Everyone either made a whirlybird out of paper or had a wood/plastic toy version when they were a kid. The concept was pretty simple. Rub the stick body of the whirlybird between one’s hands and toss it up into the air (the paper version was merely dropped from on high). Using auto-rotation, the whirlybird would land under its own control anywhere from a few feet to several yards away. It was a fun toy for the helicopter pilot in all of us. Now, (thanks to our friends at Yankoo Design) one designer has taken that whirlybird concept and created a camera platform out of it.

Dubbed the “Flying Stick Camera,” it uses kinetic energy built up by rubbing the stick together between one’s hands like it’s smaller toy variant. The difference is that the Flying Stick Camera stores that energy and actually flies up into the air like a helicopter. When the energy is dissipated, it auto-rotates back down to the ground. Meanwhile, while it’s soaring high above one’s head, the Flying Stick will snap off an array of digital shots at a preset interval. And with face detection built into the digital design, the subject is always in focus.

No word on resolution, price, or when we all can get one, but this is certainly a design that’s more toy than functional camera platform, but there’s nothing wrong that. It keeps the fun in digital photography.