Blueye's Pioneer is a "remote operated vehicle" ROV) drone equipped to descend as far as 450 feet and record and stream 1080p videos at 30 frames per second—all while being remotely controlled through a videogame console controller or through your smartphone. It doesn't stop there, either—the Pioneer was specifically designed to be used in tandem with a virtual reality (VR) headset, which would allow users to immerse themselves into the experience as much as the Pioneer immerses itself into the seas.
With a purposefully lower price point than all other ROVs of its kind, as user-friendly as possible, and clocking in at a mere 18 pounds, the Pioneer will likely be the de facto underwater hobby drone to aim for. Blueye CEO Eric Dyrkoren said that this was exactly his goal— bringing professional underwater drone tech to the people.
"We wanted to make this technology available to many more people, we’ve been focusing on the design, the control system, and the camera," said Dyrkoren. "It’s like playing a video game. It’s very easy to use and the video streaming is in real-time, we have very low-latency."