Just over a month ago, we reported on Sony entering in a new product category; drones. Teaming up with Japanese robotics firm ZMP to create Aerosens, this new drone subsidiary will come online sometime in 2016 with a focus on

 automated driving and robotics technologies. 

While odd at first, besides the ever-growing landscape of drones which have practical uses ranging for commercial, military, and hobbyist, I speculated that Sony is really entering this product category to boost another of its divisions. Image sensors for the past few years have been the saving grace for the company. Powering multimillion selling devices from Apple and Samsung, Sony’s image sensors can be found in a wide array of products that have helped the company’s bottom line tremendously.

More details, including the two drones first flights are after the jump.

With drone adoption set to explode in the next few years, Sony will likely use Aerosens as a means of showing off their image sensors in hopes of signing contracts with much larger players with far deeper pockets like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Parrot, Lockheed Martin, and DJI, all whom are creating their own drones but don’t have anywhere near the technical prowess of Sony when it comes to image sensors.

For Sony, this is a win-win in that their image sensor business is fairly lucrative and finding more companies to sell to will only further boost their bottom line. If along the way, Sony is able to turn Aerosens into something more and have the business take off, well all the better for them.

Unveiled yesterday and dubbed the AS-DTO1-E, this prototype drone has the ability to take off and land vertically. According to Sony Aerosense the drone can carry objects up to 22 pounds at a maximum speed of 106 miles per hour with a battery that will last up to two hours.

With a quadcopter design, the AS-MCO1-P is designed with a much lighter payload in mind and in turn, is much smaller in size. It was specifically pointed out that the MCO1-P features a camera, GPS, and navigation system, making it unclear if the DTO1-E somehow lacks these features or not.

Discuss:

What do you think about Sony getting into the drone business?

[Via Aerosense]