A new 3D-printed drone called the ELF VR Nano is available for pre-order on Indiegogo and for download on Thingiverse.
That’s right: you can either buy the product and receive pre-printed
parts or you can simply print it yourself. It’s one of the purest open
source hardware plays I’ve seen in a long while and it just goes to show
how cool it is to be able to print your own plastic parts at home.ELF began as a design project last October and the quadcopter is now complete. You can pick up a kit now for $65 on Indiegogo or simply print out the parts yourself for free. DIYers will also have to buy the motors and electronics but with the ubiquity of DIY manufacturing tools that’s far easier than it sounds these days.
The company wrote:
We
approached the ELF project with the mindset to build a completely open
hardware and software platform, means it’s manufacturer ready pack and
less cost in production. You can either modify the hardware to redefine
new functionalities or personalize the app without approval or oversight
hassles. Open source also means there’s no limitations (if still some)
to what you can make from it. Anyone can learn and start building your
own ELF with released files including main board design, electronics
layout, schematics, etc.. We take open source seriously. It is where we
started and hopefully, by being truly open, we can ultimately get more
advanced developers involved to help move forward and make the
cutting-edge technology accessible to ordinary people.
The drone is quite small but it can take and transmit video. The team
hopes that users will stream the 720p video camera output to a VR
device like Google Cardboard and the whole package snaps together without screws or glue.via 3Ders