A Selfie Mechanism That Utilizes Drone Technology To Deliver Extraordinary Selfies From The Air
In the promotional video, the voiceover humorously recounts many frustrating selfie experiences - trying to fit everyone in at the beach, snapping a picture by a beautiful waterfall, and more - all resulting in epic failures. In a world where 97 million selfies are taken per day, it makes sense that technology related to the trend would invite some creative ideas (i.e. the selfie stick!?) And one of the newest, sleekest ideas is the AirSelfie.
"My family has a drone business so it developed out of that," says Edoardo Stroppiana, co-founder and inventor of the AirSelfie. The AirSelfie is a selfie mechanism that utilizes drone technology to deliver extraordinary selfies from the air. From a distance of up to 66 feet it can hover in tripod-like stillness to take the perfect picture (or several). The AirSelfie conveniently has a case that surrounds a phone where it is placed and charged when not in use. It is controlled via app from a phone. The rectangular-shaped gadget can hover for about 3 minutes and has a time lapse in order to find the perfect spot and to put the phone back in the pocket.
Stroppiana emphatically states that it is not a "drone, but a gadget for your phone." Meaning - it is not meant to follow a person around, or be used for drone-type activities. The purpose of the AirSelfie is to take a picture from a short distance from above and most photographers know that the best shots come from above. The most important aspect to Stroppiana is that the AirSelfie is easy to use and his journey to developing the product shows how he did that.
As mentioned, Stroppiana comes from a family drone business, but he says "I am a bit different because I am not an engineer. I like to build things and I am fascinated with all things that fly." He decided to use his drone knowledge and his entrepreneur spirit and create something unique and useful to the many, many people taking selfies everyday. There were 60 people involved in the process of creating the AirSelfie. Stroppiana, for his part, says, "I was mostly concerned about the ease of use and the aesthetics." He made sure that the AirSelfie fit behind the phones correctly, the software is intuitive, and is extremely easy to control from the phone.
The AirSelfie is no wider than the iPhone and fits on the back of the phone with the handy case (one made for the iPhone, one for the Samsung S7 Edge). The plan is to expand compatibility once the first AirSelfie's are produced, which is starting in January of 2017, after an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign. The campaign had an original goal of $50,000, which it surpassed in 2 days and now has over $600,000 backed. The products will be delivered to the backers in March and April and then ready for being ordered from their website and other vendors after.
AirSelfie has a lot of hype all over the world, but Stroppiana has had unique experiences with each part, as he now acts as PR and marketing for his team. "In the States, reporters met us with suspicion around the product, though people are excited."
He explains that when people in the States hear "drone," especially in the tech communities, they think of the "Lily drone." The Lily drone was supposed to launch in 2016, used a fake drone to advertise the product, and received over 34 Million dollars in orders, only to close business without shipping a single drone. Luckily, AirSelfie has already been prototyped and is on schedule to have the first ones shipped out in March.
The most popular country for the AirSelfie, without a doubt according to Stroppiana, is Japan. "They are crazy for it over there," he says. He mentioned it is odd because, "we marketed to the States and Europe with no marketing in east Asia. But it went viral over there and I am getting invited to TV shows, news reports, and everything." He says it is popular in South Korea, too.
The AirSelfie is certainly a unique product. Stroppiana hopes to have it on "Amazon and some other places, but mostly we will sell it from our website." The goal of the company is to have a great product for the consumer that continually gets better. "Every week we have been making it better and better. It is now ready for consumers." He is surprised by the Kickstarter response, along with the response to the funny video made about the product. "My analyst said it has over 36 million views." The youthfulness of the invention is contagious and, as Stroppiana says, “we can’t wait to share it our growing base of AirSelfie enthusiasts.”
Andrew Malo
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University in Education, Andrew has taught for the past decade in Chicago, New Mexico, and Japan. He enjoys tinkering with trucks and motorcycles, woodworking, reading and computer programming.
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AirSelfie, a revolutionary pocket-size flying camera that connects with your smartphone to let you take boundless HD photos of you, your friends, and your life from the sky.