Posted on 06/09/2012 3:31:21 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
Runners, you no longer have to convince your reluctant partner to put on sneaks and hit the streets with you, thanks to my new favorite drone: the Joggobot, a companion robot for runners. Using a built-in camera, the autonomous drone hones in on sensors in a custom shirt and exhorts you to keep up with it.
“People might feel chased if the Joggobot was behind them,” says researcher Eberhard Grather in a video. So instead your little drone friend flies in front of you.
Floyd Mueller and Grather, researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, tricked out the Parrot AR Drone, which is usually operated with a smartphone, to fly autonomously. You can set it for companion mode — in which the drone flies at a steady pace — or coach mode, “which sets a slightly more challenging speed,” reports WiredUK. (Coach mode sounds suspiciously like the fake rabbit used on dog race tracks.)
Not everyone was enthused by the running companion as I was. Says fellow journalist Charles Homans on Twitter, “Soon drones will not only be able to kill you with impunity but also harass you about getting into shape.”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I think this is a great idea, if it works as advertised. I’d prefer a chase mode.
Just looking at the jogger in the pic watching that drone, I can imagine him jogging right out into a street and getting flattened by a garbage truck. Or ‘jogging while watching’ into an open manhole. The possibilities are endless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-OSlUf4VHI
Whoooooooooooops! Where’d he go?
I have an AR Drone, and although I’m sure it would work, the battery life isn’t that great. 15 minutes at best... That would be a rather short run.
Good for target practice...for what’s coming.
“Companion drones” sound so cute and lovable.
Oh, you're such a cynic. Surely technology like this can only make life better! /s
lol!
No drone necessary!
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