Antigravity Adds Watch And Ring Controls To A1 Drone
A $799 Follow Me kit lets A1 owners track subjects and control flights without goggles, though reviewers found limitations in tracking and obstacle avoidance.
Antigravity has launched a Follow Me version of its A1 drone that replaces the original goggles and motion controller with a watch remote and a ring remote. The $799 kit is designed to let the drone follow and film a subject with less gear, while giving the person being filmed a way to adjust its flight.
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How the new controls work
The A1 already offered visual subject tracking and 360-degree video that can be reframed after recording. According to Engadget, the Watch Remote adds built-in GNSS location data to visual tracking to help the drone follow moving subjects more reliably. Users select a subject on the watch’s touchscreen, which also offers video settings, flight controls and preset camera moves.
Pressing the ring’s button enables gestures that move the drone left, right, up or down. Rotating the arm and wrist changes its distance from the subject. Engadget found the response fairly quick, but said users must release and press the button again to switch between adjusting position and distance. The Verge noted that the ring adds one-handed convenience rather than capabilities unavailable on the watch.
The package also includes propeller guards. Engadget says Antigravity recommends using Follow Me outdoors with at least two meters of vertical clearance for takeoff. A recent A1 update also enables takeoff from the palm, removing the need to place the drone on a landing mat.
Price and early testing
Both outlets put the complete A1 Follow Me kit at $799. They differ on how they describe the accessory pricing. Engadget reports a $340 accessory kit containing the watch, ring and guards, discounted to $272 for existing A1 owners. The Verge lists the watch and ring at $340 and the guards separately at $40, with a 20 percent discount for owners who can prove they have an A1.
Neither reviewer found the new setup flawless. Engadget criticized the watch and ring hardware as flimsy and said the guards make the drone less portable because its arms cannot fold with them attached. The Verge reported three crashes during testing and warned that thin branches, power lines and support wires can challenge obstacle avoidance. It also found the watch touchscreen slow to navigate and said starting a follow shot still requires manually selecting the subject.
The goggles-free option changes how the A1 can be used outdoors. Engadget notes that wearing FPV goggles while flying solo outdoors would violate visual-line-of-sight rules in the US and Europe. The watch-and-ring setup avoids requiring the pilot to wear those goggles, although The Verge’s tests suggest users still need to watch the drone’s path closely.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.