Wikipedia

Lily Robotics

Lily was a California-based drone brand that shut down after filing for bankruptcy in 2017.[1][2][3] It is owned by Mota Group, Inc. and headquartered in San Jose, California.

History edit

Lily Robotics was founded in 2013 in Berkeley, California by UC Berkeley alums Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow, with the goal of designing and manufacturing a quadcopter camera drone. Both founders worked together at the UC Berkeley Robotics Laboratory.[4]

The idea for Lily's first product, the Lily Camera, came in the summer of 2013 after Balaresque returned from a family trip to Yosemite National Park and noticed that his mother was missing from all of the photos because she was behind the camera.[4]

The founders secured a seed round[5] in spring 2014 led by Shana Fisher and SV Angel, and in 2015 the company expanded to employ approximately 50 individuals.[citation needed]

In May 2015, the company announced the Lily Camera, an autonomous flying camera that combined GPS and computer vision technology to record stills and video of users autonomously via a wearable tracking device.[4] The company received approximately 60 thousand pre-orders for the device,[6] collecting over $34 million in pre-sale revenue.[7][8] International Business Times compared the new startup to the Zano, a similar camera-drone project which was still in development at the time, but later failed and closed down.[9][10]

In December 2015, Lily reportedly closed[11] a Series A funding round of $14 million, led by Spark Capital.[12] Other notable Lily investors were the Stanford StartX fund, the DJ Steve Aoki and the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.[13] The founders announced that the original February 2016 release date for pre-order customers would be delayed until summer 2016.[14][15][16]

Closure, lawsuit, bankruptcy, and asset-acquisition edit

On January 12, 2017, around 4AM UTC, Lily sent an email to all their customers notifying them that the camera could not be produced and they would receive a refund. The company closed owing $34 million.[3]

On the same day, the District Attorney of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against Lily alleging that the startup intentionally deceived customers. According to the lawsuit, Lily faked demonstration videos using products from other manufacturers.[17][18] In late January 2017, the San Francisco police, seeking evidence for criminal charges related to the company's failure, conducted a raid of the Lily Robotics offices.[19]

On February 27, 2017, Lily Robotics filed a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company also issued a notice to customers stating: "We will try to refund all of our customers' pre-order payments during the bankruptcy. However, we need Bankruptcy Court approval of a refund process to make those payments. To begin the process, the Company filed a motion on March 13, 2017 asking the Bankruptcy Court to approve the refund process."[20]

On May 30, 2017, Mota Group Inc. acquired assets of Lily and its brand. The company, already managing other brands and drone lines, introduced Lily Next-Gen™ with superior 2017 technology based on the original Lily approach of simplicity and market.[21]

The Lily Camera edit

Lily's original flagship product, the Lily Camera, was a quadcopter drone designed to be used as a self-propelled camera. The device has a waterproof rating of IP67. It is built out of black polycarbonate and brushed aluminum, and weighs approximately 2.8 pounds (1.3 kg). The Lily Camera contains 7 types of sensors: an accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, a magnetometer, a Barometer, GPS, a front-facing camera, and a bottom-facing camera.[22] The camera captures video with 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, and 720p at 120 frames per second.[23]

Like the Lily Camera, the wearable tracker has a waterproof rating of IP67. The tracker contains 5 sensors: an accelerometer, a barometer, GPS, a microphone, and a small vibration motor.[citation needed]

Lily Next-Gen™ included the same type of form factor but with 4K camera, a standalone remote and up to 36 minutes of flying time with combined battery.

See also edit

  • Zano (drone) - a similar project to create a quadcopter drone with a camera, which failed under similar circumstances

References edit

  1. ^ Rizzo, Lillian (February 27, 2017). "Lily Robotics Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  2. ^ Matthews, Kayla (February 12, 2017). "What went seriously wrong with Lily Robotics". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Drone company Lily shuts down owing $34m". BBC News. January 12, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Tilley, Aaron (May 12, 2015). "Lily Is A Self-Flying Drone That Follows You Around And Films You". Forbes. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  5. ^ "About - Lily". Lily. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  6. ^ Buhr, Sarah (January 8, 2016). "Lily, A Camera Drone That Automatically Follows You, Pulls In A Mountainous $34 Million In Pre-orders". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  7. ^ Primack, Dan (January 7, 2016). "'Flying Camera' Maker Lily Hits Major Sales Milestone". Fortune. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  8. ^ Kulwin, Noah (January 7, 2016). "Self-Flying Lily Camera Has Booked $34 Million in Pre-Sales in Last Eight Months". Recode. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  9. ^ Russon, Mary-Ann (May 13, 2015). "Meet Lily, a $499 selfie drone that follows you around after being tossed into the air". International Business Times. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  10. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (January 20, 2016). "Zano: The rise and fall of Kickstarter's mini-drone". BBC News. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  11. ^ Crook, Jordan (December 18, 2015). "Lily Flying Camera Closes $14M In Funding, Delays Shipping Until Summer 2016". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  12. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (December 18, 2015). "Lily Robotics raises $14M but won't ship flying cameras until next summer". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  13. ^ Wingfield, Nick (December 17, 2015). "Drone Maker Lily Announces a Product Delay and New Funding". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  14. ^ Mortimer, Gary (December 18, 2015). "Lily drone delays". sUASNews.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  15. ^ Mortimer, Gary (July 26, 2016). "Lily Drone, it's a cruel cruel summer". sUASNews.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  16. ^ "Shipping and Fundraising Update - Lily". Lily. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  17. ^ Glaser, April (January 16, 2017). "What happened to the Lily camera drone?". Recode. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  18. ^ Riley McDermick (January 13, 2017). "S.F. drone maker Lily Robotics sued by district attorney after failing to deliver on $34 million in preorders". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  19. ^ Mcdermid, Riley. "Cops raid San Francisco dronemaker Lily Robotics". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  20. ^ Mortimer, Gary (March 20, 2017). "Lily Drone Bankruptcy claim your cash - sUAS News - The Business of Drones". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  21. ^ Grigonis, Hillary K. (September 5, 2017). "The Lily Next-Gen Camera Drone Is Both An Upgrade and Downgrade". Digital Trends. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  22. ^ Findling, Deborah (May 21, 2015). "Lily: the world's first throw-and-shoot camera". CNBC. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  23. ^ Villas_Boas, Antonio. "This amazing new drone camera follows you around shooting stunning HD footage". Business Insider. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
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