WowWee, the company behind the CHiP, MiP, R.E.V. and Robosapien robots, has launched its Lumi indoor gaming drone on Indiegogo.
Lumi, which was first teased at CES 2016, is a self-stabilizing quadcopter that uses several sensors to avoid walls, doors and other obstacles in the home. It doesn’t last long, only 6-8 minutes depending on the tricks it does, and it takes 30 to 40 minutes to recharge. Of course, there are additional batteries you can buy and simply swap out to keep the games going.
Also, there isn’t a camera to record or take pictures of you flying Lumi or battling your opponents. Odd. Here’s WowWee’s reasoning: “Lumi is designed for gameplay, not taking pictures or shooting videos, so there is no camera included. Because the drone is not designed to carry the weight of a camera, we also don’t recommend trying to attach your own.”
Lumi will ship with a beacon that you can place on the floor and have Lumi stabilize over it. You can also pick up the beacon and Lumi will follow wherever it goes.
The Lumi drone offers both single and multi-player games. The Lumi to the Beat game, for example, works with any song stored on your phone or tablet. In single-player mode, Lumi’s luminescent surface flashes different colors while users try to press the corresponding color on their controller. If you miss or tap the wrong color, Lumi will drop in altitude. As you progress, Lumi’s LEDs will flash faster and faster.
In multiplayer mode, the two players connect to their Lumis with their controllers. Then, each player sets their Lumi down with one beacon on the floor between them. The drones flash identical patterns making it a battle of who can match the most colors in the timeframe.
There’s also a Choreography Mode lets you set a specific series of aerial maneuvers, while also controlling the timing of each and the lights on the drone.
Some of the available Lumi packages come with “Intelligent Lumi Pods,” which essentially are larger beacons that can be placed throughout a home. This creates an obstacle course that Lumi will be able to automatically follow.
Lumi’s Indiegogo campaign runs through August 2016. There are 150 Lumi drones available at an early-bird price of $59. WowWee says the Lumi drone will hit retailers across North America in September 2016 for $79.
