Take to the Skies With Your 3D Printed Virtual Reality Pocket Coptor, ELF Quad

It’s time to relax after work, play a little—and get off your feet—virtually! Take to the skies with 3D-printed ELF Quad, a small but swift pocket drone which features augmented and virtual reality. You can fly this little coptor inside or out, and it’s fun for all ages and levels of expertise.

With pre-orders beginning October 10, China-based ElecFreaks is launching their new item with enthusiasm, as they have been working on the 3D printed quadcoptor and refining it over the past months. As the technologies for augmented and virtual reality improve and become more cost effective, interesting and fun products like the ELF Quad, the latest virtual reality drone, are becoming available from companies like ElecFreaks, an open hardware facilitation company based in Shenzhen, China.

For more precise flying and to give you the sensation that you are truly piloting the quadcoptor, ELF Quad offers 3D first-person-view (FPV) flights with Google Cardboard, which is a perfect match for the two items as they both feature fun but advanced technology, coupled with affordability. With Google Cardboard, you wear the cardboard headpiece with your smartphone lodged inside, running the appropriate app, allowing Google Cardboard to take you up and away. This should be a great source of entertainment with the entry-level quadcoptor.

In keeping with their commitment to “the spirit of open source,” ElecFreaks shares all the hardware, software, apps and codes, enabling anyone to learn and enjoy AR/VR technology while piloting their own copter.

ELF Quad offers:

• 3D-printed shell
• Bluetooth 4.0 for control
• PCB construction
• Small and safe size
• Low price

“The coolest thing is, the Wifi camera will capture 720P video for real-time transmission to the mobile phone to present a wonderful augmented reality experience,” Kathy Young of ElecFreaks, told 3DPrint.com.

Quadcopters, enjoyed by hobbyists, are often created as model aircraft projects.  This open source, 3D printed, pocket size quadcopter is simple enough for anyone to take control, but it really transports both the user and the classic, traditional hobby itself into the future with 3D printable projects that are open sourced and bring augmented and virtual reality to fruition. “The ElecFreaks team has been so absorbed in this project we call ELF, and now we’re about to see the light,” said Young. “We are so well prepared to present ELF Quad to everyone.”

ElecFreaks was founded in March 2011 by a small group of electronics engineers keenly interested in electronics. They also do product development (ideas and schematics), programming and documentation. ElecFreaks is highly committed to open source hardware and software. They want everyone to feel free to take the information they provide at ElecFreaks and have fun with it.

Have you 3D printed anything similar to this coptor? Will you be ordering one? Tell us about it in the ELF Quad forum at 3DPB.com.  Check out the videos of this quadcopter below: