A GoPro camera is seen on a skier's helmet as he rides down the slopes in the ski resort of Meribel, French Alps, January 7, 2014. Michael Schumacher's wife appealed to the media on Tuesday to leave the French hospital of Grenoble they have stak
IN PHOTO: A GoPro camera is seen on a skier's helmet as he rides down the slopes in the ski resort of Meribel, French Alps, January 7, 2014. Michael Schumacher's wife appealed to the media on Tuesday to leave the French hospital of Grenoble they have staked out since the German was critically injured in a skiing accident nine days ago and to let the doctors do their job. Formula One champion Michael Schumacher suffered brain injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps resort of Meribel on last December 29, 2013. Reuters/Emmanuel Foudrot

GoPro is going to launch two new products that will open the company to the virtual reality and drone markets, according to CNET. CEO Nick Woodman confirmed that the famous camera-maker will be releasing a six-camera device that can capture 360-degree content later this year.

As he had announced during Wednesday’s Recode Code conference, which was held in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, these aforementioned tech products are going to represent the company’s efforts of expanding its business scope beyond making cameras for adventure enthusiasts.

The upcoming Six-Camera Spherical Array is actually a mounting tool that can hold up to six Hero4 cameras, each of which capable of capturing high resolution images, as well as videos, from various angles, all at the same time. The recorded media will then be connected to one another in order to come up with a 360-degree virtual reality environment with the use of Kolor.

Kolor is a new technology that was developed by a French virtual reality software maker that GoPro managed to acquire a month ago.

It would appear that GoPro wants to get ahead of its toughest rivals, especially after the announcements that Google and Facebook has made for the past couple of years. As indicated in a Google report, the tech giant has been offering free online software for users who want to create interactive photo spheres that can be easily embedded in Google Maps. Plus, Google also has its very own virtual reality platform, the Google Cardboard.

Furthermore, Facebook had also announced in March, according to a separate CNET article, that they will soon be supporting spherical videos on their News Feed, with plans to incorporate such videos into Oculus.

GoPro’s upcoming devices appear to be good, solid products that could take its video-taking to the next level. However, according to the report, in order to enjoy the content, the users will have to utilize virtual reality headsets, such as Google Cardboard, Oculus, and HoloLens from Microsoft.

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