Today, a drone called Lily suddenly became popular. Many netizens at me on Weibo, a large number of friends also sent me WeChat messages, and investors also atted me.
As a practitioner who is currently developing drones, I would like to briefly talk about what I think of this aircraft.
(Note, the following views only represent Han Lu’s personal views and do not represent the views of Spark Technology)
First review the video:
The video talks about Lily Several features of the aircraft:
1. Waterproof
2. It can automatically fly stably when thrown
3. Automatically follow the beacon on the wrist, no remote control
4. Palm landing
5. The battery is not replaceable and the flight time is 20 minutes
6. The propeller is foldable
As for the function Recording 1080P and 720P videos is not a functional point, it is the most basic aerial photography aircraft function.
There are a few things I didn’t tell you in the video:
1. The camera of this aircraft does not have a physical mechanical multi-axis stabilized gimbal
2. Image stabilization is achieved by electronic algorithms
Let me start with my conclusion: this Lily generation product cannot be bought, it is a product that is not mature enough.
I don’t mean to criticize the other party’s products, please read my analysis:
1. The need for waterproofing is good, but because of the waterproofing, the battery cannot be replaced, and the plane can only fly for 15-20 seconds Minutes, after taking off, you have to land as soon as you figure out the operation. You have gone out for a day and are used to using aerial photography aircraft. There are many scenes and pictures you want to play, but you cannot replace the battery, which cruelly limits your time. After 20 minutes, you have to take the aircraft home or configure an inverter in the car to charge it, and it can only be used after charging for at least 2 hours. This is too cruel for drone applications and is simply inverse. (After flying one battery, replacing it with another is the most basic experience). Battery life is a shortcoming in the drone industry, and the fact that the battery cannot be replaced has seriously amplified this shortcoming. From my understanding, I would rather sacrifice waterproofing, but it must also be designed to allow battery replacement. (I think Lily compromised the main need of flight time in order to meet the secondary need of waterproofing)
2. Hand-throwing takeoff, everyone pays attention to a few details. All aspects of hand-throwing take-off are The plane has enough free space to land downwards. For example, in the snow field in scene 1, the plane is thrown high. For example, in scene 2, the plane is thrown off the bridge. Even the old lady in scene 3 has a slope below when she is thrown out of the plane. . What does this mean? The aircraft needs sufficient altitude and sufficient reaction time.
Throwing it out and taking off is not a barrier technology. The gravity accelerometer detects vertical acceleration data that exceeds a certain threshold in the standby state, and then starts the aircraft. After that, the aircraft needs time to perform stable calculations, and then the propeller is commanded to let the aircraft Stabilize the attitude, then apply the throttle to climb upwards and complete the hand-throw takeoff. The whole process takes about 1-1.5 seconds. During this time, the aircraft will fall freely to a height of 1.5-2.5 meters. This is why the DEMOs in the video were all thrown from a high enough height.
Ordinary people only know how to take off by throwing by hand. They don’t know that there is a height difference. I am 175cm tall. If I throw it diagonally upward, I can easily throw it to a height of 2.5-3 meters. In this way, the plane It has enough height to complete the start-stabilize-ascent actions. If I throw it out horizontally, the aircraft will not be able to complete these actions at a free fall height of less than 1.75 meters, and it will fall directly to the ground. And if some people stop at point B, it will be very inadvertent. The aircraft was thrown out without any effort, and the aircraft was thrown diagonally downward. The free fall height of the aircraft was basically less than 1 meter. If there was grass or water underneath, it would be okay, but if it was hard ground, the aircraft would definitely be injured.
The hand-throwing function is certainly dazzling enough, but there are requirements for operating height. As a hardware manufacturer, these points must be considered. It cannot be just for the sake of dazzling, and future users will come to repair the broken casing. No one can stand it. (I think the hand-thrown takeoff is 100 points as a gimmick, but considering the actual user operation and the risk of aircraft damage that may be caused to the user later, the risk is greater)
3. This aircraft does not have a physical camera Stabilizing the gimbal causes the video settings to be stabilized by electronic algorithms. Let’s not talk about the stability of the electronic algorithm. Let’s talk about the damage to the image quality caused by electronic algorithm stabilization. For example, the video is recorded in 1080P size, but during the stabilization process, the video The image quality needs to be greatly reduced to achieve the stability of the algorithm. The more stable the image stabilized by this electronic algorithm, the worse the image quality. In the most severe state, there is almost no detail in the image, and the leaves look like Chinese ink paintings. It was completely black, and it was terrible to watch when exported to TV. To put it simply: the video cannot be used, it can be watched, but it cannot be used for any sharing or publishing.
(I think this is for the sake of a drop-resistant overall shell without a physically stable gimbal, which leads to a loss of image quality)
4. Palm landing is not a barrier function. It is for dazzling, but it is slightly out of control. Well, the propeller will hit the arm, especially if it is used by children, the arm itself will be broken. The probability of the propeller sweeping + hitting the eyeball is much higher. If it hits, it will explode, so try to land the plane away from the body. It’s mine. As for my understanding of safety, I really don’t understand when I see Lliy aircraft doing this. (I think this is a standard gimmick function, with more risks than practicality)
Because the Lily aircraft has been forwarded a lot today, many friends who came into contact with and saw drones for the first time were impressed by these technologies, but we still have to See this product rationally and objectively.