Control the Skydio R1 with your Apple Watch

Is that a bird? A plane? Superman maybe? Well, it is a self-flying drone.

With automated piloting and advanced obstacle avoidance, the Skydio R1’s artificial intelligence and 13 cameras allow it to, in essence, fly on its own.

Skydio announced that it would be releasing an app on the Apple Watch that will enable owners to control, launch and even manually fly the R1 drone. When one thinks of drones, no one thinks of Apple. However, they are selling the R1 in their stores for $2000.

Also read: History of Apple Watches

Marketing Manager of Skydio Products, Kyle Russell said,

”As someone lucky enough to have been using Skydio R1 since we launched, I’ve never had more fun with the drone than in the months we’ve been internally testing our Apple Watch app,”

He further added:

”It’s one thing to have a drone avoid obstacles while filming you autonomously, but there’s something surreal in being able to tell this robot what to do from my wrist and then stop worrying about it or fussing with it immediately. It is so much nicer to lower your wrist than to fumble with putting a phone in a pants pocket or bag.
Choosing who the drone should film by tapping on people’s faces on your Watch feels like an app from a few years in the future”.

The quadcopter can be launched from the ground by using an Android or iOS app. It has over a dozen cameras that allow it to equip the best camera techniques required for the shot, that can be adjusted by the Apple Watch to get the best results. It enables users to capture the vantage point of the drone while allowing them more time to do things other than manning a drone.

Previously, this could have just as well been done from your phone, but now it is almost as easy as flicking your wrist.