Everyday drones will soon take to the skies for alls sorts of reasons
As technology advances, the autonomous aircraft will become more common in our daily lives, be they delivering pizzas or inspecting dams
Like a well-trained dog, the HEXO+ follows you faithfully wherever you go. But it doesn't walk besides you - it's airborne.
It's also a prime example of the many ways in which automation will take to the sky as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, become part of daily life in the not-too-distant future.
Due out in May 2015 with a planned retail price of US$899, the HEXO+ is targeted at extreme sports enthusiasts looking for a way to immortalise their every move.
Users activate it with a smartphone app, then let it fly a few metres behind them, recording their every twist and turn, up to a top speed of 70 kilometers an hour.
"Making snowboard films is my main activity, so essentially I started using drones a few years ago," said Squadrone System's co-founder Xavier Delerue, a former world snowboarding champion. "At the outset, it was great. It was easy. It was going to change everything - and then I quickly realised taking good images involved a lot of logistics when it came to using a drone."