HOVERAir AQUA seeks to make underwater drones cool once more

Underwater drones as soon as regarded like the following frontier in shopper tech. Again within the late 2010s, firms like PowerVision and Chasing Innovation promised that common folks would quickly be livestreaming sea turtles, shipwrecks, and coral reefs with the identical ease as flying a DJI Phantom. They raised tens of millions via crowdfunding campaigns, constructed smooth prototypes, and hyped the concept of the “GoPro of the ocean.”

After which? For essentially the most half, the market sank.

Whereas shopper aerial drones soared into mainstream use, underwater drones hit challenges with physics, practicality, and pricing. Wi-Fi doesn’t transmit effectively via water, which means most of these “untethered” drones nonetheless wanted buoys or cables. Battery life was restricted. Costs hovered within the $1,000–$2,000 vary.

Many crowdfunded campaigns to promote them by no means delivered on the promised expertise — or fizzled solely. That’s why I don’t often cowl crowdfunding campaigns right here on TheDroneGirl. Too typically, they’re aspirational prototypes that by no means materialize — or, in the event that they do, the ultimate product doesn’t reside as much as the slick pitch movies.

However this week’s information gave me pause. As a result of this time, an enormous title in drones is testing the waters with a form of underwater drone that’s higher than one I’ve ever seen earlier than.

Enter Zero Zero Robotics: from skies to seas

Zero Zero Robotics — the corporate greatest recognized for the HOVERAir collection, which I’d argue is without doubt one of the closest shopper rivals to DJI — simply introduced its personal aquatic play: the HOVERAir AQUA. In contrast to the standard underwater ROV, AQUA isn’t a tethered submarine. As a substitute, it’s pitched because the world’s first 100% waterproof self-flying digital camera. Suppose: a palm-sized aerial drone that doesn’t panic if it takes a dunk. It’s designed to comply with you hands-free over water whilst you paddleboard, jetski, snorkel, or fish—robotically monitoring you and capturing cinematic third-person pictures.

The specs are spectacular on paper, together with:

• 4K/100 fps slow-motion digital camera
• 1/1.28” CMOS sensor and hydrophobic lens
• 23 minutes of flight time
• Light-weight (underneath 249 grams, so no FAA registration required)
• Stage 7 wind resistance (as much as 33 knots)
• Monitoring speeds as much as 34 mph
• Greater than 15 automated flight modes, together with “snorkel mode” and “gimbal mode.”

There’s even an adjunct known as the Lighthouse, worn in your arm, that acts like a controller with a built-in “digital tether.” Plus, it has a tiny built-in AMOLED display screen for reside preview and playback without having a cellphone.

Now right here’s the kicker: it launches August 21, 2025 on crowdfunding website Indiegogo with an early fowl worth of $999.

The crowdfunding shock: Zero Zero turns to Indiegogo

That is the place issues get attention-grabbing. Zero Zero Robotics isn’t some two-person startup chasing a dream.

Based in 2014 by Stanford PhDs MQ Wang and Tony Zhang, the corporate has greater than 170 patents and backing from main VCs like IDG and ZhenFund. They already make one of the recognizable shopper drone options to DJI. That’s the HOVERAir X1 line, which has developed right into a household of drones together with the HoverAir X1 PRO and HOVERAir X1 PROMAX.

So why flip to Indiegogo? Indiegogo tends to be the place scrappy newcomers go after they can’t safe conventional funding — or the place manufacturers check curiosity earlier than scaling.

However HOVERAir has used Indiegogo earlier than, together with with its HOVERAir X1 Professional launch. With that,  Zero Zero Robotics served as an inaugural companion in Indiegogo’s Transport Assure program. With that, Indiegoog says that — if the shipper doesn’t ship their product as promised inside a selected timeframe — backers (aka those that pre-ordered) are eligible for a full refund.

Nonetheless, I query if a big-name firm with an current distribution community shouldn’t want crowdfunding to carry a product to market. That makes me curious whether or not Zero Zero is utilizing AQUA as extra of an idea validation train than a assured mass-market launch.

Both approach, it’s notable that considered one of DJI’s closest shopper rivals feels the necessity to fund its new flagship via this route. It says one thing about how robust the drone {hardware} market has turn out to be — and maybe, how cautious even established firms must be when coming into area of interest classes like waterproof flying cameras.

So… what occurred to underwater drones?

In some ways, Zero Zero’s AQUA is much less an “underwater drone” than it’s a waterproof drone. It doesn’t plunge into the deep to map shipwrecks like earlier ROVs — it floats, flies, and survives splashes whereas monitoring you from the floor. That’s a key distinction. The shift exhibits how the trade has realized from earlier missteps. As a substitute of promising deep-sea exploration in a consumer-friendly bundle (which physics makes tough), AQUA goals to resolve an easier, extra relatable downside: getting hands-free drone footage while you’re close to or on the water. For content material creators, paddleboarders or households on the lake, that could be the candy spot underwater drones missed.

Underwater drones and the longer term

With underwater drones, most sank underneath the load of their guarantees. However Zero Zero Robotics’ AQUA represents a intelligent pivot: don’t dive deep — float the place the enjoyable is.

Will AQUA succeed? That will depend on whether or not shoppers are keen to shell out $999 for what’s basically a water-proof flying selfie cam. And given the Indiegogo route, there’s nonetheless the standard caveat: regardless of how huge the model, crowdfunding all the time comes with threat. But when any firm can pull it off, it would simply be Zero Zero.

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