Indoor fireworks? Intel broke records with 100-drone light show at CES

By Hillary K. Grigonis Updated January 9, 2018

Intel broke world records with a 500-drone light show, but the company’s latest drone record involves fewer drones with a bigger challenge: Indoor flight. During Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show on Monday, January 8, 100 drones created a light show on stage. The feat is on track to becoming a new Guinness World Record for the most drones flown indoors by a single pilot.

drone light show — The Intel Shooting Star Mini drone is the company’s first drone designed and built to enable indoor light show experiences. It is designed with a super-lightweight structure and propeller guards for safety. Its light source can create more than 4 billion color combinations designed for visually stunning aerial displays. (Credit: Intel Corporation) Intel

The show was put on by 100 Intel Shooting Star Minis, a smaller version of the drone that performed during last year’s Super Bowl LI halftime show and broke the 500-drone outdoor record. The Mini, Intel says, fits in the palm of your hand. Intel designed the mini quadcopter specifically with indoor flight in mind, downsizing the drone’s size while adding safety features, including propeller guards.

Indoor drone flight is difficult because of a lack of access to GPS, smaller spaces and of course, obstacles like walls and ceilings. Intel worked around those difficulties by creating a new system specifically allowing drones to be choreographed while avoiding obstacles, aptly named the Indoor Location System.

Using software, a single person can create a light show with a large fleet of the tiny drones. Intel said the software allows for complex show design in weeks rather than months. Each Shooting Star Mini carries a light that can create more than four billion color combinations.

The new indoor flight record follows Intel’s own outdoor record of 500 drones, set in 2016 in Germany. The previous record was 100 drones, which was also set by Intel. The record has since been broken by the Chinese drone company Ehang with 1,000 drones during the Chinese Lantern Festival in 2017.

This week, Intel is also powering the Las Vegas Strip’s first light show put on drones. Two-hundred and fifty drones were choreographed to Stargazing by Kygo, creating an aerial dance over the Fountains of Bellagio. The show continues with two performances every night through Thursday, January 11 during CES.

The Intel Shooting Star drone is now behind a number of light shows outside of those record-breaking events, including Disney Orlando. While not available for consumers, the system, designed specifically for light shows, appears to be expanding to more venues.

Topics

Hillary K. Grigonis

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…

Outdoors

The best portable power stations

EcoFlow DELTA 2 on table at campsite for quick charging.

Affordable and efficient portable power is a necessity these days, keeping our electronic devices operational while on the go. But there are literally dozens of options to choose from, making it abundantly difficult to decide which mobile charging solution is best for you. We've sorted through countless portable power options and came up with six of the best portable power stations to keep your smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets functioning while living off the grid.
The best overall: Jackery Explorer 1000

Jackery has been a mainstay in the portable power market for several years, and today, the company continues to set the standard. With three AC outlets, two USB-A, and two USB-C plugs, you'll have plenty of options for keeping your gadgets charged.

Emerging Tech

CES 2023: HD Hyundai’s Avikus is an A.I. for autonomous boat and marine navigation

Demonstration of NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

This content was produced in partnership with HD Hyundai.
Autonomous vehicle navigation technology is certainly nothing new and has been in the works for the better part of a decade at this point. But one of the most common forms we see and hear about is the type used to control steering in road-based vehicles. That's not the only place where technology can make a huge difference. Autonomous driving systems can offer incredible benefits to boats and marine vehicles, too, which is precisely why HD Hyundai has unveiled its Avikus AI technology -- for marine and watercraft vehicles.

More recently, HD Hyundai participated in the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, to demo its NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system for recreational boats. The name mashes together the words "neuron" and "boat" and is quite fitting since the Avikus' A.I. navigation tech is a core component of the solution, it will handle self-recognition, real-time decisions, and controls when on the water. Of course, there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes with HD Hyundai's autonomous navigation solution, which we'll dive into below -- HD Hyundai will also be introducing more about the tech at CES 2023.

Computing

This AI cloned my voice using just three minutes of audio

acapela group voice cloning ad

There's a scene in Mission Impossible 3 that you might recall. In it, our hero Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) tackles the movie's villain, holds him at gunpoint, and forces him to read a bizarre series of sentences aloud.

"The pleasure of Busby's company is what I most enjoy," he reluctantly reads. "He put a tack on Miss Yancy's chair, and she called him a horrible boy. At the end of the month, he was flinging two kittens across the width of the room ..."