Hi from Acorn Robotics

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Networkn
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#977519 30-Jan-2014 16:00

AcornRobotics: Hi Kingy & networkn,

thanks for your comments. We completely understand where you are coming from, building a ready to fly quad is probably out of our reach, but we are not really aiming for ready to fly as you are thinking about it. Our approach to design for this first product is not that anyone can pick it up and pilot it around without a care in the world, in fact it is not made to be piloted.

It is a small drone that stays where it is put in space and the user ADJUSTS its position to get the photo they want. Our focus is on keeping it still, not making it move. We believe that this can be achieved in our first product in the 200-300 price range.

We believe that by beginning with this most basic element we can gradually build more complex and powerful systems on top in later models until eventually we end up with a powerful, intuitive out of the box experience as you are thinking about it.

- KW :)

That does sound quite interesting :)

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Kingy

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#977520 30-Jan-2014 16:04

Yeah that actually does sound interesting. In reality I guess it could be used by those people who don't have the piloting skills.

I'll be interested to find out how it all comes together. Do you just enter in GPS points? Do you tell it how high to go? How will it know which route to take to get to X or Y? Will it have sensors to avoid certain obstacles and or if the destination is in the middle of a bush? etc etc etc

Highly fascinating project with a bunch of hurdles in the way :)

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kinsten

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#977526 30-Jan-2014 16:17

Welcome to geekzone!

Are you going to include a 'follow' mode. Have it linked to your mobile app, and then set a distance and have it follow you around.
This is a feature for the Toyota Electric Chair car. Only it cannot fly =)

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AcornRobotics

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#977552 30-Jan-2014 16:57

Kingy: Yeah that actually does sound interesting. In reality I guess it could be used by those people who don't have the piloting skills.

I'll be interested to find out how it all comes together. Do you just enter in GPS points? Do you tell it how high to go? How will it know which route to take to get to X or Y? Will it have sensors to avoid certain obstacles and or if the destination is in the middle of a bush? etc etc etc

Highly fascinating project with a bunch of hurdles in the way :)

That's right, we want people of all skill levels to be able to use it comfortably, from those that have never piloted an RC before to those who know exactly what they're doing. We feel that there's a huge proportion of the population that are missing out on this awesome tech because they're often so damn difficult to fly!

It won't use GPS to hold position, but there are other ways to achieve position hold such as what Parrot have done with their AR drone, which uses an ultrasonic sensor to gauge altitude and a small downwards facing camera to gauge x/y axis ground movement. We can't go into much detail at the moment as we risk voiding potential patents, but I can say we're working on something. We will be able to disclose a lot more very shortly (hopefully!).

It won't (our first version, at least) have collision avoidance sensors due to the high cost that would be involved.

Thanks, you're right about the hurdles but that's what makes it interesting! :)

- KW

AcornRobotics

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#977554 30-Jan-2014 16:58

kinsten: Welcome to geekzone!

Are you going to include a 'follow' mode. Have it linked to your mobile app, and then set a distance and have it follow you around.
This is a feature for the Toyota Electric Chair car. Only it cannot fly =)

Thanks kinsten!

We won't have a follow-me mode in the first product but it's something we are very interested in looking at for future products. At the moment we are focused on getting a product to market, we will try and ensure there is room to add additional features like that in the software later

- KW :)

AcornRobotics

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#1034057 30-Apr-2014 15:18

Following on from our previous chat, we have now announced our first product, the SelfieBot. Would be great to hear any feedback, comments etc. More information can be found here - www.selfiebot.co

^KW

mattwnz

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#1034112 30-Apr-2014 16:36

AcornRobotics: Following on from our previous chat, we have now announced our first product, the SelfieBot. Would be great to hear any feedback, comments etc. More information can be found here - www.selfiebot.co

^KW

There is no information on the website, and I don't want to signup to a newsletter simply to see info.

You would think that if the OP has announced a product, and the said the info was available, it would actually be available to view.

GregV

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#1034120 30-Apr-2014 16:51

I did enter my email address, and then I got a 'share this referral link with 3 or 5 or 10 others'. Still no actual content about what looks like a cool product. More info coming soon I hope..?

zocster

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#1034141 30-Apr-2014 17:11

AcornRobotics: Hi all,

For anyone in Chch that may be interested, next Tuesday (28th) we are pitching our first project at Coffee & Jam, 12:30-1:30pm at the Epic Centre on Manchester St.

Coffee & Jam is a free weekly event hosted by Ministry of Awesome. It's a place to share your ideas, seek & give feedback, learn stuff & connect with like-minded folk. Plus who could turn down free Underground coffee and jam and other delicious spreads!

Hope to see some of you there!

- KW

I will be there!

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blackjack17

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#1034151 30-Apr-2014 17:20

AcornRobotics: Following on from our previous chat, we have now announced our first product, the SelfieBot. Would be great to hear any feedback, comments etc. More information can be found here - www.selfiebot.co

^KW

http://www.gosphero.com/introducing-selfiebot/

hoax?

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mattwnz

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#1034154 30-Apr-2014 17:24

blackjack17:
AcornRobotics: Following on from our previous chat, we have now announced our first product, the SelfieBot. Would be great to hear any feedback, comments etc. More information can be found here - www.selfiebot.co

^KW

http://www.gosphero.com/introducing-selfiebot/

hoax?

Are they just reselling that? If it was another product, you would think they would have researched whether their are other products out with the same name.

jeffnz

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#1034160 30-Apr-2014 17:35

from their FB page

We said we had news coming, here it is...

For a couple of months we have been working on a product. We hadn’t yet announced it as we wanted to wait and hit the market with something amazing.

A few days ago (April 1) US toy manufacturer Orbotix, makers of Sphero, released a video showing their ‘newest’ product, ‘SelfieBot.’ This immediately went viral and got a huge amount of mixed reactions. A day later it was revealed that, as many expected, this was a big April Fool’s prank. Some said ‘I-told-you-so, this is at least 10 years away’ while others breathed a sigh of relief after claiming they’d move to another planet if this was for real.

Many people though, expressed disappointment. People loved the idea of a camera that they didn’t have to hold themselves, and that they could just place in the air wherever they like.

The hype from the video got us anxious. Clearly people wanted it, and they wanted it now. And a lot of companies now know this.

We are now announcing our first product, the SelfieBot™. Our SelfieBot concept came about several months ago via a couple of caffeine-fuelled young people with a whiteboard and the ambition to make something cool that people wanted. The trademark was registered late March when we decided to go all in.

We are dedicated to making this happen, and are now in a position to do so.

See our product description on our website - www.selfiebot.co - and tell your friends!""

source

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mattwnz

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#1034174 30-Apr-2014 18:09

jeffnz: from their FB page

See our product description on our website - www.selfiebot.co - and tell your friends!""

source

That was back at the beginning of the month. Can't really tell your friends when there are still no actual details on the product nearly a month later.
At least the april fools joke one had information and photos.

AcornRobotics

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#1034662 1-May-2014 11:12

mattwnz:
jeffnz: from their FB page

See our product description on our website - www.selfiebot.co - and tell your friends!""

source

That was back at the beginning of the month. Can't really tell your friends when there are still no actual details on the product nearly a month later.
At least the april fools joke one had information and photos.

Hi Matt,

As we said in our social media updates, we didn't want to announce the product that early but felt we needed to after seeing Orbotix's April Fools video. The timing was uncanny, we had trademarked the name SelfieBot only 1 week beforehand. We felt that announcing closer to the actual product launch (in most cases more appropriate) would not be as effective given Orbotix had already publicised a SelfieBot. Our engineers are working away furiously to finish prototypes so we can begin testing.

The April Fools joke couldn't have been better validation for our product though so we're pretty excited. ^KW

AcornRobotics

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#1034668 1-May-2014 11:17

zocster:
AcornRobotics: Hi all,

For anyone in Chch that may be interested, next Tuesday (28th) we are pitching our first project at Coffee & Jam, 12:30-1:30pm at the Epic Centre on Manchester St.

Coffee & Jam is a free weekly event hosted by Ministry of Awesome. It's a place to share your ideas, seek & give feedback, learn stuff & connect with like-minded folk. Plus who could turn down free Underground coffee and jam and other delicious spreads!

Hope to see some of you there!

- KW

I will be there!

Sorry zocster we pitched our SelfieBot a few months ago (28th of Jan). Check out the information we've currently released on our social media and www.selfiebot.co

By the way Coffee & Jam is a weekly event, same time every Tues. They showcase some very cool startups coming out of Chch so have a look if you get the chance. ^KW

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