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What can you do to tell this drone to take your picture?

Answer: Smile.

You can also wave or say, “Take a picture.”

In what may be the first of its kind, the Mantis Q drone from Yuneec comes with voice and gesture control and facial recognition. From a distance of up to 13 feet, the drone can recognize when you smile or wave your hand and snap a photo. You can also give it vocal instructions like “take a picture,” “take a selfie,” or “wake up” to turn it on. Yuneec has not specified how close you need to be to the drone in order to give it a vocal command, or if noise factors like wind may affect its ability to hear.

The Mantis also has a number of preset flight modes like journey, point of interest, orbit me and tracking. One battery charge will get you 33 minutes in the air, and in “sport mode,” the drone can apparently reach a speed of 44 miles per hour. The drone can also fold into a smaller size (6.6 by 3.8 by 2.2 inches) when not in use, a first for Yuneec’s devices.



Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.