1. The Spotify ‘PartyDrone’
Everyone loves music festivals. Seeing your favorite artists live, being surrounded by people who share your affection, pretty much everything about the experience is awesome, except for one thing. The part with the waiting n line and getting to the stage is always annoying and boring. Enter the Spotify ‘PartyDrone’. When festivalgoers buy their tickets, they also add their favorite song to the festival playlist. To their surprise, when they enter the area of the festival, the ‘PartyDrone’ floats above them with its 450 Watts worth of speaker power, playing their favorite song. Honestly, we wish there would be programmed drones playing our favorite music not only on all music festivals, but pretty much everywhere we went. Now if only there was an app for that..
2. This Beautiful Floating Light Timelapse.
Using a single LED- equipped drone and a special timelapse compilation technique, filmmaker Richie Johnson created this mesmerizing music video for Marconi Union’s song “Weightless”. The video uses layers of the same drone’s movements on top of one another in order to make it seem like there is a whole flotilla of drones drawing out patterns of light in the air. Even if the song is not to your liking, the video is worth the watch just for the sake of the beautiful visuals. The combination of nature with the beautiful paths formed by the drones and their reflection in the water is simply stunning.
3.Drone Racing Star Wars Style
Akin to the hoverboard from Back to the Future, Star Wars have been an object of desire for fans since the day we first saw them in action during The Phantom Menace, so it should come as no surprise that this video of drones racing through the forest got us feeling all warm and fuzzy inside as soon as we saw it. While drones racing through the forest is hardly a speeder bike race, the similarities are so many, that as soon as someone sees the video, they instantly remember Anakin speeding through the desert in hopes of winning the race. Here’s hoping that drone racing becomes a real sport!
4. Stunning Killer Whale Footage
A tiny drone equipped with a camera has caught killer whale footage unlike any we’ve seen before. The Drone flew over the whale population off the coast of Canada and captured images which were not only beautiful to behold, but also hold significant scientific value. The footage allowed scientists to see which whales were well-fed and which were sick. Infact, it was so detailed that some killer whales could be identified by their scars. A special drone called Mobby was used for the purpose. Mobby is a hexacopter which produces an unprecedented 38 decibels of noise, which is less that a refrigerator hum. Because of this, the scientists were able to get so close to the whales and capture the stunning video we see today. We know this doesn’t quite count as a creative use, siцne it has practical implications, however feel its sheer beauty qualifies it for this post.
A tiny drone equipped with a camera has caught killer whale footage unlike any we’ve seen before. The Drone flew over the whale population off the coast of Canada and captured images which were not only beautiful to behold, but also hold significant scientific value. The footage allowed scientists to see which whales were well-fed and which were sick. Infact, it was so detailed that some killer whales could be identified by their scars. A special drone called Mobby was used for the purpose. Mobby is a hexacopter which produces an unprecedented 38 decibels of noise, which is less that a refrigerator hum. Because of this, the scientists were able to get so close to the whales and capture the stunning video we see today. We know this doesn’t quite count as a creative use, siцne it has practical implications, however feel its sheer beauty qualifies it for this post.
5.The Longest Distance Selfie Ever
Say goodbye to the selfie and say hello to the “Dronie”. We knew this was coming and it was just a matter of who would do it first. Matt Benedetto used his drone to capture a video selfie, during which the drone goes farther and farther away from him, continuously revealing the beauty of the location he was taking the selfie in. The potential for this kind of selfie is huge, and it goes way beyond showing the world just how much you enjoy taking pictures of yourself. The dronie allows a person to reveal details and give much more information about what he is doing, than a simple picture of his face. Honestly, Mr. Benedetto’s selfie looks more like a work of art than a social network post.
NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral
Mosquito control can be very expensive, requiring the use of aircraft in order to spread anti-mostquito pellets and spray. To deal with this The Lee County, Florida Mosquito Control is testing the use of drones. They have so far developed a drone which locates bodies of water and drops mosquito-killing pellets in them and one which flies and simultaneously sprays anti-mosquito spray. The use of drones in such cases could potentially reduce the costs of mosquito-control significantly. Now all we need is for the FAA to approve of such cases.
As a celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Hearst Tower, architect Norman Foster has used a drone to provide viewers with a virtual tour of the building. The tour shows all of the important aspects of the Hearst Tower along with some which are not readily visible from a human point of view. The tour is definitely worth the watch even if just to understand the philosophy behind the design of this amazing building.
Leave it to silicon valley to turn an elitist industry on its head. At Silicon Valley Fashion Week this month, drones were used to showcase clothes instead of living models. While it’s kind of hard to picture how a dress will look just by looking at it on what is basically flying clothes hanger, the valley deserves some points for creativity.
The city of Cape Town, South Africa recently conducted tests of drones equipped with infrared cameras to track suspects fleeing the scene of a crime. The test was deemed a success and in the future we might see widespread drone use in crime fighting. The city administration also intends to use drones in other operations such as fire rescue and disaster relief.
We’ve already seen drone racing and drone arena fights.. Now it’s time we met the new contender for innovative hobby – drone dog-fights. Drone enthusiast and designer Andy Shen collaborated to with rival Ryan Gury to create the first-ever Nerf-disc shooting drone. The advantages of Nerf discs are that they are relatively safe and yet able to fly far and in a straight direction, similarly to a bullet. Right now the project is far from complete, but in the future we can imagine FPV drones armed with Nerf discs flying through elaborate obstacle courses and shooting each other as a widespread hobby or sport. As the creators said, fighter drones open up a whole new type of possibilities for entertainment. Fighting for entertainment was never really possible with race cars or race airplanes, or any other vehicle for that matter, but remote-controlled fighter drones are a promising opportunity for the entertainment industry.
In this video we see drones being used to build an architectural structure according to 3D spatial instructions completely autonomously. ETH Zurich along with Gramazio Kohler Architects and roboticist Raffaello D’Andrea managed to assemble a six meter tall composed of bricks solely using drones. The bricks used were made of polystyrene in order to be light enough for the drones to carry, however the fact that they managed to build a “differentiated structure made out of 1,500 elements” is nevertheless awe-inspiring. So far people only see drones in construction for inspection purposed, but it’s evident that the applications are much greater. Drones can fly to great altitudes and approach things at angles from which humans never could, allowing us to build much more elaborate structures. Moreover, drones don’t need 3D instructions translated into 2D form, they can simply follow them and do it with much greater precision than a human ever could. Let’s not even get started on the safety advantages of using drone in construction work.
And the cutest drone application of the year award goes to… The Koala Tracking Drone used by Queensland researchers. The rig is very simple, drones equipped with infrared heat-tracking cameras fly over the treetops and spot the koalas in the trees based on their distinct heat-signature. Computer software distinguishes koalas from other animals that might be in the trees. This new drone application allows a significant reduction of manpower and also enables monitoring of koala populations in hard-to-access areas. The reason koala monitoring is so important is because their populations have been steadily declining lately and researchers need to have information in order to best manage the species’ survival. And why is that important? Well, because koalas are furry little balls of cuteness, obviously.
Meet the Splash Drone. In short, it’s a waterproof quadcopter which can take off from water and lets you take pictures of your sick surfing sessions. The drone features a payload dropping function, allowing it to make small deliveries, as well as a flare in case you ever get stuck at sea. Unless you are a pro-surfer you probably don’t have a dedicated camera operator, which is why the Splash features a “follow me” function as well as the ability to map out a specific flight path. We already have tracking drones for snowboarders and surfers, now let’s just wait and see the sick extreme sports movies!
Marum is a 7.5 mile wide crater of an active volcano located in Vanuatu. The last time we saw some footage of it was when a man almost dived into it. Now we have an even better view of what goes inside the earth’s core, because of a drone mission. Footage like this is normally impossible to obtain, because poisonous gases, acidic raid and heat prevent scientists from getting close to the crater and manned aerial vehicles such as helicopters can’t risk flying directly over the crater. That’s what makes the footage we see today so unique. Even the drones, however, couldn’t survive and in the end gave in under the heat and acid rain above the crater, however they managed to produce some great footage first. Here’s to drones advancing our knowledge of the world!
A while back we saw the Millenium Falcon drone. Now thanks to the same enthusiast, the empire will get to strike back with a TIE interceptor drone. The result is again spectacular and gets the nerd inside me truly excited. In case you want to build your own, the french creator known as Oliver-FR has detailed how he made it, taking him just 15 hours. In the meantime, we have another idea. A bunch of these Star Wars-themed drones should be built and strapped with laser tag sensors. Then we could have the ultimate galactic battle, putting to shame all the war and medieval renaissance fair reenactments with something far more epic.
A Collaboration between PUC University Rio de Janeiro, Pix4d and drone company Aeryon produced a 3D reconstruction of the famous Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio. Drones flew and produced over 2,000 images during 19 flights in order to produce a truly accurate 3D representation of the Statue. The Model will be used for preservation purposes. In case the original gets damaged, the 3D map will always present an accurate view of the Statue so it can be repaired.
Austrialian scientists from Melbourne’s RMIT University have a created the world’s first ‘talking drone’. They claim the drone is capable of communicating with air traffic control just like a normal pilot would. The drone uses standard International Civil Aviation Organisation vocabulary. The purpose of the project si to allow air traffic to take over a drone’s controls in case it loses contact with its pilot. The next step in the project is to improve the drone’s autonomous decision making abilities and artificial intelligence. We at Flyver are all for the improvement of drone safety systems, because safer drone means legislation which will give us more freedom to use our UAVs.
Imagine you’re sitting in your boat on the lake, casually throwing the fishing rod around, waiting for a fish to take the bait and then suddenly you hear a sound akin to a swarm of bees in close proximity. No, it’s not the revenge of mother nature finally starting, its=’s probably your neighbour using a drone to fish. David Darg from Ryot News attached a string with a hook and bait at the end to a DJI Phantom and then flew it over a lake, until he caught a fish. As we see, the system works quite effectively, but it kind of does away with the idea of fishing being a calm and relaxing hobby.
Keeping with the trend of replicating Star Wars vehicles with drones, Youtube user ajw61185 created a replic of an imperial speeder bike using a drone and an old toy he had lying around. The results as always lead to nerdgasms. Maybe this is the new cosplay?
Project Air Shepherd represents the best of humanity when it comes to using drones. Rhino and elephant poaching in Africa is a huge issue. In fact, at the current rate of poaching, they are projected to go extinct within the next 10 years. So what’s the solution? The Lindbergh Foundation developed project Air Shepherd, a system that uses drones with infrared cameras to track the movement of elephants and rhinos. This information is then sent ot the U.S. where sophisticated software predicts the movement of the animals and keeps the drone on top of them. When poachers are detected, local rangers are notified so they can save the day. During the 600 tests done so far, zero poaching has occurred.
With all the human advances in science, we’re not too far ahead in detecting methane leaks. This process is usually performed by people patrolling the ground and manually looking for leaks. Thanks to Dick Zhang and Identified Technologies that might soon not be the case. The company is developing drones which will monitor oil and gas sites. With autonomous drones flying around these territories and gathering large volumes of data, we may finally have sufficient information to know the true amount of leaks and their effect on the environment.
Overbearing dads around the world rejoice! The world has taken another step forward in letting you have complete control over your daughter’s life and it includes drones. A man named Chris Early from Knoxville, Tennessee decided to use his drone to follow his daughter all the way to school, making sure no harm or ill-meaning boys come to her. Of course, this was all done within the realm of humour and Mr. Early stated that he doesn’t intend to do this on a regular basis, however we must commend his creativity.
Imagine you’re sitting in your boat on the lake, casually throwing the fishing rod around, waiting for a fish to take the bait and then suddenly you hear a sound akin to a swarm of bees in close proximity. No, it’s not the revenge of mother nature finally starting, its=’s probably your neighbour using a drone to fish. David Darg from Ryot News attached a string with a hook and bait at the end to a DJI Phantom and then flew it over a lake, until he caught a fish. As we see, the system works quite effectively, but it kind of does away with the idea of fishing being a calm and relaxing hobby.
Keeping with the trend of replicating Star Wars vehicles with drones, Youtube user ajw61185 created a replic of an imperial speeder bike using a drone and an old toy he had lying around. The results as always lead to nerdgasms. Maybe this is the new cosplay?
Project Air Shepherd represents the best of humanity when it comes to using drones. Rhino and elephant poaching in Africa is a huge issue. In fact, at the current rate of poaching, they are projected to go extinct within the next 10 years. So what’s the solution? The Lindbergh Foundation developed project Air Shepherd, a system that uses drones with infrared cameras to track the movement of elephants and rhinos. This information is then sent ot the U.S. where sophisticated software predicts the movement of the animals and keeps the drone on top of them. When poachers are detected, local rangers are notified so they can save the day. During the 600 tests done so far, zero poaching has occurred.
With all the human advances in science, we’re not too far ahead in detecting methane leaks. This process is usually performed by people patrolling the ground and manually looking for leaks. Thanks to Dick Zhang and Identified Technologies that might soon not be the case. The company is developing drones which will monitor oil and gas sites. With autonomous drones flying around these territories and gathering large volumes of data, we may finally have sufficient information to know the true amount of leaks and their effect on the environment.
The Nepal Earthquake was a disaster of magnitude which hasn’t been seen in a while. The rescue and relief workers are scrambling to get supplies and medical aid to everyone because roads have been blocked and many locations are hard to scout for survivors. The organisation GlobalMedic is tasked with solving this problem using its fleet of drones. The main task of GlobalMedic is to create a detailed map of disaster affected areas. Its drones are also equipped with thermal imaging cameras which can detect survivors trapped amongst the rubble.
Artist Katsu used a drone to paint graffiti over a billboard with Kendall Jenner’s face. There are two ways to look at this story and both are equally exciting. The first is as an act of vandalism. Drones allow graffiti artists to reach spots which they otherwise couldn’t. They also allow them to create graffiti from a distance. The end result is graffiti in unusual and hard to reach/clean places and creators who largely remain untraceable. This could eventually lead to people remotely defacing notable landmarks in order to voice their opinion. The second viewpoint is that of the potential for art here. We already have 3D printers. You give them a shape and they produce it. Now imagine if you could give a sketch to a drone and it would graffiti it autonomously on a wall. This could make decorating building so much easier, cheaper and more precise.
This one is nothing but pure awesome. Anyone remember the 2D view from above of GTA 2? It gave the game a much less realistic and serious feel. Thanks to a group of old-school GTA fans we now have this video of GTA 2 in real life. How did they do it? A drone and a very skilled pilot.
Florida’s avocado plants are in danger. A disease called laurel could rapidly destroy most of their population. A combination of its fast spreading and difficulties in detecting it before it’s too late make it a real threat. Thankfully, farmers have come up with a decision using drones and dogs. Drones armed with thermal cameras can detect areas where trees are stressed by the onset of laurel. Dogs are then sent in to more precisely tell which trees are infected with the disease. If you’re a fan of Guacamole (and who isn’t ) you can rejoice, knowing that drones are out there protecting your favorite dip.
Top 5 Practical Drone Application of the Week, January 28th 2015
1. Drones for Newsgathering in Mainstream Media
Drone Journalism has been around for a while. In fact, there is a whole organisation dedicated to it. It’s never been picked up by mainstream media until now. A new initiative by the New York Times, the Washington post and 8 other prominent publications will experiment with the use of small UAVs for newsgathering. The advantages of drones as newsgathering tools in certain situations, because they provide journalists with a safe way to gather important footage and information or give them incognito access to normally inaccessible areas.
source: TheDrum
2. Drones Against Mosquitoes
Mosquito control can be very expensive, requiring the use of aircraft in order to spread anti-mostquito pellets and spray. To deal with this The Lee County, Florida Mosquito Control is testing the use of drones. They have so far developed a drone which locates bodies of water and drops mosquito-killing pellets in them and one which flies and simultaneously sprays anti-mosquito spray. The use of drones in such cases could potentially reduce the costs of mosquito-control significantly. Now all we need is for the FAA to approve of such cases.
Source: NBC 2
3. A Solar-powered Drone
Not much is known about the drone as Women of China’s article does not go into much detail, however we do know that several students from Nanchang Hankong University have created a solar-powered drone. We personally are quite curious how much energy the drone can really gather from the sun and whether or not it will be enough to increase its battery life in a significant way.
Source: Women of China
4. Drones as Farm Dogs
With the recent development in UAVs, New Zealand’s farm dogs may soon be made redundant. The country has been hard at work developing drones which could perform the dogs’ job, including herding livestock and barking when necessary. While sheep being led by a flying quad does sound a bit dystopian, it could mean substantial savings for farmers and a much easier lifestyle for farm dogs!
Source: TVNZ
5. A Drone Tour of the Hearst Tower
As a celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the Hearst Tower, architect Norman Foster has used a drone to provide viewers with a virtual tour of the building. The tour shows all of the important aspects of the Hearst Tower along with some which are not readily visible from a human point of view. The tour is definitely worth the watch even if just to understand the philosophy behind the design of this amazing building.
5 Most Interesting Drone Applications, May 2015
1. Runway Fashion Models
Leave it to silicon valley to turn an elitist industry on its head. At Silicon Valley Fashion Week this month, drones were used to showcase clothes instead of living models. While it’s kind of hard to picture how a dress will look just by looking at it on what is basically flying clothes hanger, the valley deserves some points for creativity.
Source: Mashable
2. Crime Fighting
The city of Cape Town, South Africa recently conducted tests of drones equipped with infrared cameras to track suspects fleeing the scene of a crime. The test was deemed a success and in the future we might see widespread drone use in crime fighting. The city administration also intends to use drones in other operations such as fire rescue and disaster relief.
Source: BusinessTech
3. 3D Mapping Cities
The Singaporean Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has been using drones to create 3D maps of heritage sites for some time now. The project has been quite successful and they are thinking of moving to the next step, mapping out certain areas of cities to monitor how they develop in the future, thus allowing them to better plan how citizens will experience Singapore.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
4. Combining a Quadcopter and a Tank
While a quadcopter’s ability to fly makes it perfect for viewing almost anything, there are some places where flying is simply not an option. Enter Witek Mielniczek, a UK-based product designer and his B-Unstoppable. A remote controlled device which combines a quadcopter with tank-like treads to make for a supreme all-terrain vehicle. If you’re interested in acquiring one of your own, Mielniczek’s project is currently being funded on Kickstarter.
Source: Gizmag
5. Showing Real Estate Property
The Boston Herald published an article detailing how real estate agents in the state of Massachusetts are using drones to show properties. It’s nice to see a traditional industry such as real estate being abreast with the times and seeing the value in new technology such as drones.
5 Unconventional Drone Applications
1. Shep, the Sheep Herding Drone
What are the requirements for a shepherd dog? Large, loud, threatening, can direct sheep. If that’s the case, why not use a drone and cut costs significantly. That’s probably the reasoning behind sheep farmer Paul Brennan’s new project, Shep the Drone. Paul figured out that the loud whirring noises of a quadcopter would be enough to make a herd of sheep flee in the direction he wants them to, so using his own personal drone he made the wonderfully funny video you see above. Right now the drone requires a pilot to perform its task, which isn;t really practical, but in the future drones could have apps that let them herd sheep autonomously, instead of dogs.
Source: VentureBeat
2. A Drone that Moves like a Butterfly
Around here we see a lot of drones that are mean to help preserve nature, but not a lot that are meant to replicate it. German robotics company Festo designed a drone which flies like a real butterfly and is not much bigger in size. The drone weighs a mere 32 grams and uses flapping wings to stay above ground. Because it is so tiny, navigation and processing are outsourced and the tiny robotic butterflies are being tracked by cameras all around the Festo lobby. The results are visually stunning. If one doesn’t look carefully, he might think he’s looking at real butterflies.
Source: UPI
3. Looking for Stray Dogs
Tracking stray dogs has proven a very difficult task for county administrations all around the world. The fact of the matter is that dogs simply move around and often time sleep in places which are inaccessible to humans. A new project by the World Animal Awareness Society aims to solve that problem in Houston using drones and a mobile app. Users will be able to personally tag locations where they see dogs and in the meantime, DJI Inpsire 1’s will be flying around Houston looking for strays that might otherwise have been missed by the volunteers. That’s the good part. The bad part is that the intention is to turn this into a reality show about the pilots and the process of looking for dogs. While this will drive awareness to some extent, it is also exploitation of the dogs for the purpose of getting viewership. A documentary format would be much more suitable if one truly wanted to drive compassion for the homeless pups.
Source: PopSci
4. The Star Destroyer Drone
Youtube user Olivier C deserves an award for realising the dreams of nerds all over the world. This time he comes to us with a flying replica of a Star Destroyer. Previously we’ve seen his Millenium Falcon and his Tie interceptor and every time the feeling is the same – pure bliss. Now he just needs to add some laser shooting capabilities to those copters and a new hobby for people all around the world will come to life.
Source: Mashable
5. Saving People from Drowning
Lifeguards, start getting yourselves re-qualified because drones might soon take you out of work. A project being developed on the beaches in Chile is working on creating a drone that will get to drowning victims within thirty seconds and drop a lifesaver. In comparison to the average lifeguard response time of 2 to 3 minutes, the drone could lead to many more lives being saved. Of course, dropping a lifesaver is not the ultimate solution to saving a drowning person, which is why the drone also includes a set of speakers to provide instructions and reassurance until a real lifeguard makes it to the person.
1.The World’s First Drone Dogfight
We’ve already seen drone racing and drone arena fights.. Now it’s time we met the new contender for innovative hobby – drone dog-fights. Drone enthusiast and designer Andy Shen collaborated to with rival Ryan Gury to create the first-ever Nerf-disc shooting drone. The advantages of Nerf discs are that they are relatively safe and yet able to fly far and in a straight direction, similarly to a bullet. Right now the project is far from complete, but in the future we can imagine FPV drones armed with Nerf discs flying through elaborate obstacle courses and shooting each other as a widespread hobby or sport. As the creators said, fighter drones open up a whole new type of possibilities for entertainment. Fighting for entertainment was never really possible with race cars or race airplanes, or any other vehicle for that matter, but remote-controlled fighter drones are a promising opportunity for the entertainment industry.
Source: Motherboard
2. Drones Building Architectural Structures
In this video we see drones being used to build an architectural structure according to 3D spatial instructions completely autonomously. ETH Zurich along with Gramazio Kohler Architects and roboticist Raffaello D’Andrea managed to assemble a six meter tall composed of bricks solely using drones. The bricks used were made of polystyrene in order to be light enough for the drones to carry, however the fact that they managed to build a “differentiated structure made out of 1,500 elements” is nevertheless awe-inspiring. So far people only see drones in construction for inspection purposed, but it’s evident that the applications are much greater. Drones can fly to great altitudes and approach things at angles from which humans never could, allowing us to build much more elaborate structures. Moreover, drones don’t need 3D instructions translated into 2D form, they can simply follow them and do it with much greater precision than a human ever could. Let’s not even get started on the safety advantages of using drone in construction work.
Source: Dezeen
3. Brain-controlled Drone
A Lisbon-based company called Tekever has created a prototype for a brain-controlled drone. The technology works by adapting electroencephalography (EEG) to give commands to a drone in certain situations. In the video we see that the drone is controlled by concentrating on moving a point on a screen in certain directions and they mention that one does require specific training, however they are working to make it so that the drone will do what you really intend it to do. The company believes that this will one day allow commercial flights to be pilot-less. That seems a bit far-fetched, however the more immediate goal of allowing disabled people to fly drones and experience the world through them is a real possibility.
Source: BBC News
4. Tracking Koala Populations
And the cutest drone application of the year award goes to… The Koala Tracking Drone used by Queensland researchers. The rig is very simple, drones equipped with infrared heat-tracking cameras fly over the treetops and spot the koalas in the trees based on their distinct heat-signature. Computer software distinguishes koalas from other animals that might be in the trees. This new drone application allows a significant reduction of manpower and also enables monitoring of koala populations in hard-to-access areas. The reason koala monitoring is so important is because their populations have been steadily declining lately and researchers need to have information in order to best manage the species’ survival. And why is that important? Well, because koalas are furry little balls of cuteness, obviously.
Source: UASVision
5. Waterproof Tracking Drone
Meet the Splash Drone. In short, it’s a waterproof quadcopter which can take off from water and lets you take pictures of your sick surfing sessions. The drone features a payload dropping function, allowing it to make small deliveries, as well as a flare in case you ever get stuck at sea. Unless you are a pro-surfer you probably don’t have a dedicated camera operator, which is why the Splash features a “follow me” function as well as the ability to map out a specific flight path. We already have tracking drones for snowboarders and surfers, now let’s just wait and see the sick extreme sports movies!
1.Google’s Project Titan
In April of 2014 Google acquired drone company Titan Aerosystems. The company was working on an ultra-light solar-powered drone which will be able to sty in the air for prolonged periods of time. Google intends this device to provide internet to remote areas of the planet and areas without proper signal. This week we learned that the first test flights will be starting in a few months. While this is far from a finished product, it means Google is getting closer to delivering internet to the world. Project Titan is not Google’s only project with such a purpose, with project Loon being the far more developed one, but we’re sure the search giant has something special in mind for its drones!
Source: The Verge
2. Suicidal Drone Volcano Video
Marum is a 7.5 mile wide crater of an active volcano located in Vanuatu. The last time we saw some footage of it was when a man almost dived into it. Now we have an even better view of what goes inside the earth’s core, because of a drone mission. Footage like this is normally impossible to obtain, because poisonous gases, acidic raid and heat prevent scientists from getting close to the crater and manned aerial vehicles such as helicopters can’t risk flying directly over the crater. That’s what makes the footage we see today so unique. Even the drones, however, couldn’t survive and in the end gave in under the heat and acid rain above the crater, however they managed to produce some great footage first. Here’s to drones advancing our knowledge of the world!
Source: IFLScience
3. The TIE Interceptor Drone
A while back we saw the Millenium Falcon drone. Now thanks to the same enthusiast, the empire will get to strike back with a TIE interceptor drone. The result is again spectacular and gets the nerd inside me truly excited. In case you want to build your own, the french creator known as Oliver-FR has detailed how he made it, taking him just 15 hours. In the meantime, we have another idea. A bunch of these Star Wars-themed drones should be built and strapped with laser tag sensors. Then we could have the ultimate galactic battle, putting to shame all the war and medieval renaissance fair reenactments with something far more epic.
Source: The Next Web
4. 3D Map of Christ the Redeemer
A Collaboration between PUC University Rio de Janeiro, Pix4d and drone company Aeryon produced a 3D reconstruction of the famous Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio. Drones flew and produced over 2,000 images during 19 flights in order to produce a truly accurate 3D representation of the Statue. The Model will be used for preservation purposes. In case the original gets damaged, the 3D map will always present an accurate view of the Statue so it can be repaired.
Source: BBC
5.The World’s First Talking Drone
Austrialian scientists from Melbourne’s RMIT University have a created the world’s first ‘talking drone’. They claim the drone is capable of communicating with air traffic control just like a normal pilot would. The drone uses standard International Civil Aviation Organisation vocabulary. The purpose of the project si to allow air traffic to take over a drone’s controls in case it loses contact with its pilot. The next step in the project is to improve the drone’s autonomous decision making abilities and artificial intelligence. We at Flyver are all for the improvement of drone safety systems, because safer drone means legislation which will give us more freedom to use our UAVs.
Top 5 Drone Applications of the Week, March 24th
1. Fishing
Imagine you’re sitting in your boat on the lake, casually throwing the fishing rod around, waiting for a fish to take the bait and then suddenly you hear a sound akin to a swarm of bees in close proximity. No, it’s not the revenge of mother nature finally starting, its=’s probably your neighbour using a drone to fish. David Darg from Ryot News attached a string with a hook and bait at the end to a DJI Phantom and then flew it over a lake, until he caught a fish. As we see, the system works quite effectively, but it kind of does away with the idea of fishing being a calm and relaxing hobby.
Source: Youtube
2. An Imperial Speeder Bike Replica
Keeping with the trend of replicating Star Wars vehicles with drones, Youtube user ajw61185 created a replic of an imperial speeder bike using a drone and an old toy he had lying around. The results as always lead to nerdgasms. Maybe this is the new cosplay?
Source: Youtube
3. Protecting Elephants and Rhinos
Project Air Shepherd represents the best of humanity when it comes to using drones. Rhino and elephant poaching in Africa is a huge issue. In fact, at the current rate of poaching, they are projected to go extinct within the next 10 years. So what’s the solution? The Lindbergh Foundation developed project Air Shepherd, a system that uses drones with infrared cameras to track the movement of elephants and rhinos. This information is then sent ot the U.S. where sophisticated software predicts the movement of the animals and keeps the drone on top of them. When poachers are detected, local rangers are notified so they can save the day. During the 600 tests done so far, zero poaching has occurred.
Source: Upworthy
4. Attempting to Deliver Drugs to Prisoners
This is not a particularly positive use, but it’s flat out ridiculous, so we simply had to mention it. What flies, sounds like an angry beehive and has flashing lights on its body? That’s right, a quadcopter. When you tally these things up, the end result is a hard to miss machine. Apparently someone in Bedfordshire didn’t do the math and attempted to smuggle drugs, a phone and weapons inside Bedford Prison using a drone. The device crashed into a wall and got stuck in barbed wire, where it was noticed by the guards. The hope was probably that a prisoner would reach out through his cell and grab the delivery from the drone flying outside the window, but how could anyone not see a drone flying through the yard and standing a certain amount of time in front of someone’s window?
Source: RT
5. Monitor Methane from Fracking
With all the human advances in science, we’re not too far ahead in detecting methane leaks. This process is usually performed by people patrolling the ground and manually looking for leaks. Thanks to Dick Zhang and Identified Technologies that might soon not be the case. The company is developing drones which will monitor oil and gas sites. With autonomous drones flying around these territories and gathering large volumes of data, we may finally have sufficient information to know the true amount of leaks and their effect on the environment.
Top 5 Drone Apps of the Week, April 27th
1. Follow your Child to School
Overbearing dads around the world rejoice! The world has taken another step forward in letting you have complete control over your daughter’s life and it includes drones. A man named Chris Early from Knoxville, Tennessee decided to use his drone to follow his daughter all the way to school, making sure no harm or ill-meaning boys come to her. Of course, this was all done within the realm of humour and Mr. Early stated that he doesn’t intend to do this on a regular basis, however we must commend his creativity.
Source: KnowTechie
2. Tracking Dinosaur Steps
A team of researchers from the University of Queensland found a way to use the technology of the future to uncover the ancient past. Using a drone, the team is making footage which will later be processed into a 3D model of the steps that dinosaurs would take through the West Kimberley coats. The advantages of using this method instead of manually looking for dinosaur steps is that they are often hidden in uneven and jagged rock terrains which makes them hard to spot from the ground.
Source: Mashable
3. Mapping Ocean Trash
A Swiss team of scientists is using drones to map the presence and accumulation of trash in the world’s largest bodies of water – the oceans. The team is using a drone with a special lens, which shows the presence of plastic very clearly in recorded footage. The drone is deployed in uninhabited beaches all around the world to record the varying levels of pollution across the globe.
Source: Ecorazzi
4. Mail Delivery
It seems like mass drone delivery is finally going to become a reality this summer, however not at the hands of Amazon, but rather the Swiss Postal Service. In combination with the Matternet drone company, the Swiss Postal Service will start drone delivery trials in certain regions this summer. Should they be successful, two more stages of testing will be necessary before the service makes it to end-consumers. Initially the drones will deliver packages that weigh up to 1 kilogram, however with the advances in technology, bigger objects will also become a possibility.
Source: T3
5. Photography Lighting
As any photographer or camera operator can tell you, framing a shot so that none of the tons of equipment is in the frame can be quite limiting. One of the problem is that in order to position lights in certain positions, a lot of large and heavy equipment is necessary. Professional lighting company Falcon Eyes is aiming to solve that problem with the Falcon Fly. Basically, the Fly is a drone equipped with LED lights on it’s bottom side. This allows it to provide direct lighting from above without the need for elaborate structures. Currently ti’s only a project, but with enough interest, Falcon Eyes might just turn it into a reality
Top 5 Drone Applications of the Week, March 24th
1. Fishing
Imagine you’re sitting in your boat on the lake, casually throwing the fishing rod around, waiting for a fish to take the bait and then suddenly you hear a sound akin to a swarm of bees in close proximity. No, it’s not the revenge of mother nature finally starting, its=’s probably your neighbour using a drone to fish. David Darg from Ryot News attached a string with a hook and bait at the end to a DJI Phantom and then flew it over a lake, until he caught a fish. As we see, the system works quite effectively, but it kind of does away with the idea of fishing being a calm and relaxing hobby.
Source: Youtube
2. An Imperial Speeder Bike Replica
Keeping with the trend of replicating Star Wars vehicles with drones, Youtube user ajw61185 created a replic of an imperial speeder bike using a drone and an old toy he had lying around. The results as always lead to nerdgasms. Maybe this is the new cosplay?
Source: Youtube
3. Protecting Elephants and Rhinos
Project Air Shepherd represents the best of humanity when it comes to using drones. Rhino and elephant poaching in Africa is a huge issue. In fact, at the current rate of poaching, they are projected to go extinct within the next 10 years. So what’s the solution? The Lindbergh Foundation developed project Air Shepherd, a system that uses drones with infrared cameras to track the movement of elephants and rhinos. This information is then sent ot the U.S. where sophisticated software predicts the movement of the animals and keeps the drone on top of them. When poachers are detected, local rangers are notified so they can save the day. During the 600 tests done so far, zero poaching has occurred.
Source: Upworthy
4. Attempting to Deliver Drugs to Prisoners
This is not a particularly positive use, but it’s flat out ridiculous, so we simply had to mention it. What flies, sounds like an angry beehive and has flashing lights on its body? That’s right, a quadcopter. When you tally these things up, the end result is a hard to miss machine. Apparently someone in Bedfordshire didn’t do the math and attempted to smuggle drugs, a phone and weapons inside Bedford Prison using a drone. The device crashed into a wall and got stuck in barbed wire, where it was noticed by the guards. The hope was probably that a prisoner would reach out through his cell and grab the delivery from the drone flying outside the window, but how could anyone not see a drone flying through the yard and standing a certain amount of time in front of someone’s window?
Source: RT
5. Monitor Methane from Fracking
With all the human advances in science, we’re not too far ahead in detecting methane leaks. This process is usually performed by people patrolling the ground and manually looking for leaks. Thanks to Dick Zhang and Identified Technologies that might soon not be the case. The company is developing drones which will monitor oil and gas sites. With autonomous drones flying around these territories and gathering large volumes of data, we may finally have sufficient information to know the true amount of leaks and their effect on the environment.
5 Drone Applications that Inspire, Excite and Provoke Discussion
1. Aiding Nepal Earthquake Relief
The Nepal Earthquake was a disaster of magnitude which hasn’t been seen in a while. The rescue and relief workers are scrambling to get supplies and medical aid to everyone because roads have been blocked and many locations are hard to scout for survivors. The organisation GlobalMedic is tasked with solving this problem using its fleet of drones. The main task of GlobalMedic is to create a detailed map of disaster affected areas. Its drones are also equipped with thermal imaging cameras which can detect survivors trapped amongst the rubble.
Source: Fox News
2. Drone Graffiti
Artist Katsu used a drone to paint graffiti over a billboard with Kendall Jenner’s face. There are two ways to look at this story and both are equally exciting. The first is as an act of vandalism. Drones allow graffiti artists to reach spots which they otherwise couldn’t. They also allow them to create graffiti from a distance. The end result is graffiti in unusual and hard to reach/clean places and creators who largely remain untraceable. This could eventually lead to people remotely defacing notable landmarks in order to voice their opinion. The second viewpoint is that of the potential for art here. We already have 3D printers. You give them a shape and they produce it. Now imagine if you could give a sketch to a drone and it would graffiti it autonomously on a wall. This could make decorating building so much easier, cheaper and more precise.
Source: Core 77
3. GTA 2 in Real Life
This one is nothing but pure awesome. Anyone remember the 2D view from above of GTA 2? It gave the game a much less realistic and serious feel. Thanks to a group of old-school GTA fans we now have this video of GTA 2 in real life. How did they do it? A drone and a very skilled pilot.
Source: The Verge
4. Saving Florida’s Avocado
Florida’s avocado plants are in danger. A disease called laurel could rapidly destroy most of their population. A combination of its fast spreading and difficulties in detecting it before it’s too late make it a real threat. Thankfully, farmers have come up with a decision using drones and dogs. Drones armed with thermal cameras can detect areas where trees are stressed by the onset of laurel. Dogs are then sent in to more precisely tell which trees are infected with the disease. If you’re a fan of Guacamole (and who isn’t ) you can rejoice, knowing that drones are out there protecting your favorite dip.
Source: AP
5. Streaming Live to Youtube
Using its Lightbridge technology, DJI allows users of the Phantom 3 to stream 4K video directly to Youtube in real time. The possibilities here are endless and a bit horrifying. Paparazzi, please don’t exploit this. We want to keep having nice things!
