Back in January the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016) in Nevada was the stage for a number of exciting announcements in the drone industry. Stealing the headlines was a demo from Yuneec of the Typhoon H. Live on stage, Intel (the company that part-owns Yuneec) chief executive Brian Krzanich introduced the Typhoon H’s collision avoidance system, alongside a bunch of other top of the range features.
In the video below you can watch as the Typhoon H navigates through a mock forest, filming a mountain biker as it dodges falling trees. It was fitted with a Intel® RealSense™ Technology module, which uses advanced computer vision processing to enable Typhoon H to dynamically alter course as it encounters obstacles as small as tree branches.
Yesterday Yuneec announced that the Typhoon H is now available for pre-order with several electronics retailers, popular online stores and specialized outlets world-wide. Pricing is set at a competitive suggested retail price of $1,299, and for a limited time the Typhoon H is being offered with a free Wizard controller, enabling team operation, GPS tracking of a subject and the ability to control your drone with a wave of your hand.
“We’re excited to bring our game-changing Typhoon H to market, opening access to creative possibilities previously only available in expensive professional platforms. Now, anyone can capture incredible aerial footage like never before,” said Yu Tian, chief executive officer of Yuneec International. “It’s our most advanced consumer drone ever, setting a new standard in capability and value, while being ready, easy and safe to fly.”
Hardware features of the Typhoon H include an a six-rotor airframe, a full 3-axis, 360-degree gimbal and the new CGO3+ camera.
During flight the landing gear retracts. This allows for unobstructed panning during 4K filming and 12 megapixel stills. The Typhoon H also comes with several new flight and image capture modes, including Point of Interest, Orbit, Curved Cable and Journey.
The headlines though are the two new safety features. As demonstrated in the video above, with the added Intel® RealSense™ Technology Module that will soon be available, the Yuneec will be able to navigate around obstacles. Second, the drone has a failsafe system allowing the Typhoon H to remain stable and land if a motor should fail.
The Typhoon H will likely be the biggest rival to DJI’s new Phantom 4. The two will fight it out for domination at the high end of the consumer drone spectrum.
Malek Murison is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for tech trends and innovation. He handles product reviews, major releases and keeps an eye on the enthusiast market for DroneLife.
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