Drones...why have a GoPro?

[rwsaunders]

Now you (or your wife) can have a drone track your ride as opposed to using a GoPro on your helmet or bike.

BBC News - CES 2015: Testing the latest drones

[Gordon]

Now you (or your wife) can have a drone track your ride as opposed to using a GoPro on your helmet or bike.

BBC News - CES 2015: Testing the latest drones

I for one am tired of hearing about "Drones." What is news worthy here? It's a "robot." It just happens to be a robot that flies .... Marketing/media have to latch on to something ... sigh.

[Gordon]

I for one am tired of hearing about "Drones." What is news worthy here? It's a "robot." It just happens to be a robot that flies .... Marketing/media have to latch on to something ... sigh.

That is if its autonomous. IF not, its just a "Radio controlled" helicopter ... RC hobbyists must be rejoicing that they might actually have shed the "nerd" image.

[zetroc]

I want to figure out how to link four drones to fly in formation, carrying a net between them. Search and destroy.

[Tom]

I read a lost and found ad in the local paper where somebody lost a quad copter with an attached GoPro flying it around outside. That's not cheap.

[rwsaunders]

Our local HS has an electronics club and participation tripled when the teacher/sponsor announced that they were purchasing four quad copters. Now they have their own YouTube channel and they've used the drones for projects ranging from following a preset course to viewing school district construction projects. Imagine Le Tour eliminating the distraction and expense of the helicopters and having Bob Roll manning a RoadID sponsored drone...

[Gordon]

I want to figure out how to link four drones to fly in formation, carrying a net between them. Search and destroy.

I'm sorry, this has already been figured out:

https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/research/swarms

[zetroc]

I'm sorry, this has already been figured out:

https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/research/swarms

Nice! Time to go reap the rewards. Used GoPros, anyone? Bulk discounts available.

[EricKeller]

I'm sorry, this has already been figured out:

https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/research/swarms

while their work is impressive, if you reverse engineer what they are doing, it's about as practical as a google car. There is still a large amount of human interaction/controlled environment/expensive ancillary equipment. The really practical stuff is still being done by a guy with an RC transmitter. And quadcopters have about a 15 minute flight time

[Mr B]

That is if its autonomous. IF not, its just a "Radio controlled" helicopter ... RC hobbyists must be rejoicing that they might actually have shed the "nerd" image.

This. Most are simply an RC Quadcopter equipped with a camera.
The people that talk incessantly about them may drone, but are also not drones.

Friday dose of drone-related schadenfreude:

[vertical_doug]

Those shots of Danny Macaskill riding The Ridge on the Isle of Skye were shot with a drone and camera. Instead of having a helicopter with expensive equipment, you can now get some great shots of people doing stupid stuff with a goPro and Drone. For a a little more than a $1000 dollars investment, you can outfit your budding film-maker for action sports.

[Mr B]

Those shots of Danny Macaskill riding The Ridge on the Isle of Skye were shot with a drone and camera by a very talented and highly experienced Director of Photography. Instead of having a helicopter with expensive equipment, skilled and committed creatives can now get some great shots of people doing stupid stuff with a goPro and Drone. For a little more than a $1000 dollars investment, you can outfit your budding film-maker (who still owes $150k on his art college loans) for action sports.

EFA

[monadnocky]

I for one am tired of hearing about "Drones." What is news worthy here? It's a "robot." It just happens to be a robot that flies .... Marketing/media have to latch on to something ... sigh.

I'm tired of this as well. When did a cheap Toys R' Us RC helicopter become a "drone"? So now anything that flies without a pilot and has some sort of motor is a "drone?" Far cry from how the word was intended, methinks.

[Bob Ross]

What is news worthy here? It's a "robot." It just happens to be a robot that flies.

Wait, I must be missing something: How is "a robot that flies" not newsworthy? It's not like we have any of the other perks they promised us on The Jetsons...lord knows a Roomba is hardly the same as Rosie The Maid, we don't have flying cars* or personal helicopters or Star Trek transporters/tractorbeams/androids/alien soirees ..."a robot that flies" is infinitely closer to the awesome cool shit that was being predicted for the 21st Century ~50 years ago than any of the actual cool shit we do have that they didn't predict: Internet? SmartPhones? 11-speed electronic shifting? Meh...

I love the idea of drones because it's the fulfillment of a sci-fi promise from an age seemingly long gone.




*what was Bill Maher's recent line? Something about "It's 2015, for comparison, the movie Bladerunner took place in 2017...which means we have two years to get flying cars and robots who fuck us."