A GROUND-BREAKING flying robot drone which can be controlled by anyone using a smart-phone was aired to the public at Pembroke Dock’s Bridge Innovation Centre (BIC) on Monday.

Aerospace and defence technology experts Torquing Group Ltd, based at the BIC, launched the autonomous robotic drone, ZANO, as part of Pembrokeshire Innovation Week.

While drone technology has been used by the military, ZANO will be available for anyone to buy at an expected cost of under £170.

ZANO, which allows aerial photographs and videos to be taken, is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and intelligent enough to fly all by itself.

It connects directly to your smartphone through onboard WiFi.

“When we began work on ZANO, our goal was to make aerial photography and video capture truly accessible to everyone. This meant making ZANO small and lightweight, yet durable enough to take with you anywhere. Intelligent enough so no piloting skills were required, and most of all, pricing ZANO at a point that makes it affordable,” said Head of Marketing Reece Crowther.

He added: “We have a product that has a chance to achieve global market domination.”

The ZANO drone is expected to sell for £169 when officially launched next July, but will initially be available for far less through the Kickstarter online funding platform.

“We’re selling them on Kickstarter for £139; we’re trying to make it available to everyone; we can see the kids and mum using it.

“The sky’s the limit; I think it’s right on the ballpark for Christmas presents; we can go for volume, why can’t we do huge numbers?

“It should be in the shops by July but we’re launching the campaign now.

“We need to get the production volumes up in order to get the price down. It's as simple as that.”

The technology has other possibilities for the Torquing Group, who have developed contacts as diverse as the US military and the CIA, where ZANO can be used as a surveillance machine.

The ZANO drones will be manufactured at Tredegar-based Welsh EMS Camtronics.