The Roam-e isn't the only drone we've seen that can autonomously fly away from you and take your picture, but it is the first that's been shaped....like this. "Tube-like" is one delicate way to put it, "flying carrot" is another, but let's go ahead and call a spade a spade — and a fuselage a phallus.
Anyway, its curious (and doubtless ergonomic) shape aside, the Roam-e looks like a clever, expensive toy. The drone's creators say it uses facial recognition technology to track users, and is capable of staying aloft for 20 minutes at a time, taking selfies, shooting "perfectly uninterrupted panoramic shots" from its 1080p camera, or live streaming footage. Its rotor blades are collapsible making it easy to pack away, and its makers claim its battery charges in two hours. It's also apparently controlled by a linked app, with four separate flying modes available: selfie, pilot, scout, and navigation.
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However, that's all the detail we really have at the moment, and we still have a lot of questions about the Roam-e. Like what streaming services does it support? Does it access the web through your phone, and if so, via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi? What's the latency like? Also, how good and how useful is that facial recognition technology?
The drone was first unveiled back in March (it's the ludicrous new glamour video above that bought it to our attention now), and is available to buy now to ship in 12 weeks. We'll hopefully be getting our hands on one some time soon so we can test out the Roam-e for ourselves.