Meet Nixie, the selfie drone

Drones are one of the most intriguing developments on the gadget market of nowadays. From smartphone controlled toys to camera rigs to Amazon’s drone shipping concept, the devices have gotten more and more advanced. Intel has an ongoing project called “Make it wearable”. They give prizes and grants to developers of mobile gadgets. This year, one of the finalists is Team Nixie. You can wrap the device around your wrist and with one motion you can launch it and it will take pictures of you. It’s a bit like having having a pet bird, only more practical.

Nixie, the selfie drone was developed to “take the picture that you wish you always had, but couldn’t, because you didn’t want to stop the action”, as Jelena Jovanovic, project manager, puts it. The little drone is helped by an Intel Edison chip and it knows where you are. It will compose a good picture and take it. It’s fully automated, after it takes the picture it will come back to you.

The team that built Nixie, the selfie drone is composed of 3 members. Christoph Kohstall is the captain and the visionary behind the idea. Jelena Jovanovic already had a drone prototype before Cristoph thought to make it wearable. The third member is Michael Niedermayr. Other finalists for Intel’s “Make it wearable” campaign are products such as:

• A broadcasting camera mounted in an athlete’s uniform that gives you 1st person view.
• A bionic baby mattress that keeps mothers connected to their babies that are in incubation.
• A prosthetic robotic hand.
• A motion tracker for skiers.
• Body monitoring necklace for sports.
• Babyguard – a baby monitor from in the womb up to 3 years old.
• A smart glove
• A platform for gadgets that snap together on your wrist.
• A smart wristband that warms you or cools you down.

It’s hard to say that Nixie, the selfie drone should win, especially since medical appliances seem to be more important. However, the robotics hand looks like it’s made of Legos.  The bionic mattress only transmits kinetic movement of a child to its mother. The Babyguard would seem like a winner. But if the Nixie drone really works as specified, it could actually replace the GoPro, or the use of mobile phone cameras.