Sony has announced the development of a new filmmaking drone called Airpeak. The drone will be based on AI technology and will be launched in the spring of 2021. Is Airpeak related to Sony’s patent application titled “Flying Camera and a System” published in January 2020? It might. Read the details below.
Sony and the drone world
Sony is a well known strong manufacturer with incredible in-house capabilities about almost every technology you can think of. For instance, Sony is one of the sole brands that produces its cameras from scratch, including sensors. Furthermore, Sony has vast expertise in the imaging world, by building and manufacturing state of the art cinema cameras. That’s why it seemed strange why Sony hasn’t attacked (yet) the drone market. Well, today we get the answer to that. Sony has just introduced its drone project titled “Airpeak”. Watch the teaser below:
Airpeak: A drone for video creators
As stated by Sony: “Combining our imaging and sensing technological expertise and AI Robotics, we open the skies into an infinite creative playground – one with unprecedented freedom. Let us lift you to a never-reached creative experience by unleashing all constraints and barriers”. While this announcement sounds like one of Steve Jobs’s mantras, Sony is elaborating a bit more on the dedicated project’s website: “The recent proliferation of drones has contributed greatly to the delivery of previously unseen images, as well as to workflow efficiency and energy savings in the industrial sector. Sony has assigned the “Airpeak” brand to reflect its aspiration to contribute to the further evolvement and the creation of unprecedented value through its imaging and sensing technology as well as 3R technologies (Reality, Real-time, and Remote) in the drone area”.
Airpeak will support the creativity of video creators to the fullest extent possible, aiming to contribute to the further development of the entertainment industry.
Sony
Dedicated to the entertainment industry
According to Sony: “Airpeak will support the creativity of video creators to the fullest extent possible, aiming to contribute to the further development of the entertainment industry as well as to improved efficiency and savings in various industries. Airpeak will also promote this project to enable drone-use with the highest level of safety and reliability in the environments where this has been difficult in the past”.
Patent application: “Flying Camera and a System”
At the beginning of the year, Sony has published its first (and only) drone patent application called “Flying Camera and a System”. The application describes a tiny drone with a camera plus a control system. We don’t sure if this is Airpeak, but the new project is definitely based on some parts of these patents. Nevertheless, the patent is proof that Sony has been planning to take over the drone industry. You can explore the entire publication in the PDF below:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://ymcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Flying-Camera-and-a-System-Sony-patent.pdf” title=”Flying Camera and a System – Sony patent”]
When?
Sony states that it will continue to post project-related information and obtain feedback from drone users through co-creation activities to prepare for the launch of the project in the spring of 2021. The company soon plans to begin seeking partners in the professional space who can collaborate on the project. We’ll have our finger on the pulse on that so stay tuned.
