This Drone Flies 70 MPH and it was Made by an 18-year-old—By age 12, Matus had already built his first flying quadcopter and was serving as a test pilot for a drone company. Five years later, he was selected among 2,800 applicants to be a Thiel Fellow from the Peter Thiel's Foundation. The organization pays young entrepreneurs $100,000 over the course of two years in exchange for skipping college or dropping out to work on their own ventures. Now, Matus is launching his own consumer drone brand, Teal. His drones, which are available for pre-order starting Wednesday for $1,299, will be capable of flying as fast as 70 mph and sustaining winds of up to 40 mph, Matus told CNNMoney. That makes them faster than current out-of-the-box drones on the market ...
How Drones are Learning to Find Their Own Way in the World—When you’re zipping through the air at 60 kilometers per hour, it can be hard to work out where you’re going. But now drones can create detailed 3D maps as they fly – an advance that could let them navigate the world free from human input. Called Hydra Fusion, the system could one day allow drones to use a form of navigation known as simultaneous localization and mapping to find their way in unfamiliar spaces – just as some robots do on the ground. It will also make them better at aerial surveillance. Hydra Fusion works by stitching together multiple images – in this case, consecutive frames of footage from a drone’s video camera – to form a detailed 3D map while it is in the air. “We can fly a drone along at 30 knots and create a map as we go,” says John Molberg at Lockheed Martin, part of the team behind the system ...
Meet the 18-year-old Entrepreneur Who Built the World’s Fastest Drone—Most teenagers spend their free time at the movies, playing video games, keeping track of friends on social media or some other carefree activity. But by the time George Matus was 12, he had already built his own flying quadcopter and was working with drone companies to test every product on the market. Flash forward six years, and today he is CEO of his own drone and software company, Utah-based Teal, which has four full-time employees, 15 contractors and sells the world’s fastest consumer drone ...
18 Under 18: Meet the Young Innovators Who Are Changing the World—Noa Mintz started her first business in 2008, running art classes for kids during the summer for a small fee. Two years later, she founded a children’s party planning business. To make sure her staff was following workplace protocol, she wrote an employee handbook for guidance. As she looks back on her ventures six years later, Mintz is not impressed ...
The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016—To determine TIME’s annual list, we consider accolades across numerous fields, global impact through social media and overall ability to drive news. In the past, we’ve recognized everyone from singer Lorde to golf champion Lydia Ko to political activist Joshua Wong. Here’s who made this year’s cut (ordered from youngest to oldest). George Matus has been flying drones since the age of 11 and building them since 12. Now he runs his own startup, Teal, whose first consumer drone can soar at 70 miles per hour, which is notably faster than many rivals. And venture capitalists are eager to invest: Matus has already scored $100,000 from Peter Thiel's prestigious fellowship program, and raised $5.8 million in venture capital. Next up: continuing his quest to make flying drones as easy and practical as using apps on a smartphone ...
19-year-old Raises $6M for the World’s Fastest Production Drone—At only 19 years old, George Matus has revolutionized the unmanned flight industry with what he calls “the Swiss Army Knife of drones.” Teal, Matus’ Utah-based company that closed a $6 million round of funding in 2015, prides itself on engineering the world’s fastest and arguably most advanced production drone. The drone flies at over 75 mph, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in just 1.1 seconds; carries an onboard supercomputer; records in 4k video; and is fully customizable. Matus got involved in the unmanned flight industry at age 10 and quickly fell in love. At age 12 he became a test pilot for a leading drone company and began to develop his own designs ...
Smart Kid Raises ~$6 Mill and Starts Drone Company—Teal is a remarkable drone company for several reasons. First, it raised ~$6 million from angel investors including Peter Thiel. Second, it is a US based firm manufacturing drones for the consumer market. Third, it was started by a high school student who has infused his company with his passion for flight as fun. Their drone, the Sport, is designed for racing and, according to the firm, can hit 80mph out of the box. You can learn more here. Teal could be the real deal. Time will tell; but we’re rooting for these guys. The folks at AirVuz recently interviewed the founder George Matus. Here is their interview ...
The iPhone of Drones Is Being Built by This Teenager—His drone, he believes, will be revolutionary. It will come equipped with artificial intelligence so it can recognize faces and objects and pick them out in a crowd; it will help police departments find lost children, ranchers monitor their herds, cities inspect buildings. If all goes according to plan, it will do for drones what the iPhone did for phones. It will make them useful, helpful. It will change the way we live. And it will be very, very fast ...
Teal Launches Their Flagship Drone the Teal One—Today, Teal launches their flagship drone the Teal One. This ready-to-fly done has a top speed of 60mph and features a modular design, making it easy to replace parts if you happen to crash the drone. The done is controlled right from your smartphone with an app called Teal Flight, that also offers five different flight modes, including one-handed and voice control. The drone has been developed by 20-year-old Utah-based founder, George Matus. It is designed and built right here in the US. The Teal One has a top speed of 60mph and can withstand wind speeds of up to 40mph. The drone features a 15 minute flight time, which is less than what most people are used to from their DJI drones, but for some that might be offset by its higher top speed and improved wind resistance ...
The Realization of a Dream: Introducing the Teal One, Now for Sale—Everyone loves a long shot success story – and this one is better than most. In July of 2016, DRONELIFE wrote about the 18-year-old Utah kid who decided to skip college and pursue his dream of building the ultimate drone. Today, 20-year-old George Matus launches the Teal One: one of the fastest ready-to-fly drones on the market. George Matus was awarded a $100,000 Thiel fellowship when he graduated from high school. A Thiel fellowship – which has a lower than 1% win rate – offers grant money, guidance and resources to entrepreneurs under the age of 23 to skip college and pursue innovation instead ...