Top 360 Degree VR Camera Drones

Get ready for the 360 VR revolution. The 360 degree camera drone market is still a very small niche segment and therefore the options are still limited. But with the 360 degree VR video market starting to gain traction, with big media like YouTube and Facebook now supporting the publishing of 360 video content and the CNN app periodically including 360 video, we may see more entrants to the drone 360 camera market.   The current list of competitors includes the Aerial Pro 360, Drone Volt, and 360 Designs integrated camera platforms. Another company that had a cool design and high hopes for a 360 camera drone, Queen B Robotics, seems to have disappeared. We look forward to seeing new systems and to following how this market develops along with the overall virtual reality market.

Janus 360

The above (top) video is an example shot by Drone Volt’s Janus 360 of the type of 360 video that can be shot and upload to YouTube and watched in 360 VR.
Utilizing 2 Freedom 360 rigs and 10 4K cameras recording at 30 fps, the Janus 360 from Drone Volt will produce 360° videos during a maximum 15 minutes of flight time. Drone Volt company is located in France.

Key Features
• 10 4K cameras
• 15 minutes flight time
• 150 GB of images per flight
• HD live video
• Full 360
• Double stabilized heads
• HD video downlink: full HD 1080 (up to 1000m)
• Maximum Wind Resistence: 45 km/h

Introducing the Janus 360 from Drone Volt

Image and source: Drone Volt

Aerial Pro 360

According to the company’s website, the Aerial Pro 360 is the world’s first 360° VR camera drone specifically designed for professional aerial videography in 4K. And by combining breakthrough camera technology and state of art drone capability the Aerial Pro 360 can capture 4K with no blind spots. Aerial Pro 360 company is located in Australia.

Key Features
• Flight Time: 23 minutes
• Battery: 5400mAh 3S
• Max Wind 30kph
• 2.4GHz RC Transmitter
• Full 360 VR Video
• 4K 30fps
• 12 Megapixels
• VR Stiching Software
• Dual cameras

From their website (as of June 2017) the standard price of USD$1,499 for the December delivery package is available for “pre-order special” of USD$1,099. For more details and to confirm package and pricing see the company’s website : https://www.aerialpro360.com/

Here is an example of 360 video now supported by Facebook posted by Aerial Pro 360

Image and source: Aerial Pro 360

Flying EYE

According to the company’s website, their Flying EYE is the world’s first broadcast quality 6K 360 VR camera drone. Priced at $75,000, it is a high-end custom professional rig that the company says has a typical lead time of 6-10 weeks.

Key Features
• VR camera (Mini EYE™ 3 and other 3 camera VR rigs)
• Flying EYE™ 360 camera stabilization system
• DJI Matrice 600 Pro platform
• Breeze™ – 6K wireless low latency video system
• Ground station – provides stitched 4K SDI, 6K NDI, and 6K H.265 (HEVC) outputs
• Max wireless video range: 3-6 miles
• Flying time: 10-12 mins (to 20% charge)
• Live 6K stitcher included
• 3k 60, 4K 30, 6K 30 resolution (stitched output)

360 Designs is located in California.

360 Designs video: 6K Broadcast Quality Live Streaming VR Drone

Image and source: 360 Designs

EXO 360

Update Feb 2018:
There were high hopes from their Indiegogo project “Exo360 Drone: Aerial 360 Video Made Simple” in 2016, however, as is the case with many great ideas, it doesn’t seem to have transitioned to a viable business … at least not yet … as checking their website www.queenb-robotics.com in early 2018 returns in a 404 “Page Not Found” error …
FYI, here was their design:

The EXO 360 from Queen B Robotics is an interesting design that is still in development (as of June 2017) according to the company’s website. It does note that the onboard 360 capture rig employs 5 16Megapixel cameras for UHD 360 video, 4K video at 30 frames per second, HD 1080p/30 and spherical images at 60MP. The company is located in California.

Key Features
• Flight Time: 18 minutes
• Battery: 6600 mAh 4S
• Max Win 15mph (24kph) / Light Rain
• 360 Video Capture
• Video: 4K/30 (Pro); 1080p/30
• Photo: 16MP (Pro); 12MP
• Onboard Video Stitching
• Real-time video streaming

Image and source: Queen B Robotics

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