science

Nixie Labs Nixie

Nixie Labs Nixie is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nixie Labs Nixie rather than just read about it. In short: Nixie was a prototype small camera-equipped drone that can be worn as a wrist band. Nixie can be activated to unfold into a quadcopter, fly in one of its pre-programmed modes to take photos or a video, and then return to the user.

Key takeaways

Nixie Labs Nixie belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nixie Labs Nixie to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nixie Labs Nixie from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nixie was a prototype small camera-equipped drone that can be worn as a wrist band. Nixie can be activated to unfold into a quadcopter, fly in one of its pre-programmed modes to take photos or a video, and then return to the user. Competing against more than 500 other participants, Nixie's developers became the winning team in the development track of the Intel's Make It Wearable competition on November 3, 2014, thus securing $500,000 in seed funding to develop Nixie into a product. The developers stated their goal to develop the drone into the next generation of point-and-shoot cameras. As of March 2016, the device was in development and was not commercially available. On December 26, 2017, Nixie Labs, the drone's maker, stopped doing business and surrendered its corporate registration in the State of California.

Features Nixie is a drone that unfolds into a quadcopter and is worn as a slap bracelet. It weighs < 45 g (0.1 lb), captures full HD images or video, and syncs with a smartphone. The drone uses an Intel Edison chip. In October 2014, Nixie prototypes had good functionality, but lacked durability and design perfection. At that time, an important engineering challenge was to identify flexible, light, and durable materials to achieve the look of concept renderings. In November 2014, an updated prototype added image recognition capabilities to identify the user, and the primary goals were improving propellers, motors, and object navigation. The overall goal for the project was stated as building a light, portable, and user-friendly drone that could serve as a "personal photographer". Accordingly, the drone was named after a playful water spirit Nixie of Germanic mythology. In the media, Nixie has been described as a "wearable selfie drone" and as a "wearable camera drone", with such images being nicknamed "dronies". The developers emphasized that Nixie is intended for taking framing-worthy pictures and videos, not only selfies.

Applications

Even though a wearable camera drone was suggested to have applications in rock climbing, mountain biking, and other adventure sports, in November 2014 the developers announced plans to market Nixie to a niche audience of rock climbers first, before expanding to a general audience.

Operation modes Sensors and motion-prediction algorithms are used to guide Nixie along one of four pre-programmed paths for taking photos or video.

In a boomerang mode, the drone flies a set distance from its user, takes a photo, and then returns. In a panorama mode, it takes photos to fill a 360° arc. In a follow me mode, it serves as a third-person view camera by trailing the user. In a hover mode, it hovers for use in jib shots and can be controlled from a smartphone.

History

According to Wired, the first Nixie prototype was built by Christoph Kohstall. After tinkering with a quadcopter that he received as a gift, Kohstall built a drone model of eyeglasses with propellers, as well as a prototype that could dive underwater and then reemerge from under the surface. To better address the poor usability of quadcopters, he then had an idea to create a "flying wristband" with a camera. Kohstall's partner Jelena Jovanovic was involved in creating the first prototype and later became the project manager. Together with Michael Niedermayr, Kohstall and Jovanovic entered the 2014 Intel's Make It Wearable competition as team Nixie led by Kohstall. Once the team became a finalist on September 3, 2014, Nixie received significant amount of attention, and > 5.9 million views on YouTube. As one of ten competition finalists, the team was provided with mentorship, design assistance, technical support, and $50,000 for further development. The team presented the final prototype at the Intel Make It Wearable Challenge Finale on November 3, 2014, winning the $500,000 seed funding grand prize to develop the prototype into a product. In their second interview with Wired, the developers indicated that their primary goals for improving the drone were optimizing propellers, motors, and object navigation, as well as miniaturisation of Nixie.

Developers Christoph Kohstall holds a PhD in particle physics from IQOQI, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Kohstall serves as a co-founder and Chief executive officer of Nixie. Jelena Jovanovic is a technical program manager at Google. Jovanovic is Chief operating officer of Nixie. Michael Niedermayr, Floris Ernst, Stefan Niedermayr, Steven Le, Kris Winer, Jeremy Swerdlow, and Steven Shiozaki have backgrounds in motion prediction algorithms, design, and engineering.

See also Unmanned aerial vehicle Multirotor Quadcopter GoPro Point-and-shoot camera

References

External links Official website Introducing Nixie: the first wearable camera that can fly YouTube video best lga 1155 cpu Make it wearable finalists: meet team Nixie YouTube video Intel's Make It Wearable competition

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nixie Labs Nixie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nixie Labs Nixie claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nixie Labs Nixie before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nixie Labs Nixie ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nixie Labs Nixie

In research: Nixie Labs Nixie appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nixie Labs Nixie in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nixie Labs Nixie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Action cameras, Aerial photography, Mobile electronic devices, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nixie Labs Nixie outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nixie Labs Nixie in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nixie Labs Nixie means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nixie Labs Nixie out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nixie Labs Nixie in simple terms?

Why does Nixie Labs Nixie matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nixie Labs Nixie?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nixie Labs Nixie.