A new Kickstarter campaign aims to create a programmable flying robot called Spiri.
The fact that Spiri has native flight reflexes means that there’s no programming or coding required — meaning programmers can go straight to experimenting and developing projects with Spiri, outfitting the drone with a wide variety of functions.
Says creator Patrick Edwards-Daugherty: "Spiri can be a courier, a rescuer, a spelunker, a cartographer, a playmate, a gardener, an inspector, a reporter, a teammate, a wanderer, anything."
Spiri's main chip, which runs Ubuntu Linux with ROS (Robot Operating System), can run a variety of programs using its 1 GB processor, 4 GB memory, and three-axis accelerometer.
The drone is outfitted with reinforced carbon fiber bumpers surrounding each one of the rotors — just in case it does happen to crash.
As of Thursday, Spiri has raised more than $52,000, with 13 more days of crowdfunding to go. Edwards-Daugherty hopes to raise a total of $125,000.
What would you do with Spiri if you had one? Watch the video above, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Homepage image: Patrick Edwards-Daugherty