HOVERAir AQUA seeks to make underwater drones cool once more

Underwater drones as soon as seemed like the following frontier in shopper tech. Again within the late 2010s, firms like PowerVision and Chasing Innovation promised that common folks would quickly be livestreaming sea turtles, shipwrecks, and coral reefs with the identical ease as flying a DJI Phantom. They raised thousands and thousands via crowdfunding campaigns, constructed modern prototypes, and hyped the concept of the “GoPro of the ocean.”

After which? For essentially the most half, the market sank.

Whereas shopper aerial drones soared into mainstream use, underwater drones hit challenges with physics, practicality, and pricing. Wi-Fi doesn’t transmit effectively via water, that means most of these “untethered” drones nonetheless wanted buoys or cables. Battery life was restricted. Costs hovered within the $1,000–$2,000 vary.

Many crowdfunded campaigns to promote them by no means delivered on the promised expertise — or fizzled totally. That’s why I don’t normally cowl crowdfunding campaigns right here on TheDroneGirl. Too usually, they’re aspirational prototypes that by no means materialize — or, in the event that they do, the ultimate product doesn’t stay as much as the slick pitch movies.

However this week’s information gave me pause. As a result of this time, a giant identify in drones is testing the waters with a type of underwater drone that’s higher than one I’ve ever seen earlier than.

Enter Zero Zero Robotics: from skies to seas

Zero Zero Robotics — the corporate finest identified for the HOVERAir collection, which I’d argue is among the closest shopper opponents to DJI — simply introduced its personal aquatic play: the HOVERAir AQUA. In contrast to the everyday underwater ROV, AQUA isn’t a tethered submarine. As an alternative, it’s pitched because the world’s first 100% waterproof self-flying digicam. Assume: a palm-sized aerial drone that doesn’t panic if it takes a dunk. It’s designed to comply with you hands-free over water whilst you paddleboard, jetski, snorkel, or fish—mechanically monitoring you and capturing cinematic third-person photographs.

The specs are spectacular on paper, together with:

• 4K/100 fps slow-motion digicam
• 1/1.28” CMOS sensor and hydrophobic lens
• 23 minutes of flight time
• Light-weight (underneath 249 grams, so no FAA registration required)
• Degree 7 wind resistance (as much as 33 knots)
• Monitoring speeds as much as 34 mph
• Greater than 15 automated flight modes, together with “snorkel mode” and “gimbal mode.”

There’s even an adjunct known as the Lighthouse, worn in your arm, that acts like a controller with a built-in “digital tether.” Plus, it has a tiny built-in AMOLED display for stay preview and playback without having a cellphone.

Now right here’s the kicker: it launches August 21, 2025 on crowdfunding website Indiegogo with an early fowl worth of $999.

The crowdfunding shock: Zero Zero turns to Indiegogo

That is the place issues get attention-grabbing. Zero Zero Robotics is just not some two-person startup chasing a dream.

Based in 2014 by Stanford PhDs MQ Wang and Tony Zhang, the corporate has greater than 170 patents and backing from main VCs like IDG and ZhenFund. They already make one of the crucial recognizable shopper drone alternate options to DJI. That’s the HOVERAir X1 line, which has developed right into a household of drones together with the HoverAir X1 PRO and HOVERAir X1 PROMAX.

So why flip to Indiegogo? Indiegogo tends to be the place scrappy newcomers go after they can’t safe conventional funding — or the place manufacturers check curiosity earlier than scaling.

However HOVERAir has used Indiegogo earlier than, together with with its HOVERAir X1 Professional launch. With that,  Zero Zero Robotics served as an inaugural companion in Indiegogo’s Delivery Assure program. With that, Indiegoog says that — if the shipper doesn’t ship their product as promised inside a selected timeframe — backers (aka those that pre-ordered) are eligible for a full refund.

Nonetheless, I query if a big-name firm with an present distribution community shouldn’t want crowdfunding to deliver a product to market. That makes me curious whether or not Zero Zero is utilizing AQUA as extra of an idea validation train than a assured mass-market launch.

Both manner, it’s notable that one among DJI’s closest shopper opponents feels the necessity to fund its new flagship via this route. It says one thing about how robust the drone {hardware} market has turn into — and maybe, how cautious even established firms should be when getting into area of interest classes like waterproof flying cameras.

So… what occurred to underwater drones?

In some ways, Zero Zero’s AQUA is much less an “underwater drone” than it’s a waterproof drone. It doesn’t plunge into the deep to map shipwrecks like earlier ROVs — it floats, flies, and survives splashes whereas monitoring you from the floor. That’s a key distinction. The shift reveals how the trade has realized from earlier missteps. As an alternative of promising deep-sea exploration in a consumer-friendly package deal (which physics makes tough), AQUA goals to resolve an easier, extra relatable drawback: getting hands-free drone footage while you’re close to or on the water. For content material creators, paddleboarders or households on the lake, that is perhaps the candy spot underwater drones missed.

Underwater drones and the longer term

With underwater drones, most sank underneath the load of their guarantees. However Zero Zero Robotics’ AQUA represents a intelligent pivot: don’t dive deep — float the place the enjoyable is.

Will AQUA succeed? That will depend on whether or not customers are keen to shell out $999 for what’s primarily a water-resistant flying selfie cam. And given the Indiegogo route, there’s nonetheless the same old caveat: irrespective of how huge the model, crowdfunding at all times comes with threat. But when any firm can pull it off, it’d simply be Zero Zero.

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