My Experience
By now, I’m sure everyone has both heard and seen a drone. Although this technology seems to be popping up just now, drones have been around for a long time. Drones have been a hobby of mine since high school and I was even employed at GoPro as a Multi-rotor Pilot. Simply put, a drone is a remote-less controlled piloted aircraft or missle. They are also typically known as UAV’S quad-copters, etc.
History of Drones
Drones were first developed during WWI around 1916-1918. These were much different than todays but the great innovation has also remained. At first they came in the form of the modern cruise missiles such as The Aerial Target, Hewitt Sperry Automatic Airplane, and Kettering Bug. These particular examples showed the first concepts of unmanned aircrafts ever. In November 1917, the Automatic Airplane was demonstrated for the US Army. The real birth of UAV’s began in the 60s when the US Air Force was concerned about losing pilots over hostile territory. There solution was: Unmanned Aircrafts!
While most drones were utilized by the military in the old days, this technology was commissioned by the CIA after 9/11. They began the first UAV program called the Eagle Program, flying over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. However recently, drones are becoming popular for hobbyists, commercial markets, private markets, and it was reported that drones are being used by at least 50 countries.
Unusual Drone Uses
-Drone Combat
The ASL(Aerial Sports League) drone combat games sets a new standard for robotic sports. What started as a top-secret drone “flight club” attended by a select group of robot builders, designers and artists in an Oakland warehouse became a global sensation. Attendance quickly grew from a few friends to hundreds of people, and then thousands in a matter of months. From this drone flight club the ASL was born. I was introduced to this by one of my coworkers and its really REALLY fun.
The so-called “Swarm” was constructed out of a metal and polycarbonate frame with the passenger seated so as to keep him as safe as possible. For now, the Swarm can only reach a height of around 15 feet, with a flight time of only ten minutes on a single battery charge, and it's loud as heck to boot, but with future modifications, it promises to only get better and go further.
Future in Business
Drones are changing the way we think and act in every aspect. I believe in the future current companies such as Amazon will continue to grow in this industry and market. Although its new and some of the regulations are unclear on the FAA’s side, there is just too much cool innovation going on that humans will eventually come to depend on.
References
http://digitaledition.rotorandwing.com/march-2017/the-great-embrace-how-drones-can-advance-business/
http://www.dsports.io/combat/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/02/15/a-drone-carrying-human-passengers-prepares-to-take-flight-in-dubai/
References
http://digitaledition.rotorandwing.com/march-2017/the-great-embrace-how-drones-can-advance-business/
http://www.dsports.io/combat/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/02/15/a-drone-carrying-human-passengers-prepares-to-take-flight-in-dubai/
I really enjoyed this tech talk and thought it was interesting how companies like Amazon are beginning to use drones in such a unique way. I think that one item to take into consideration when looking at the future of drones and their commercial use is the effects of weather. Here is an interesting article I found about the research and tests being done to improve the performance of drones in adverse weather conditions: http://www.livescience.com/58697-what-happens-when-lightning-strikes-drones.html
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome topic. I have heard of proffessional sports league teams investing in their own drones for drone racing. Stephon Ross who is the owner of the Miami Dolphins, has invested in a drone racing team.
ReplyDeleteEven though this tech briefing is about the Drones and Uses, I felt that the author could have talked more about the main usage of drones in the motion picture industry or in videos on Youtube in general. Other than that, I haven't heard about the the use of drones for transportation before. Very interesting!!
ReplyDeleteBig fan of this tech topic. Especially after reading, I do believe drones will come into a more (handy) use in the future for lack of better terms. One of the most interesting parts from your tech topic was the fact that the military is integrating the technology to use it towards its advantage in UAV aspects. Great topic.
ReplyDelete