Drones may still be a niche market, but 3D Robotics is betting that won't be the case for long. The company has spent the last year and a half and about $10 million developing its latest drone, called Solo, which 3DR is calling the smartest consumer drone ever. Powered by two computers, the new drone features new technology that is aimed at making anyone a pro at capturing aerial footage, said CEO Chris Anderson. The Solo can basically be likened to the Instagram of drones. Just like the photo-sharing app uses filters to make it easy for everyone's photos to look good, Solo's improvements in autopilot not only make it easy to fly, but the software enables the device to take only shots that a Hollywood director would approve of, Anderson said. "We like to joke that we just turned Steven Spielberg into software," said Chris Anderson, 3D Robotics CEO.
The company partnered with GoPro to make it possible to have full access to controls on the camera while flying the drone, Anderson said. "Hollywood knows what a great shot looks like. There are rules. Motion, lighting, paths that look good to the eye and that is almost impossible for mere mortals to be able to do manually. These things are really hard to control, so we just turned that into software," he said.
