Perhaps the biggest falling down (literally) about those rather cool drones you’ll see in stores is their inability to detect obstacles. We’ve already had a look around Lily, which can follow you but might hit a tree on the way, and the Hexo+ copter which will get collision-control soon.
There’s also a whole new system coming from DJI which is destined to become your next “flying platform” with bolt-on extras and features which could see it detecting and helping issue parking tickets amongst other possibilities.
Their Matrice 100 can be adapted to meet your needs and you can also add the guidance system so that it doesn’t whack into anything. The system involves cameras, a powerful CPU, ultrasonic sensors and “vision algorithms” to stop it hitting objects as it follows you or flies along a preset path.
Here’s a couple of videos which do a far better job of explaining the setup and unboxing of the Matrice 100…
https://youtu.be/dwqCkT39bp4