Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

Photography & Video
Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

We present the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera which captures a full spherical panorama when thrown into the air. At the peak of its flight, which is determined using an accelerometer, a full panoramic image is captured by 36 mobile phone camera modules.

[Via @Johl; Images courtesy of Jonas Pfeil, CC]

56 thoughts on “Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

  1. Brad Leclerc says:

    That’s INSANELY cool.

  2. Tim Kemp says:

    Very cool.  I want one!

  3. Matthew Daughtrey says:

    Now fire it out of an air cannon…

  4. Dave Brunker says:

    Looks like it would be out of my price range.  *sigh*  Nice Creative Commons music from IZCY though, thanks! http://wacca.fm/a_music/izityi/list

  5. Anonymous says:

    i don;’t know about you, but that photo sucks – you got all sorts of different lighting, distortion, etc.

    1. VRAndy says:

      Yes. However, The first one in the video is a lot better.  I don’t know if they represent different stitching software, or just how the device performs in different conditions.

    2. Gordon Wrigley says:

      the stitching is just amateurish, the open source hugin tools do a far better job straight out of the box

      1. Anonymous says:

        Great plug of open source :-D I didn’t know there was a Panorama app in the Ubuntu Software Center. Out of curiosity, do you know if the Hugin code is being used on bored any commercial phones or cameras? It seems to do a really good job at stitching and I try to do all I can to support open source projects :-)

  6. Anonymous says:

    So simple, and such en elegant idea. Love it.

    Now, make it float.

  7. Adam Eyring says:

    I think the military will find this useful. Just throw it up from behind a wall to see what’s behind. If it gets shot down, no human loss.

    1. Rufus 'Ruthless' Driscoll says:

      Or they could a mirror. I hear that’s some pretty amazing technology too :)

  8. Brad Friend says:

    make it smaller, link it to a laptop, put it in a flare gun, use it for instant recon of the immediate area in a military situation. Now where’s my medal?

    1. Jason Ogorek says:

      You honestly think the army needs a ball with cameras when the have satellites that can count the hairs on your arms?

      1. Maik says:

        So tell me, how do the satellites count the hairs on your arm through the roof of a building? ;-)

        1. Anonymous says:

          How does a panorama ball count the hairs on your arms through the roof of a building?

          1. Maik says:

            How about HD cams? It’s mobile phone cams in that ball, so shouldn’t be much of a problem ;-)

  9. Dhawal D says:

    awesome idea.. 

  10. imad ud din yousaf butt says:

    i think make it a bit lighter n put a motor in it that can b able to throw air through 5 different holes. these holes must be below the equator of sphere. so that it can fly in the air n can reach up to desired level in the air by controlling it with a remote control. secondly converting it to video instead of snapshot is better so that it can b used as security camera. in this way only one 1 instead of various cameras ,putting at various angles, can b placed.

  11. Anonymous says:

    How much? =)

  12. Landon Morgan says:

    Put better cameras on it, reprogram it to capture/broadcast photos remotely, then launch thousands into space in every direction simultaneously.  Matrix in Space!!!  Do you like photography, panoramas, 360 panoramas, film, video or anything in between?  Follow me on twitter @studionowlandon:twitter or fan us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/aolstudionow.

  13. James Black says:

    I have to agree with Brad, the military applications here are pretty astounding.

  14. Derek Olson says:

    Guess you are kinda screwed if you drop it in the Grand Canyon

  15. reza says:

    Hi sir
    Would you please tell me about its price???
    I’m so interested of buying it for my career projects
    please let me now :   srhamzeh@gmail.com

  16. Konrad says:

    Haters….  It’s a prototype.  In 10 years stuff like this will be rock star.

  17. Anonymous says:

    my best friend’s aunt makes $70/hr on the laptop. She has been out of work for 6 months but last month her check was $8183 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read this site NuttyRich.cöm

  18. mahesh says:

    hii sir plz send me documentations of camera ball

  19. Hamada Reda says:

    how cost please ???????

  20. Gus says:

    is it waterproof?

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My interests include writing, electronics, RPGs, scifi, hackers & hackerspaces, 3D printing, building sets & toys. @johnbaichtal nerdage.net

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