped with a small camera, similar in size and quality to a standard webcam you might use for Skype. The camera sends a signal via wifi to the phone app, which is designed to be used with Google Cardboard. Cardboard is the low-cost DIY virtual reality headset designed to turn your phone into an immersive 3D display, and it’s typically made out of – you guessed it – cardboard.

With the app enabled and the headset in place, the wearer sees what the drone sees. Right now, using the VR function while flying technically requires two people each with their own smartphone: one to pilot the drone using another app that communicates to the drone via Bluetooth, and one to be inserted into Cardboard.

Incorporating both piloting and VR functions into a single app is among ElecFreaks’ long list of stretch goals. In theory, the user will be able to pilot the drone using the tilt sensitivity built into most smartphones. Tilt your head forward to make the drone go forward. Tilt back and the drone moves backwards. Turn left or right, and ELF rotates to follow.

I visited ElecFreaks’ office to give it a test run. It’s a nifty idea, but until the 20-person team can manage to incorporate that stretch goal, I’m not sold. Having someone else pilot and control what I’m seeing doesn’t give me the sense of immersion that I want from a VR application. But if they accomplish VR piloting, ELF suddenly becomes much more interesting.

ELF has already tripled its modest US$20,000 goal, but the tilt controls will require the startup raise US$500,000. Co-founder Youmans Yang says the company has completed the basic hardware, software, and firmware.

Another drone company, Parrot, has also built a drone that combines flying a multi-rotor helicopter with a VR interface. It’s now compatible with Oculus Rift and has the tilt controls that ELF has yet to implement. But a Parrot BeBop model costs US$500, while the Oculus headset will run you another US$350. ELF costs just US$65 and Cardboard around US$10 or less.

Open source evangelists