FLOTO STORYBOARD

Creating a Commercial Service/Product with a Drone

In 2013, as part of a graduate school project, I explored how drones could become a viable commercial service by balancing three factors: business viability, technological feasibility, and customer desirability. A key limitation at the time was battery life—most drones could only fly for about 25 minutes. To extend flight time, I developed FLOTO, a flying photo booth concept that uses helium balloons to reduce load and support longer operation.

FLOTO was designed as an on-demand event service. The drone could move through a venue and capture photos as moments happened, while guests used a companion app to take photos, edit them, and share them in real time. After the event, participants could access a private online space to revisit photos, continue conversations, and build longer-term connections beyond the event itself.

This project also addressed the broader challenges of drone-based services—technical constraints, legal considerations, and social acceptance in public spaces. The result was an early concept that merged emerging technology with a user-friendly experience, showing how product design can turn limitations into a differentiated service model.