You Can Fly This Drone from Anywhere in the World

The Rook: the pilot-from-anywhere drone for home surveillance

By The Editors
March 1, 2016 9:00 am

Your younger, dumber self may be loath to admit this, but:

The problem with the drone — at least in its current incarnation — is that it’s more toy than tool.

Not that there’s anything wrong with drone racing and terrorizing cats.

But the flying machine of the future can be fun and practical, as evidenced by the Rook, the world’s first home surveillance drone that you can pilot from anywhere in the world.

Drones of the past: tethered down by close-proximity remote controllers.

The Rook, on the other hand — built and designed by Eighty Nine Robotics, a young gun startup out of Northwestern — was made to be a “home assistant” that can be called on wherever you are. All you need is a smartphone.

Harnessing the power of a home Wi-Fi connection, the Rook grants users the ability to remotely flutter around the premise with full control of its camera, essentially give you a flying indoor security camera.

Kinda’ like Big Brother. Except your Big Brother. Sans considerations for privacy laws.

Use it for: checking on pets. On kids. Monitoring the home while on vacation. Impressing friends with Big Brother-like competency.

The only downside: you’ll have to wait. The Rook is currently on Indiegogo.

The upside: it’s currently crushing its goal, doubling its campaign goal in a little over a week.

So best get on it.

Your younger, dumber self with thank you.

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