People that lead an active lifestyle know how hard it is to take a decent shot while running, jumping and doing other sports-related activities. GoPro doesn’t always provide the desirable results, which is why we are forced to ask someone to take a picture of us or to make a video of us doing something.

When others film us, our hands are free and we can concentrate on our sport – run faster, jump higher, swim smoother and so on. But what about the cases, when person lives alone and wants to film himself climbing, jogging, running, swimming, kayaking or performing any other activity?

He has no one to take a photo or video of him. Of course, he can spend an hour calibrating the camera and stand, but he will still be limited to filming a video or taking a picture in one place. Lily drone camera can change that.

What is Lily

Lily was created for a clearly defined purpose – to help people effortlessly express their creativity. Unlike other drones, whose primary purpose is flying, Lily concentrates on her subject. In essence, Lily camera is aflying companion that follows you everywhere, ready to capture finest moments of your adventure trip, work out, hiking and any other activity.



It doesn’t require any radio controller or flight-control app – it calibrates itself thanks to a complex system of sensors that include gyroscope, magnetometer and accelerometer. Video recording starts as soon as you activate it by throwing it in the air. Final Lily version for consumers will also be waterproof, so you’ll be able to toss it into the ocean or pool and start recording your swimming.

How the Auto Follow Lily Drone Works?

All you have to do in order to activate this self-flying companion drone is to place the tracking device in your pocket or in a waterproof case and toss Lily in the air (or water for future waterproof version). That’s it. It’s that simple. Now it will be following you wherever you go. Using a complex system of sensors Lily will take well-focused photos of you.

Lily will have a computer vision system to recognize your face and keep it in focus on videos and photos. You will not need any controllers or apps for controlled flight and/or calibration. Lily is 100% self-flying and calibrating. It’s a perfect companion always ready to fly at a needed angle and take a perfect photo of you.

Lily can fly above you, before you, behind you, left or right of you and follow you when you jump or fall. Little tracking device will let it know if you’re falling so it can instantly calibrate itself to keep you in frame. Lily makes you a true star of you adventure video.

Lily Camera Tech Specs

The idea of creating Lily appeared in autumn 2013 in UC Berkeley robotics lab. In half a year investors SV Angel and Shana Fisher backed the project. As a result of the given green light there has appeared an adorable round flying camera drone with blue smiling LED eyes, weighing only 1.13 kg.

Lily is quite small: 26cm wide and 8 cm tall. It can fly 15 meters up, shooting a video of you from above. Lily is capable of flying 20 minutes until it needs to recharge, which gives you plenty of time to perform and capture plenty of tricks.

Lily boasts of Full HD camera shooting either 60 FPS videos in 1080p resolution or 120 FPS videos in HD-ready (720p) quality. Built-in GPS will allow Lily to follow the tiny tracking device that you’ll need to either place in your pocket or wear as a watch on your wrist in a waterproof case.

How much is Lily Drone?

Lily is already quite popular and her creators made $34 million in pre-orders (so far there have been pre-ordered 60000 devices). Company encourages pre-orders by making a huge discount in comparison to a retail price. Pre-order cost will be $499, while the retail price tag will be as steep as $899.

Conclusion

Lily drone camera marks a new era of video shooting, it replaces the need of a complex network of cameras to capture the most exciting moments of your active lifestyle. Full HD will provide eye candy images with stills of perfect focus and contrast.

Nevertheless, it’s a rather expensive device that will not be affordable for the majority of potential users. However, the lucky ones that can afford it will be able to enjoy photos and videos of impeccable focus and quality.

Would you buy the lily drone that follows you if money weren't a problem? Share with any other thoughts on Lily drone on comments below.