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This Kickstarter project turns paper airplanes into live streaming drones

This Kickstarter project turns paper airplanes into live streaming drones

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Two years ago, PowerUp launched its Smart Module — an electric motor that clipped onto any paper airplane and could be steered remotely via a smartphone. Now, the team has unveiled the Module's successor, joining forces with French drone makers Parrot to add a Wi-Fi live streaming camera and head mounted display into the mix, letting users fly their paper airplanes as if they were FPV drones.

10 minutes of flight at speeds of up to 20 mph

The PowerUp FPV kit launched on Kickstarter earlier this month and was quickly fully-funded, with more than $230,000 of the company's $100,000 goal currently raised. There are still some early bird kits available though, with the remote-controlled motors, FPV goggles (powered by your phone), and battery available for $159. This package has an expected delivery date of June next year, though, and any users who want to fly an FPV paper airplane earlier might want to go for the $299 "beta" package instead, with an expected ship date of March 1st.

PowerUp claims that their souped-up paper airplanes will fly at speeds of up to 20 mph, with each hot-swappable battery providing up to 10 minutes of flight time. The rotatable camera, meanwhile, can stream footage over distances of up to 300 feet using a Wi-Fi connection, or users can capture video and images directly to their phone or a microSD card. Perhaps the coolest feature, though, is the motion control in the kit's Google Cardboard-like FPV goggles, allowing pilots to steer their planes simply by tilting their heads.