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WowWee Launches Gaming Drone, Lumi

Malek Murison
Robotics manufacturer WowWee has launched a campaign for its ‘gaming drone’, Lumi. The drone comes complete with autonomous flight and obstacle avoidance, along with several game modes. The team at WowWee are opening up the Lumi platform to app developers, as they see huge potential for gamifying drones as a way to introduce younger children to the technology.
The Lumi drone can be pre-ordered on IndieGoGo for under $60. For that, backers will receive what the makers describe as “a highly advanced, self-stabilising quadcopter with simple piloting capabilities. Users take off, land, navigate and perform exciting aerial manoeuvres with a simple tap.”

So what other features can we expect from Lumi?

  • Lumi to the Beat – the game central to the Lumi experience allows you to select any song stored on your tablet or phone and Lumi will challenge you to move to the beat – a modern “Drone Drone Revolution”
  • Choreography Mode – Create your own sequence of aerial moves, control timing and light colors to your music, and then play it back whenever you like
  • Obstacle Avoidance – Lumi’s various sensors ensure that the drone will actively avoid walls, cupboards, and other common indoor objects. This extends to hand-gesture control, meaning you can play games with Lumi by placing your hand in front of the drone and forcing it to move
  • BeaconSense™ Technology – Using a compact system of infrared lights, Lumi will fly and self-stabilize itself in relation to the supplied Beacon
  • Follow-Me™ Feature – Simply pick up the beacon and Lumi will follow you

Through an app users will be able to select motions, maneuvers, stunts, or just take control and fly Lumi with ease. Initial game modes include following sequences of flashing lights and music to keep the drone airborne, while Lumi flies and dances in the air and reacts to the player’s controls. More advanced users can even experiment with creating their own games, thanks to Lumi’s open API. Lumi’s Choreography Mode also gives the user the ability to program custom flight moves and record them for sharing with friends on social media.

WowWee’s Chief Technology Officer Davin Sufer explained, “When we brought the Robosapien to the public in 2004, a huge maker community emerged with it, and by crowdfunding Lumi we want to return to our roots. As part of the campaign, Lumi will have an open API and dedicated Maker Kits that will allow users to create their own apps and games for the drone – helping to evolve the final retail product”.

To bolster the creativity of the community, the WowWee team has included exclusive “Maker Kit” perks in the campaign. In addition to the drone and beacon, the Maker Kits will include two Bluetooth pods and, in the Advanced Kit, an Analytic Tracker that will send debug data to the user’s PC in real-time.

The first batch of Lumi drones is expected to ship to backers in August 2016, with the Maker Kits shipping in September 2016.

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