Sony this past year partnered up with a Japanese robotics company called ZMP to establish a new drone company called Aerosense. While the joint partnership understandably raised a few eyebrows at first, Sony believes that it can leverage its expertise in camera and communications technologies to make an impact in the burgeoning drone market.
On Monday, Sony released video footage of a drone prototype borne out of its relationship with ZMP. Suffice it to say, this isn’t your everyday $150 Quadcopter. And trust us when we say that that’s a good thing.
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For starters, the drone looks like, well, it looks exactly like a miniature airplane. Not to worry, though, the drone can still take off and land vertically like any other drone. While some might call the design unoriginal, I think it’s a welcome departure from all of the lookalike drones currently gracing the skies.
Aesthetics aside, what makes Sony’s drone so compelling is that it’s fast. We’re talking 106 MPH fast. What’s more, it can fly uninterrupted for two hours straight. And as if that weren’t enough, the drone is robust enough that it can carry baggage weighing as much as 22 pounds.
Update: Though initial reports peg the device’s speed at 106 MPH, we’ve since heard that it’s 106 kilometers per hour which would translate to about 65 MPH.
And now for the bad news.
You won’t be able to pick up this bad boy online. Because of the drone’s ridiculous specs, it clearly has more important tasks to handle than hovering over your weekend softball game and snapping photos. Alas, Sony’s drone will only be available for business customers who will reportedly use the device for decidedly non-exciting ventures like surveying land, take stock of infrastructure, and collect mapping data.
