The Teal drone can hit 70 mph, so it's a good thing it has replaceable legs

Teal is more than just another quadcopter: It's a platform.

As it stands in 2016, consumers can pick out a ready-to-fly drone for aerial photos and video or for racing or just to fly casually. Teal is meant to appeal to all of these buyers, regardless of skill level, and eventually to commercial pilots, too.

Behind Teal -- the company and the drone -- is 18-year old George Matus who has been flying quads since he was 11 and built his first one at 14. The drone is the result of an evolving list of dream features he's been making since then.

The quad can go fast at up to 70 mph (112 kph) in up to 40 mph (64 kph) winds, it's weatherproof, can be controlled with an iOS or Android device or a regular radio controller and is small enough to slip into backpack. In front is an electronically stabilized 13-megapixel camera that can record video at 4K resolution.

Teal is also modular, and that doesn't only mean removing the battery. Each arm can be popped on and off, as can the drone's top section. With other drones, if you were to break one of the prop arms you would have to send the whole thing in for repair. With Teal you'll be able to easily replace it on your own. Plus, this opens the possibility for specialized arms for specific tasks. Teal is also currently planning to release modules for the top section including thermal imaging, obstacle avoidance (something it currently can't do on its own) and a secondary camera for first-person-view racing.

Here's where it gets even more interesting, though. Inside Teal is an Nvidia TX1 computer with an octa-core processor to handle machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. The idea here is that by having the modular design, powerful hardware running the drone's Teal OS as well as making an SDK available, it can be a platform to be developed for consumer and commercial uses.

Source:CNET