Robohub.org
 

SPARKED wins at New York City Drone Film Festival


by
07 March 2016



share this:
 Photo source: 2016 NYCDFF

Welby Altidor, Executive Creative Director of Creation, Cirque du Soleil (L) and Benjamin Dupont (R). Source: 2016 NYCDFF

SPARKED: A Live Interaction Between Humans and Quadcopters won the 2016 New York City Drone Film Festival (NYCDFF) Featuring Drones category.

NYCDFF is the world’s first event exclusively dedicated to celebrating the art of drone cinematography. The festival offers an international platform for filmmakers from every corner of the globe to exhibit their work in front of industry professionals and the drone cinema fan community. 

Watch their award winning film here:

Cirque du Soleil, ETH Zurich, and ETH spinoff Verity Studios partnered to develop the short film that features 10 quadcopters in a flying dance performance. The collaboration resulted in a unique, interactive choreography where humans and drones move in sync. Precise computer control allows for a large performance and movement vocabulary of the quadcopters and opens the door to many more applications in the future.

You can also watch a short film about the making of SPARKED here:

If you like this post, you also may also enjoy reading:



tags: , , ,


ETH Zurich is one of the leading international universities for technology and the natural sciences.
ETH Zurich is one of the leading international universities for technology and the natural sciences.


Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack



Related posts :

Robot Talk Episode 152 – Dexterous robot hands, with Rich Walker

  17 Apr 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Rich Walker from Shadow Robot Company about their advanced robotic hands for research and industry.

What I’ve learned from 25 years of automated science, and what the future holds: an interview with Ross King

and   14 Apr 2026
Ross King created the first robot scientist back in 2009. He spoke to us about the nature of scientific discovery, the role AI has to play, and his recent work in DNA computing.

Robot Talk Episode 151 – Robots to study the ocean, with Simona Aracri

  10 Apr 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Simona Aracri from National Research Council of Italy about innovative robot designs for oceanography and environmental monitoring.

Generative AI improves a wireless vision system that sees through obstructions

  08 Apr 2026
With this new technique, a robot could more accurately detect hidden objects or understand an indoor scene using reflected Wi-Fi signals.

Resource-constrained image generation and visual understanding: an interview with Aniket Roy

  07 Apr 2026
Aniket tells us about his research exploring how modern generative models can be adapted to operate efficiently while maintaining strong performance.

Back to school: robots learn from factory workers

  02 Apr 2026
A Czech startup is making factory automation easier by letting workers teach robots new tasks through simple demonstrations instead of complex coding.

Resource-sharing boosts robotic resilience

  31 Mar 2026
When a modular robot shares power, sensing, and communication resources among its individual units, it is significantly more resistant to failure than traditional robotic systems.

Robot Talk Episode 150 – House building robots, with Vikas Enti

  27 Mar 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Vikas Enti from Reframe Systems about using robotics and automation to build climate-resilient, high-performance homes.



Robohub is supported by:


Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack




 















©2026.02 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence