Drone Developers Consider Obstacles That Cannot Be Flown Around

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/technology/as-drone-technology-advances-practical-obstacles-remain.html

by evilsimon • 12 years ago

26 12 12 years ago

pan69• 12 years ago

What is the proposed usage for these drones if I may ask? I don't want to be a pessimist but if these drones are supposed to be transporting anything of value wouldn't that encourage shooting these things out of the sky?

ejr2• 12 years ago

Delivery, monitoring, search and rescue, emergency radio relay etc... the possibilities are many and expanding.

RE Shoot downs : Retrieval becomes difficult if the product is fragile as well. I imagine these devices will contain some sort of distress beacon and/or continuous transmission of its coordinates to a base station.

400 Feet (approx. 122 meters) is the current altitude limit in the US, I think. Birdshot is inaccurate at that distance and it's quite a height to try and shoot at relatively fast drone with a rifle. This is in addition to the fact firing recklessly into the air carries hefty penalties alone.

Sephr• 12 years ago

Untrained thiefs can shoot down drones with smart rifles that have aim assist/lock on features. The only problem is that they are very expensive, so if a thief could afford one they probably wouldn't need to shoot down drones to steal packages in the first place (that is, unless they stole the rifle as well).

TheCoreh• 12 years ago

Considering these drones have GPS and Celular connectivity built-in, shooting them down would not be a very good idea, since the owners would quickly take notice. The built-in video camera can also be used to record and transmit images of the robber.

I can see this being used for items with value high enough to justify the drone delivery costs (say, > $20) but not too high to the point where having a drone deliver it would be too risky.

The exact values are certainly being worked out by actuarial scientists. There will be some sort of insurance involved, inside the delivery cost.

Even if the urban delivery application doesn't materialize in the near future, I see this being very useful in a rural setting. Or to deliver emergency supplies to hard to reach locations.

thewarrior• 12 years ago

What if mischief makers start shooting them down just for the thrills ? Since drones are unmanned there is no equivalent situation we can compare it to.

DanBC• 12 years ago

I can see this being used for items with value high enough to justify the drone delivery costs (say, > $20) but not too high to the point where having a drone deliver it would be too risky.

Like pizza?

Pizza delivery drivers are regularly robbed, not for any cash they may be carrying but for the pizza.

lotsofmangos• 12 years ago

"Drone technology has not been thoroughly tested in populated areas" - Except by tens of thousands of hobbyists over many decades, with apparently nobody in the press really noticing until recently when cameras got added to the RC loop, which surely makes it less risky as it is much easier to fly, so I am sure it can't be that bad.

"and commercial use of drones is not allowed in the United States." - Although the only legal ruling so far for the first person taken to court by the FAA says that commercial drones are completely legal and that the FAA is talking crap. FAA has asked for an appeal and the NTSB has kicked it into the long grass since March. - http://blogs.findlaw.com/decided/2014/03/faas-commercial-dro...

This is really shitty journalism.

Retric• 12 years ago

I have read a few cases of drones killing people so it's not exactly unnoticed. The difference is their calling it a model aircraft or Toy vs drone.

EX: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-177139/Teenager-kill...

http://nypost.com/2013/09/05/man-decapitated-by-remote-contr...

Drone Developers Consider Obstacles That Cannot Be Flown Around

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