Greg Appelhof joined us at CES 2020, to tell us about AirPix, an HD aerial camera. AirSelfie aerial cameras are essentially little drones that can be tossed in the air or launched with an app and remotely operated to take photos from their aerial vantage points. The devices use facial recognition to take a photo and then return to the person it took a photo of.
AirSelfie launched in June 2019 on crowdfunding platforms and generated over $2 million in sales globally, with about 18,000 units sold across 105 countries. Appelhof shared some new products since its earlier launch: AirPix Plus and AIrDuo.
AirPix Plus with a curvilinear design, with stronger thrust from brushless motors. The lens on the AirPix Plus can pivot for a wider range of photographic angles. The AirDuo is more advanced with higher picture quality. It features a front parallel path camera, as well as an electronic switching camera on the bottom, for the bird's eye view image. It also has a sensor at the top to help it avoid hitting the ceiling or anything else above it.
Each of the cameras comes with a power bank. The cameras each take 10 to 15 minutes of video and hundreds of photos. Autonomously, the camera takes only a single photo, but via the app, users can shoot as many photos as they'd like, and have more control over composition. Autonomously, however, the camera can recognize certain hand gestures to know whether to take a video or photo and when to return to the operator.
The cameras retail at $180 for the AirPix Plus and $220 for the Air Duo. You can see the full AirPix line at their website.
Post-event note: AirPix delivery on Kickstarter and Indiegogo has been slow and customers have been expressed frustration. Always do your own research before purchasing new products.
Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.