Fear, loathing, and rogue drones in Las Vegas

These days drones are standard fare at the Consumer Electronics Show — and this year is no different. From teeny, tiny selfie drones to 4K video drones, here’s a roundup of our favorites:

Inspire 1

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We got to see DJI’s $2,800 4k video drone up close. This drone has exceptional 360-degree video capturing capability for your bird’s-eye-view shots. And consumers can buy two controllers, so one person can fly it while the other works the camera. The camera also detaches from the drone and can be mounted on a handheld stabilizer for on-the-ground action.

DJI first introduced the Inspire 1 back in November.

Zano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYMxnYzPieo

Someone went and invented a selfie drone.

This 2.5-inch by 2.5-inch drone is all about taking snapshots, rather than video, from afar. The company enjoyed a successful debut on Kickstarter: Zano has already raised over $3 million and has another 40 hours to go as of this writing (for those who want to get in on any early-bird specials). And though this drone’s main purpose is to assist people in taking photos of themselves, it is somehow far less offensive than the selfie stick.

FireFly Drone

This demo, hosted by Intel exec Brian Krzanich, shows off an Ascending Technologies FireFly drone that’s been updated with a new UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) collision avoidance system. The technology is a part of a collaboration between Intel and Ascending Technologies.

To show how well this drone can autopilot around obstacles, Krzanich plays ping-pong with one of the stage presenters — using the drone as the ball.

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Micro Drone

The Micro Drone 2.0 is roughly 5 inches by 5 inches and comes equipped with a video camera, though it’s been available for a while now. U.K.-based Extreme Fliers was supposed to make an announcement at CES, but it never came through. (We’ll consider this one of our drones gone rogue.)

We can make some guesses about what the company may have been planning. Back at Engadget Engage in November in an interview with Make Magazine, the company alluded to a 3D printer version of the drone, a laser pen attachment, as well as a gatling gun. During that same conversation they promised a bigger version of their teeny drone, so that may be in the works as well.

We’ve reached out to Extreme Fliers and will update once we hear back.

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