Fly by Hand
Antigravity has moved the controls of its A1 drone onto a wrist. The company's new Follow Me Bundle swaps the goggles and the handheld grip controller for a Watch Remote and a Ring Remote, so a pilot can launch, follow and frame a shot without holding anything. Antigravity, the drone maker incubated by Insta360, is selling the bundle through its own store and at Best Buy.
The bundle adds three things to the existing drone, the two remotes and a set of full coverage propeller guards that enclose each pair of blades. Antigravity says the guards work with the drone's omnidirectional obstacle avoidance to make low flights around people less fraught. Nothing in the camera or the airframe changes.
But the control scheme is the new part. A live view from the drone sits on the watch face, and touch controls on that screen handle takeoff, return to home and landing. Antigravity says the watch on its own is enough to fly a follow shot from the wrist.
Tracking then combines two inputs. The drone's visual tracking holds a subject in frame, while satellite positioning inside the Watch Remote keeps the lock when that subject moves quickly or passes behind cover. Antigravity lists three tracking modes for the bundle, Auto-Track, Cycling, and Skiing, each tuned to the pace of a different activity.
Drag-to-Fly is the manual layer. Hold the button on the ring, point at the drone, then move the hand to walk it across the frame or lift it higher. Rotating the arm inward pulls the drone closer and rotating it outward sends it away, and Antigravity puts the working range at up to 10 metres.
But gestures are not a stick replacement. Engadget's reviewer found that pointing and rotating cannot be combined in a single movement, so a shot needing both takes two passes, and Antigravity's own pages present the ring as a way to adjust framing without interrupting a shot rather than as a precision controller.
The watch also fires a set of one tap moves Antigravity calls Sky Genie. Those templates include an orbit that circles the subject and a fly away that pulls back for a reveal, and Antigravity's launch film adds a programmed climb that dives back toward the subject.
So the pitch is aimed at people who are moving rather than at pilots. Antigravity names hiking, cycling and family gatherings as the target uses, and the kit includes a mount that straps the watch to a handlebar. At 249 grams the A1 folds down for a backpack, which is a lighter carry than a goggle and controller set.
Pricing is set for the United States. The bundle with the drone costs USD 799, and the accessory kit for people who already own an A1 costs USD 339.99, with Antigravity advertising an exclusive 20% discount for existing owners. And Best Buy lists the same bundle at USD 799, with Antigravity saying 266 of its Camera Experience Stores carry it alongside both companies' websites.
For Asia the interest sits upstream. Insta360 built its name on 360 degree cameras in Shenzhen and now has a drone line through a company it incubated, which puts Chinese imaging hardware into a consumer drone market where DJI is the incumbent. The A1's camera stack, its reframing software and its price all come out of that base, and this is the first accessory family built on top of it.
Antigravity's material leaves gaps. It gives no runtime for the watch between charges, no weight for either remote, and no pricing for any market outside the United States, saying only that availability may vary by region. The same launch also names a separate Remote Controller and a 4G Cellular Module, neither of which ships in the bundle.
The Follow Me Bundle flies the A1 from a Watch Remote and a Ring Remote, without goggles or a grip controller
A live view sits on the watch, and the drone tracks by combining visual tracking with satellite positioning
Drag-to-Fly gestures move the drone across the frame, higher, closer or farther, at up to 10 metres
The bundle with the drone costs USD 799, and the accessory kit for existing owners costs USD 339.99
Antigravity gives no watch runtime, remote weights or pricing outside the United States
Source: Antigravity
