Went for a drive to Shellharbour NSW today and decided it would be a good opportunity to take the LookUp for a new showcase of the bottom mount on the camera. Using the 360fly, i recorded and edited a short flight that would offer something for another commercial market with the camera changed from the top to below.
Also compatible with VR goggles with a smartphone. Click and drag around the screen for optimum viewing.
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Prezi Presentation for a BETA Business Model that will revolutionise drone real world practicality and application, as well as change the speculative narrative.
SURVEILLANCE DRONE: “I have a working tool that minimises risk and cost, in an area that seems to cost so much. … I’m new to it all and still wrapping my head around it,” says Sam Noakes. Picture: Robert Peet
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After chatting with University of Wollongong student Sam Noakes I came to the conclusion he is one extraordinary 21-year-old.
Sam Noakes piloting his surveillance drone. He’s been developing a drone for the RMS to assist in surveillance of bridges. Picture: Robert Peet
The young entrepreneur’s fascination with technology prompted him to find a way he could incorporate drones into everyday life and help industry in rural areas.
The drive led Mr Noakes, originally from Parkes in NSW Central West, to win the UOW Pitch 2016 (undergraduate) for his big idea of using custom built drones for surveillance operations by Roads and Maritime Services.
“I’m lucky to win a scratchie sometimes, it’s unreal,” he said.
“Mum works for the RMS and said they’re always looking at new robotics.
“I love playing with all the new technology and showing people [drones have] more use than just a flying helicopter.”
The competition allows sole entrepreneurs or groups to pitch an idea or invention to a panel of experts at the UOW Innovation Campus in the hope of winning $6,000 to develop the idea.
However Mr Noakes’ vision is already becoming a reality, having worked on the project with the RMS for the last year and a half and is now in the final test phases.
He developed and built a drone from scratch for the purpose of surveying bridges, where scaffolding alone can cost $30,000 and other “nasties” like snakes and working at heights can cause difficulty.
He first noticed these issues when doing work experience with the RMS in year 10, a problem he “took with him through the years”.
“I wondered how to get back to my roots back home somehow, and the RMS is one of the bigger companies that keep the town afloat so I naturally gravitated towards that and it got support straight away,” he said.
“We use bridges every day, the flooding back home is going to [cause] enormous structural damage …the icing on the cake is it’s going to be cheaper and making sure all my family are driving on safe bridges.”
The 360 degree footage taken by the drone can also be used in training exercises and archived for future reference.
Mr Noakes said initially people were worried of job losses, but the “cool thing” about his project is it could actually create new jobs.
“Everyone that is there normally still needs to be there because they need to give navigation requests under the bridge, make inspections and they also need a pilot.
“If anything, they might start hiring drone pilots and that might be a new career for someone.”
The next step is to test it with the RMS in Parkes, with plans of future refinement including the potential to 3D print parts and managing e-waste.
“If there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and they offer me a job that’s awesome.”
Currently drones look down. They relay a view from an aircraft that looks vertically down past the propellers and usually have a camera on a gimbal with the ability to pan up and down and minor sideways movements. I have custom built from the ground up a drone which implements an external camera located on the top of the aircraft, replacing the traditional bottom placement. This allows a 270-degree vision angle looking vertically from the device.
My prototype has the camera capability to view 360 degrees which means, when linked with a smart device, like a tablet or phone, you can simply move the device to a desired viewpoint by a click and drag around the screen, with complete control. The camera can be linked to a smart phone and inserted into a Virtual Reality (or VR) Headset that allows viewing advantage simply by turning your head. Platforms such as YouTube and Facebook also support these for sharing online, which uses the same method on smart devices and a click and drag technique with the mouse when viewing on a PC.
As a part of the design of the drone, I’ve fitted LED lights around the exterior for added visions in darkened spaces
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It also has a LIVE FEED first person view camera on the front for piloting assistance to an external monitor. This relays what the front of the drone sees if the drone was to become out of sight and needed to be traced.
I’ve left out of this build sensory technology simply due to costs and the first intended usage not particularly needing a whole lot of piloting assistance. It’s something I am definitely going to add to the advancement and development of this prototype with future builds and even this one itself. However, what I don’t pack in GPS and smart phone connectivity I make up for in a revolutionary dual mount system.
Users can now choose whether they want videos of under the drone, above the drone or both. 360fly Director allows the footage from cameras that have been imported to the software to be merged that would ultimately mean if there were two cameras on each mount, then simple click and drag merging of the footage would give an edit of everything the drone could have captured whilst in the air, both looking up and down, all in 360 degree high definition video. A whole new product that is unseen and un-engineered in a commercial environment.
The 360fly camera I’ve chosen I would highly recommend to anyone new to 360degree video technology and has an interest in introducing themselves into Virtual Reality as it comes with a set of VR goggles fit for a smartphone. I’ve chosen the HD camera however there is also a 4K device available that obviously climbs in price but produces higher quality footage. The button on the camera acts as the one power switch as well as the record button, so capturing is very easy to navigate, with red (recording), blue (on) and green (charging). The smartphone linkage to this camera uses a wifi hotspot signal that creates a live feed in 360 to the connected device. It also has a cloud save setting that saves all the video content to the app as well as the device itself. The app also allows users to start and stop the recording via the phone, which is very convenient once attached to the drone.
The VR Goggles that are able to be claimed with the purchase of the camera from 360fly are a great introduction to the possibilities of 360 degree video playback on a smartphone. The device simply clamps in the phone and once switched to VR goggle mode on the chosen playback platform, users have the advantage of turning their head freely to view the space they desire.
Lastly the remote control I’ve collaborated is a DJI DT-7 RC Radio System. This is a universal controller usually found with the early Phantom ranger, however has the ability to link with my custom build, with, if desired, also be able to control a camera separate to the drone as well as switch between modes (GPS, sports mode). However, my drone doesn’t require these features. The controls are then all linked the same way as any commercial product, with added skill necessary to combat wind drift and general external factors.
Here’s 3 videos I’ve made using the ‘LookUp’. A day at a beach park, a skating video as well as the intended purpose of the top camera mount for a bridge inspection.
The “Look Up” was initially built to film a 180 degree vertical space above the aircraft in 360 degrees so the viewer could have a free look around the underneath of a bridge. This would help with inspections and revolutionise the industry with an innovative model of digital documentation with this particular assembly of products. However, in recent days I’ve changed the game of drone flight and attached a mount for the 360Fly HD Camera.
This makes the “Look Up’ prototype now almost ready for an unlimited commercial market. I’ve given the user extra control to view a space below the quadcopter or above in a matter of seconds.
An awesome possibility is that if the individual had 2 360fly cameras, they could simultaneously be filming then the footage merged into a video of the same flight.
Take a look at my first attempt to create a visually aesthetic video with the camera mounted to the underneath of the drone filming down.
Using a Custom built drone prototype this device allows a 360 degree view of a bridge that will revolutionize the inspection industry.
Built by me the drone has a custom mount that can be interchaged from top to bottom at user discretion.
This particular assembly is showcasing the camera on top and applied to bridge inspection. This drone is the product of numerous iterations and research, as well as close collaboration with the RMS.
This is another test video of a 360fly attatched to, this time, the bottom of a drone that i’ve custom built and designed. My Friend sonny offered to be the subject skating around an old soccer field carpark.
The ability for the user is now an interchangeable camera mount on a drone that can be viewed in 360 degrees and linked with VR.
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SURVEILLANCE DRONE: “I have a working tool that minimises risk and cost, in an area that seems to cost so much. … I’m new to it all and still wrapping my head around it,” says Sam Noakes. Picture: Robert Peet
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