Modifying my Drone for 360 Interactive Video

I've recently been using the Ricoh Theta S to create interactive photo spheres for Fort Galt. Once those were finished, the next logical step seemed to be to affix it to my drone and take it up for a better view. There aren't any 360 video drones on the market yet and there aren't any commercially available attachment mechanisms for sale either so I had to figure it out for myself and just used what materials I had on hand. There are numerous sensors at different point on the drone's body so I couldn't obstruct them and I couldn't drill into the body either, since there are sensitive circuit boards just under the skin. The drone's integrated camera isn't removable either so I couldn't mount anything there either.

The first somewhat-viable option was to superglue a camera mounting bolt on top and then screw the camera onto it, standing up. I almost went and bought the glue for it but something told me there had to be a better, less permanent way to get it done. I woke up this morning and it dawned on me. I had an old belt that was ready to be thrown away... I could wrap it around the landing runners and put the camera mounting bolt through it in the middle, directly bellow the drone's own camera. After trimming the belt down to size and fastening it onto the runners with a bunch of paperclips, I drilled the hole for the bolt and threaded it into place. The moment of truth was at hand...

I flew up as high as it would go and sped around in circles a bit to see if it would shake off in the wind. It didn't. It came down smoothly and everything was still firmly in place. So we can call this one a success and tomorrow, I'll bring it up to the coast and do some more shooting at Fort Galt, confident that the camera won't end up lost in the rainforest or worse, the ocean.

As you can see in the footage, the Ricoh Theta S shoots much better stills than it does video. I'm a bit disappointed in the video resolution and I don't think I'll be using it often... but the stills look good and I can think of a lot of good practical uses for it so overall, I'm happy enough. Certainly no substitute for being there in person but hey, it's a step in the right direction.