The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was officially opened in the United States on the 6th of January, with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) stealing the show - the offerings from Xiro (Zero Tech) in particular.
The UAV industry has been extremely fast-paced, with many products, concepts and related solutions at the CES to show customers around the world the latest technologies and trends on offer.
The Zero Tech (Xiro) General Manager, Mr Xu Hao (right of photo) and Tencent Deputy General Manager, Mr Cai Xin (left of photo) launch the new Xiro Mini/Ying social drone at the CES.
The rapid growth of the UAV market can be discerned by the amount of attention the CES authorities assigned to it. This year saw in excess of 2300 square metres of exhibition space allocated for UAVs - more than triple the amount from the previous year.
"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are among the fastest growing branches of the technology sector," says American Consumer Technology Association chairman Gary Shapiro. "This is a life-changing technology."
As one of the global consumer UAV technology leaders, Xiro (Zero Tech) brought three of their main products to the exhibition - the Xplorer 2, the Xplorer Xtreme and the Xiro Mini (Ying).
These blockbuster products became the centre of the UAV area, if not the entire CES. Here's a basic rundown of each drone:
The Xiro Mini/Ying
The Xiro Mini/Ying is a collaborated effort between Xiro (Zero Tech) and internet giant Tencent. Tencent is responsible for the leading smart phone app in the world (Wechat), exceeding 1 billion registered users last year.
The highlight of the drone is that it is only palm-sized with automatic photo-enhancing features. The new product will target young, selfie-loving social network users, rather than tech-obsessed consumers.
The Xiro Mini/Ying is lightweight, stylish, clever and compact with a variety of intelligent flight modes. Xiro (Zero Tech) and Tencent believe that this breakthrough innovative product will be able to gain a strong following from a previously untouched market, providing a new way for the development of UAVs in the future.
The Xplorer 2
It was February 2015 when Xiro (Zero Tech) released the Xplorer from the Shenzhen Minsk aircraft carrier. It was Xiro's (Zero Tech's) first consumer level UAV product, which received many awards after it received raving reviews regarding its technology, design and powerful performance.
The Xplorer 2 is the updated model, with a complete revamp on all the technical specifications. 4K video recording, HD video previews with a transmission distance up to a kilometre and a high-capacity lithium battery among other things make this one of the most powerful consumer grade UVAs on the market.
The Xplorer 2 is also equipped with auto obstacle avoidance technology. It uses infrared for real-time detection of any obstacles that are nearby, which then allows the drone to alert the user and even actively avoid the collision before the user has to make any adjustments - the radar sensor does 360° omnidirectional scanning at a rate of 50 times per second. This is the first time such technology has been used in the UAV market.
You can watch the promotional video here.
The Xplorer Xtreme
The Xplorer Xtreme is the top of the line drone from Xiro (Zero Tech), offering consumers with professional-grade performance. Quite simply, it is the benchmark for the UAV consumer market.
The Xplorer Xtreme combines the award-winning attributes of the Xplorer 2 with limit-pushing technology, like real-time video transmission capabilities of more than 2 kilometres, 360° video recording and a cutting-edge design.
Xiro (Zero Tech) flying into a new era
The direction that Xiro (Zero Tech) has taken by offering professional-grade technology to consumers is truly market-leading. Their success can be determined simply by the amount of interest they garnered at the CES.
With the plethora of new technology that Xiro (Zero Tech) is bringing to the table, science fiction is truly becoming reality.