Small local DRONES anyone?

If we lived in Georgia and you had the right to fly a drone would I have the right to shoot it down?

hehe if I flew onto your property probably yes

That wedding video is close to being one of the dumbest videos I have ever seen on the Web.

It could very well be. And there will be a LOT more of them as time goes on. If drones do gain traction among consumers, there will be a LOT of dumb videos.

Any dumber than the various go pro or "selfie" videos that kids make?

Yes. These were grown adults that thought delivering a ring by drone was a good idea.

A way that drones can be utilized for criminal stalking:

nj.com: Alleged Burglars Suspected of Using Drone to Monitor Police in Newark and Union City
http://tinyurl.com/lcoood4

Airplanes are required to fly above 500 feet except when landing or taking off. Therefore, most model airplanes, helicopters or quadcopters(drones) fly below that altitude. Since all these flying things are radio controlled and frequency limited, they can only be flown so high without losing radio contact or control unless using modified equipment. They can fly higher than 500 feet and with the advent of live video feeds people have sent them practically into space. The AMA or Academy of Model Aeronautics has rules and liability insurance for its members. There are model jets and other large models that could easily kill someone or do major damage to property if something goes wrong. Regulating drones and other flying things will be ongoing.

But what if she is a liberated drone?

seaweed said:

I actually have built a couple and am working on one now fun to build and even more fun to fly. The best is FPV (first person video) -- you basically hook up a camera to a transmitter that transmits live video to a set of goggles you wear as you fly it -- totally immersive experience

Yes it is. I remember one of the managers/owners of AHC over on Tonnelle Ave had an RC helicopter with 4 cameras. Forward, R, L and downward. He could sit in the shop and watch his laptop and fly around the neighborhood.

^^ And this was back in the day, the drones today must be 100x cooler.

Someone was flying a drone on my street a few weeks ago. It sounded like a swarm of bees. I expect to sometime read the inevitable stories of people shooting them down.

My wife was going to buy me one for my birthday.... luckily we chatted first and decided not to. First, the prices and quality are going to improve dramatically and second... except for the occasional gutter inspection there's just no way the damn thing wouldn't get me into trouble sooner or later.

So, just for the sake of discussion:

Let's say a company markets small drones which are programmed to follow your kid (or you) as they walk the mean streets of MAPSO. The only thing they video is a person who is wearing a secure RFID tag (or something similar), and it's programmed to stay over public rights of way like streets.

Once the person reaches their destination be it school or a friend's house or whatever, it returns to a home base until signalled to return and locate the subject.

Would you think about it? If the technology was reliable and designed to not invade anyone's privacy?

I would probably give it some thought.

Those drones would be expensive as they are not "piloted" by anyone -- they would be fully autonomous which means they have to be able to recognize: trees, branches, wires, telephone poles, roofs, and other drones. They do get attacked by birds as well.

Not saying this is impossible, but these will need accurate GPS, a load of sensors and sophisticated software to avoid collisions -- eg. tree her on left, branch waving in wind on right, 20mph cross breeze, telephone pole ahead, and someone else's drone down the street crossing path.. Hence, in the near -term, expensive.

Simpler solution is to have person carry phone and track him/her via GPS.

Well, imagine the technology challenges can be met. And it's more than just tracking, it's a personal security camera that goes where the subject goes.

Either live or recorded. Your kid gets mugged for their iPhone? Video of the event is now available for the police.

Well, that idea takes being a "helicopter parent" to a whole new level, -figuratively and literally.

steel said:

Well, that idea takes being a "helicopter parent" to a whole new level, -figuratively and literally.

Yeah, fair enough. I guess it just gives me pause for thought. People currently use all kinds of in-house monitoring they can view online to keep an eye on their homes and kids while they're not around. The technology and internet infrastructure arrived, and people started using it in this way.

I think we're probably on the brink of something like a personal security drone for people who can afford it. I would be surprised if something along those lines didn't hit the market in the next ten years or so. Look at the number of times people post (right here on MOL) their belief in a need for more security cameras around town. What if you could have your own that follows you around? I'm sure there are people who would pony up.

Another question then becomes does this actually make someone safer, that any time they're outside there's a security camera focused on them? Would people wear something to indicate that they were under surveillance, like the houses with alarm systems usually stick a sign outside or sticker in the window? I was in a store where they were selling fake surveillance cameras as a crime deterrent. You could also conceivably build in some kind of technology that could alert the surveillance subject of someone approaching them.

I just think it makes for interesting food for thought. I don't know if it is something I would do for my kid, but I would probably give it some thought.

I guess the would get very small. Once it becomes a fad then we have hundreds of thousands of them flying around in NYC -- and every last one of them also represents a threat. Suppose the Mayor, Governor or President is visiting. Do you expect the Secret Service to allow a few thousands drones fly around?

Then when the kid goes into school, where does the drone go? Does the school have "drone racks" like the old bike racks? Does the drone go into school? What;s to stop a bunch of kids from launching them in school as a prank.

While I understand a security thing, it seems that it becomes intractable in its complexity especially as it becomes a popular thing (assuming it did become fashionable.)

One positive about drones is that they provide incredible points of view never seen before. Here a utility worker in South Dakota changes a bulb in an t.v. tower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1BgzIZRfT8

http://tinyurl.com/ocrjmka

How soon before DDDs come on the market - Drone Destroyer Drones?

tjohn said:

How soon before DDDs come on the market - Drone Destroyer Drones?

War of the drones?

Did someone say Triple D's?

when I first saw this video I couldn't for the life of me figure out it was filmed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZB_rGFyeU

DottyParker said:

tjohn said:

How soon before DDDs come on the market - Drone Destroyer Drones?

War of the drones?

I'll bet a 10 gauge goose gun would work well against drones.

That is literally incredible. I'd never seen that before. Thanks!

Whoa!

-s.

BTW: "10 gauge goose gun": Say it 5 times fast...

USA Today: Small Drone Found on White House Grounds
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/26/obama-white-house-device-josh-earnest/22338781/

I also recently saw video taken by a drone as it was being shot down (over private wooded property in Pennsylvania, -they like their hunting rifles there).

DottyParker said:

USA Today: Small Drone Found on White House Grounds
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/26/obama-white-house-device-josh-earnest/22338781/

It certainly proves a point. These things have become very common, cheaper and more sophisticated. I imagine the Secret Service has to rethink their security methods to take into account small, fairly quiet remote controlled aerial vehicles which can carry small payloads and transmit video and audio.

I'm sure it's technologically possible to remote control these small drones via a cell phone data connection, so the need to be close to the drone diminishes. The question is how traceable something like that would be.

I would totally sign up for Top Drone school... fly around and shoot down other drones? Awesome.