Intel’s drone lightshow now works indoors

Remember Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime show with the drones that made the light show? A scaled-down version of that system now works indoors, Intel says, making it perfect for conferences, Vegas shows and bar mitzvahs.

These drones opened Intel’s CES keynote. A dozen or so took the stage and danced above a projected piano, playing a tune reminiscent of Tom Hanks’ performance in Big.

Intel isn’t saying what advancements were made to bring the drone show indoors. This platform in late 2016 and I got a behind-the-scene look at the system prior to its first show at Disney World. It’s impressive.

One person controls the army of drones thanks to a sophisticated control platform that pre-plans the route of each drone. At that time Intel engineers told me that the system can control an unlimited amount of drones. In the version I saw, the drones used GPS to stay in place and the drones lacked any collision detection sensors.

Called the Shooting Star Mini (the outdoor version is called Shooting Star), this system uses a different type of location detection system when GPS is unavailable.

How much does it cost to rent an indoor Intel drone show? Intel didn’t release a price list but I’m sure it’s not inexpensive.