Drone Run Makes Training Fun

When I would misbehave, my daddy used to tell me to “straighten up and fly right!” He would have loved Drone Run.

As a beginner, learning to launch and navigate your new drone can be a frustrating task – not to mention flying according to your nation’s aerial rules.

But British brothers Alex and Toby Liew are changing the rules, creating a drone game designed to train users to keep their drones flying low and within line of sight.

The concept behind Drone Run is simple – a landing pad coupled with responsive sensor checkpoints.

“The gameplay compels users not only to keep their drone in their line of sight, but to fly low to the ground in a controlled and skillful manner,” a company press release states. “This eliminates the risk of dangerous and disruptive drone flying, and instead cultivates a community of responsible and proficient drone users.”

“Given the heightened pressure of drone safety and responsibility from the recent string of reckless drone flying events, Drone Run provides an innovative solution for ready-to-fly drones that pilots love using with their drones,” Toby said.

“We’re not saying every drone owner needs training, in fact, the vast majority of drone pilots are completely responsible and operate their drones in accordance to the drone code, but to such drone owners, Drone Run breathes a new and thrilling lease of life into their expensive pieces of kit.”

With Drone Run, sensors time drone flights from launch to landing. The idea is to time your flights and compete against fellow pilots while also flying safer and smoother with each mission. Sensor checkpoints can be stuck into the ground over a customizable flight layout to analyze the flight’s stability, height and legal line-of-sight distance.

“Sometimes, there are only so many aerial photos one can stomach before their drone gathers dust in the back of their cupboard or at worse, on eBay. On top of beautiful aerial cinematography, why not test your skills with Drone Run for times there aren’t such beautiful things to film?” Alex said.

The brothers plan to launch the product on Kickstarter soon, offering a discount for backers of $91 for the starter kit as opposed to retail of $112.