Nixie, the Quadcopter that Fits on your Wrist

Earlier this year, Intel kicked off its Make it Wearable challenge, a mission to take wearable technology and do things with it that haven’t yet been done — that, maybe, no one had even thought of yet. Team Nixie has begun developing a quadcopter that fits on your wrist.

Team Nixie consists of only three people: Captain Christoph Kohstall, Jelena Jovanovic and Michael Neidermayr. Together, the team conceived and began prototyping the wearable camera drone, and are currently one of 10 finalists left in the Make It Wearable contest.

The drone works by literally wrapping itself around a person’s wrist. Whenever someone wants to take a picture, they simply detach the drone from their wrist and let it rise into the air. From here, the drone spins around, finds its subject, and snaps the picture. Once it’s done, the drone returns back to the user and can be put right back on their wrist. The drone will also have a number of available presets upon development, each specialized for different situations and shots.

The applications for such a small drone are numerous: search and rescue, sporting events, even just taking a selfie. The team does face a number of different design hurdles, however. First, the drone needs to be made of sturdy materials that won’t also drive the price up. If a wearable drone is going to be just as expensive to produce as a full-sized quadcopter, no one will want to buy it. Second, the drone needs to be reliable. If the camera is thrown off by wind or can’t pick the user’s face out of a crowd, then the whole concept would fall apart.

The team also faces some stiff competition. Intel’s contest has nine other teams in the running, and all of them are working on products that could change how the world looks at technology. All of the teams and projects, including Team Nixie, are featured on Intel’s Make It Wearable site.

After nearly a year, the Make It Wearable contest will choose one team out of the current 10 finalists, and to the winner goes $500,000 to help begin developing their product. The final judging will take place on Nov. 3 in San Francisco.