Obsbot Tail Air

The Obsbot Tail Air is the latest PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) camera from Obsbot. This camera features a 4K sensor as well as AI based human, animal, and object tracking. This device is a multifunctional streaming camera and can be configured for multiple types of output. For example, you could stream live content directly to a video platform (like YouTube or Twitch), use the device as a standard webcam, or capture and store images and video directly to the device. The small form factor and the fact the device can be battery powered also makes this a highly portable PTZ solution.

About this Device

The Obsbot Tail Air is an AI powered auto tracking camera. As mentioned above, it incorporates human, animal, or object tracking functionality. The camera is built around a 4K sensor mounted onto a 2-axis gimbal that features: Pan: ±150°; Tilt: -65°~32°. The on-board AI chip can recognize certain key gestures to activate the different tracking and recording options. There is a control app for iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS that allow you to custom select tracking configurations for persons, objects, or animals. The camera can operate from an internal battery. In battery mode, the camera can operate for about 2.5 hours on a full charge. When used with built-in Wi-Fi capability this battery functionality allows the Tail Air to operate independent from a computer for live streaming and recording, though for webcam use it will still need to be connected over USB. The Tail Air features several streaming modes including: RTSP, VISCA, NDI, and RTMP. Depending on the use case and the broadcast platform of choice, these modes can be especially useful, one example would be using NDI mode with Zoom Rooms: https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0067872#h_01F9D089R1P1YH9J971BTEVXV4.

In addition to all of the streaming options, the camera features an USB-C port for charging and data, two microphones, a Mini-HDMI port, Micro-SD card slot, and 3.5mm Microphone input. There is an illuminated status bar on the base of the gimbal that shows green for standard operation, and blue when the device is in AI tracking mode. Another series of 4 LEDs at the base of the device indicate battery power levels. These indicators are especially useful if trying to use the camera without a computer, or even to verify that tracking is live before starting a video session.

Innovative Features

A key innovative feature of the Tail Air is the onboard AI person and object tracking. This tracking is surprisingly good, but can sometimes be confused when an object or person leaves the frame quickly or goes behind another object. Obsbot regularly does firmware updates, so it is possible that this tracking will improve over time. In our testing the Obsbot did a good job of tracking and zooming in on humans using the default auto-modes. This will be particularly useful when using the device as a USB Video Class (UVC) webcam device. This is likely to be the most common use case for this device in Telehealth, and the majority of our testing focused on using the Osbot as a webcam. In UVC (webcam) mode the camera can still be controlled via the various platform apps to allow you to fine tune the camera tracking while in use. Options for AI tracking included wide, auto, close-up, half body and full body views. If using the camera in a speech pathology session for example, you could use close-up tracking to lock in on a patient’s mouth, and the camera would continue to track and frame the mouth, even if the patient moved around a bit.

Use Cases

1. Remote Consultations:
   • Enable healthcare professionals to conduct virtual consultations with patients, providing real-time video and audio communication.
2. Multidisciplinary Team Meetings:
   • Facilitate virtual meetings among healthcare teams comprising doctors, nurses, specialists, and administrators to discuss patient cases, treatment plans, and other healthcare-related matters.
3. Patient Education:
   • Use the Obsbot Tail Air to conduct virtual educational sessions for individual or groups of patients, providing information about medical conditions, treatment options, and post-care instructions.
4. Remote Training and Workshops:
   • Conduct remote training sessions or workshops for healthcare professionals, sharing knowledge on new medical technologies, procedures, or best practices.
5. Collaboration with Remote Specialists:
   • Connect with specialists located remotely to seek advice on complex cases, share medical imaging, and discuss treatment options.
6. Telemedicine Conferences:
   • Host virtual conferences or webinars focused on telemedicine trends, innovations, and best practices, bringing together professionals from different locations.
7. Virtual Critical Care Monitoring:
   • Use the Obsbot Tail Air to facilitate virtualized Critical Care communication between healthcare providers and patients in rural or remote hospital settings, allowing the provider to view patient condition, and look at vital signs equipment.
8. Medical Training and Continuing Education:
   • Conduct virtual medical training sessions for ongoing professional development, allowing healthcare practitioners to stay updated on the latest research, techniques, and guidelines.
9. Administrative Meetings:
   • Facilitate administrative meetings for healthcare organizations, including discussions on policy updates, resource allocation, and strategic planning.
10. Family Consultations:
    • Enable remote family consultations, allowing healthcare professionals to discuss patient conditions, treatment options, and care plans with family members who may be located in different geographical areas.

Product Specs:

Summary

While the Obsbot Tail Air is an impressive camera for content creators on streaming platforms the device has many features and functions that might complicate generalized use in a clinical setting. For this reason, those seeking an automated tracking PTZ camera might want to consider the Obsbot Tiny 2. This camera features the same AI human tracking but lacks the object and animal tracking, it also forgoes the battery power option in favor of a more traditional USB-C connection. The Tail Air does have a faster moving gimbal which might be a worthy trade off depending on the application. PTZ cameras have been a long standing tool in telehealth applications, but generally required manual control through a physical remote or dedicated software. The Obsbot Tail Air has the potential to automate many of these controls through the advanced onboard AI chip.

From time to time, TAC will choose a piece of technology to show or demonstrate in the “Innovation Watch” section of our website.  No endorsement of any products or services is expressed or implied by any information, hyperlink text, product, service, material, or content referred to or included on, or linked from, or to the TTAC website.

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From time to time TAC will choose a piece of technology to show or demonstrate in the “Innovation Watch” section of our website.  No endorsement of any products or services is expressed or implied by any information, hyperlink text, product, service, material or content referred to or included on, or linked from or to the TTAC web site.