Japanese Flying Ball Could Be the Future of Aerial Camera Systems

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has unveiled an amazing “Spherical Flying Machine”: a 42-inch remote controlled ball that can zip around in any direction at ~37mph. Built using off-the-shelf parts for about $1,400, in Internet is abuzz over the potential applications, which include military reconnaissance and search-and-rescue operations. What we’re most interested in, however, is the device’s potential as an aerial camera for things like sports photography and combat photojournalism.

As you can see in the video above, the ball has a built in gyroscopes that allow it to stay stable in the air — perfect for keeping a camera level. Maybe if the technology takes off, we’ll start seeing flying ball cameras capturing footage at sporting events instead of cameras hung from cables (e.g. Skycam):

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Image credit: Illustration by Cablecam International