independent-tester
Member
Hi all,
coming from Germany, I studied comprehensively the website from the manufacturer of the aibotix X6. ( aibotix.com , aibotix.de ) After that I had recently the opportunity to have this copter demonstrated over here in Germany. And yes, the idea was to purchase one of these tools to become self-employed with it. Looking backwards I do believe that what I noticed might be of some interest to other people as well, as this company sells or at least offers its products in a couple of countries around the world. The whole thing will be in 6 parts. So here it is:
1. collision avoidance: According to the website the aibotix comes with a sensor. This sensor recognises automatically any hindrance along the way and avoids a collision by bypassing it. They even demonstrate this in a video on their side and on youtube. A feature like that is commonly known as "unique selling proposition". And here it is something in which this company differentiates itself to its competitors. Asking about this feature on location I have been told that it is still in the development phase and not yet available. So as this statement is not correct I do consider this as cheating and deception. And I suppose that to retrofit a copter which somebody would by now at a later stage with that feature will involve some additional - hefty - costs.
2. stearing with the tablet: According to the website the stearing of this copter will be done via a tablet pc. And this stearing is so simple that everybody can learn it within 5 minutes. And if the pilot is working on a job together with his client, the client can stand right next to the pilot and give him instructions about the picture to be taken; as they both see on the tablet exactly the same what the mounted camera on the kopter sees. That's the theory.
In practice it takes 5 minutes to understand the different functions on the tablet. To learn to fly would take a couple of days. On a huge empty grassland with no trees and no wind. And the tablet reflects so hard - even in a shadow under a tree - that it is even just for the pilot very hard to see a thing. A second person next to him can't see anything at all.
coming from Germany, I studied comprehensively the website from the manufacturer of the aibotix X6. ( aibotix.com , aibotix.de ) After that I had recently the opportunity to have this copter demonstrated over here in Germany. And yes, the idea was to purchase one of these tools to become self-employed with it. Looking backwards I do believe that what I noticed might be of some interest to other people as well, as this company sells or at least offers its products in a couple of countries around the world. The whole thing will be in 6 parts. So here it is:
1. collision avoidance: According to the website the aibotix comes with a sensor. This sensor recognises automatically any hindrance along the way and avoids a collision by bypassing it. They even demonstrate this in a video on their side and on youtube. A feature like that is commonly known as "unique selling proposition". And here it is something in which this company differentiates itself to its competitors. Asking about this feature on location I have been told that it is still in the development phase and not yet available. So as this statement is not correct I do consider this as cheating and deception. And I suppose that to retrofit a copter which somebody would by now at a later stage with that feature will involve some additional - hefty - costs.
2. stearing with the tablet: According to the website the stearing of this copter will be done via a tablet pc. And this stearing is so simple that everybody can learn it within 5 minutes. And if the pilot is working on a job together with his client, the client can stand right next to the pilot and give him instructions about the picture to be taken; as they both see on the tablet exactly the same what the mounted camera on the kopter sees. That's the theory.
In practice it takes 5 minutes to understand the different functions on the tablet. To learn to fly would take a couple of days. On a huge empty grassland with no trees and no wind. And the tablet reflects so hard - even in a shadow under a tree - that it is even just for the pilot very hard to see a thing. A second person next to him can't see anything at all.