A Tiny Selfie Drone You Don’t Need To Register With The FAA

The palm-sized ONAGOfly is an affordable GPS-enabled drone that automatically takes photos using smile and obstacle recognition technology.

Normally the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires registration for unmanned aircraft systems. Nearly 300,000 drone owners have registered since the government introduced this rule in early January. However, this bite-sized flying camera is so small (0.3 lbs) it doesn’t need to be on the books.

According to the FAA rules, only drones weighing more than 0.55 lbs or 250 grams must register but because the ONAGOfly is so small, it flies right under the regulation.

This little drone goes for $199 on Indiegogo right now ($299 after campaign ends) and comes with built-in obstacle avoidance sensors, as well as some other features usually reserved for larger, more expensive drones like 15 MP camera, 1080p HD video, throw and fly capability (you throw it up and it automatically starts to fly), resistant to wind speeds up to1.6-3.3 m/s, peer-to-peer live streaming, and can be controlled from either an Android or iOS device using WiFi for up to 66 feet in distance.

Compare that to larger, pricier drones like Parrot Bebop or the Chroma camera drone. ONAGOfly doesn’t generate its own Wi-Fi hotspot like the Bebop, but it has a lot of other features for a lot less.

ONAGOfly has so far raised more than $1.8 million on Indiegogo, from nearly 9,000 backers, with 11 days to go before the campaign ends. Those backing this campaign are promised a comparatively quick delivery date of March 2016.

Though other well-funded drones like Zano didn’t do so well, the short ship date makes us think ONAGOfly is likely already in production.

Check out more about the ONAGOfly in the video below: