Floating Waterproof Drone Makes a Kickstarter Splash
The SwellPro Team’s Kickstarter campaign for a floating, waterproof, 4k drone nears completion.
With only 21 days left to go on their Kickstarter campaign, the SwellPro Team is close to reaching its proposed budget of $51,500, the amount they need to produce a third installment in their Splash series of hobby and recreational drones. The potential Splash 3 would have several notable features, including waterproofness, the ability to float, an underwater-compatible 4K camera, and a modular "Payload Release System."
According to the SwellPro Team, customer feedback was an integral part of the first two iterations of their "Splash" line. In addition to all the specs listed above, the Splash 3 drone comes in "Auto" and "Fisherman" editions. The latter model includes the payload-release system that, according to the Kickstarter page, "can drop up to 2.5 pounds of bait further than you could ever imagine," and "has a fixed high resolution camera that allows you to see where your payload is being dropped."
But perhaps most importantly, the SwellPro Team's new 4K camera gimbal uses motors that can reduce video shakiness on air and underwater, and has audio and video recorders built into it directly. This thing seems quite nifty, and with the Kickstarter campaign wrapping up in less than three weeks, we'll probably be able to get our hands on the Splash 3 sooner rather than later. We've reported on waterproof drones before, but this seems perfectly ready out-of-the-box, according all information and media we have thus far.
This is what Kickstarter calls an 'all-or-nothing' campaign, in which all money asked for by the project owners must be aggregated by a certain date (in this case, June 22nd, 2017), or the Kickstarter fails. According to Kickstarter, the motivation behind and benefits of this type of project are as follows:
It's less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it's tough having $1,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project. It motivates. If people want to see a project come to life, they're going to spread the word. It works. Of the projects that have reached 20% of their funding goal, 81% were successfully funded. Of the projects that have reached 60% of their funding goal, 98% were successfully funded. Projects either make their goal or find little support. There's little in-between.
Regarding available flight modes, the SwellPro Team provides the below options on their Kickstarter page, as well as a very informative specs infographic.
Follow Me Mode: Follows you at up to 35 mph while you still have camera control.
Mission Planning: Using the mobile app, pinpoint specific locations on the map (waypoints) to automatically fly a predetermined flight path.
Tap to fly: Point at a location on the map to automatically fly and hover at a specific location.
Return to Home: Flip the RTH switch on the remote, and the Splash Drone 3 AUTO will automatically return to its take off location and land.
Auto-Land: If the battery on your drone gets critically low it will not fall out of the sky, but rather land smoothly in its current position.
Low Battery Alert: Remote vibrates when battery levels are low"
Head on over to the SwellPro Team's official Kickstarter campaign page for more information about the company's history, the evolution of the Splash drone series, the various "Kickstarter Backer" options and Splash 3 editions, as well as more images and video content of the drone in action.
