Live data from Hacker News

Lily – Drone camera

news.ycombinator.com

441–450 of 496 posts

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#441
post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a bad idea. Women could carry it if they run at night and if they don't make it home it could fly to a police station. Parents could send them out with their kids.

That would enable the truest form of helicopter parenting ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_parent )

[deleted]

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#442
post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.lily.camera/terms Purchaser agrees to stay clear of anything in the range of the UAV, or anything it could possibly collide with such as power lines, buildings, other UAVs etc.

As if there is a place where it can't possibly collide with anything! Oh, your Lily divebombed into the ground? Well, you shouldn't have launched it near the ground!

Perhaps I should have been more verbose. The information being asked is nowhere to be found through the official channels. The only mention of collisions and objects is in the terms document. I believe it's safe to assume the Lily doesn't have that and they made sure to add clauses that shield them against such claims (that it failed to avoid collisions).

I just tried to contribute with relevant information and got two sarcastic replies in return. Well done, folks.

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my question on Stack Exchange! I was so angry because I was so curious how this worked, but I was downvoted to hell.

Ha! I found your question a couple months ago after youtube hit me with the soloshot ad, and I couldn't figure out how it worked. Despite being downvoted, it still ranks fairly high on the SERP for "how the hell does the soloshot work, their site is useless".

I guess Stack Exchange isn't the place for discussion, just question and answers only

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RealSense uses projected IR and thus doesn't work outdoors. (edit: because short-range and little ambient IR are required)

Thanks for the tip. Are there any portable technology that would work outdoors ?

stereo vision, structure from motion, animals use both

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#445

Awesome, but my experience with current-gen pseudo-autonomous UAVs, these questions immediately come to mind: Can it follow you around the corner of a building without clipping it? Can it avoid bumping into a tree? Will it climb above the trees to follow you through a wooded area? Can it avoid getting tangled in an overhead utility line?

all the more reasons while these devices are so cool this just entry level gear. drones are not going to win acceptance until they do what you want and stay out of your way and out of harm.

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#446
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 25 mph is not all horizontal, and any downward movement would mean less power drain from the drone. Though I'd definitely agree that the battery life is a pretty big problem. I'm sure they will also sell a Lily branded external battery that can be kept in your backpack and used to recharge it.

Maybe, but the FAQ states the current battery isn't replaceable. So it seems more likely they'd have to come out with an entire new unit in order to have external batteries. It doesn't seem like something they're interested in for the launch.

Since they're using the upfront pre-order money to cover manufacturing costs, I would bet enough feedback from customers (or even speculative customers) asking for a 30 min minimum would have enough impact for them to source different batteries or reduce weight. Features like this can make or break a flashy new product like Lily.

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#447

This is really, really cool. That said, flying objects are inherently dangerous. I was at a bike race and a guy was following the pack with a DJI drone. One motor suddenly failed and the thing plummeted to the ground from 40ft and broke into a bunch of pieces. Luckily, it didn't hit anyone but it would have been a major incident if it had. There's a lot of excitement about the cool, flashy features of these drones (f…

As someone who has flown RC drones and heli for the better part of 5+ years now I generally find that there are 3 camps: 1) people who have never flown and assume the worst and often want unrealistic "guarantees" (see above), 2) those who fly, fly often and fly as safe as can be "guaranteed", 3) those who fly in an unsafe manner due to inexperience or just general carelessness. I've always tried to fly responsibly at…

I've been flying RC for ~16 years, on and off, and the rules for operating an RC aircraft safely have always been the same.

DO NOT FLY NEAR PEOPLE.

It's that simple. No functioning machine can ever be inherently safe, safety is the result of continuous exercise of good judgement. When operating a large nitro powered helicopter, featuring 700mm long carbon fibre knives that spin at 2000rpm, controlled by an imperfect operator, through an imperfect electronics system, powered by an unreliable motor I am aware that it is an intrinsically dangerous object, and I only fly it in controlled areas, without bystanders who could get hurt.

And it annoys me to no end when I see some idiot crashing his DJI into a building (no flying within 400m of a built-up area - don't fly near people), or a new guy with a t-rex or raptor helicopter flying near people in a park in the middle of town (Don't fly near people!) Or someone who should know better like a model aero club member flying over the pits or the viewing area or the carpark (don't fly near/over people!)

I actually want something like the machine described in the article, because I want to be able to film myself skiing, without the horribly cliched helmet cam, but unless I can get something small enough that it CANT hurt someone in a collision, or something with very robust collision avoidance, I can't use it. Ideally both, because even with perfect collision avoidance, something else could still break.

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#448
post #419
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somebody should make Office Space 2. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/

HBO's Silicon Valley series is probably the closest thing we're going to get to Office Space 2. Which is good, because the series is genius

It's from the same director. I like the series, the second season in currently on TV.

Re: Lily – Drone camera

#449

Awesome, but my experience with current-gen pseudo-autonomous UAVs, these questions immediately come to mind: Can it follow you around the corner of a building without clipping it? Can it avoid bumping into a tree? Will it climb above the trees to follow you through a wooded area? Can it avoid getting tangled in an overhead utility line?

Here is another one for you: If any of the above fails, what about spare parts availability?
Post reply on HN