Droning

we partnered with the Wesiman Institute in Israel during the 80's. They developed several "UAV's" that we used for overhead aerial exploration and tracing for environmental research. They were using newly developed "model airplanes fit with remote control apparatus'. As the electronics got smaller and asmaller, these things could fit a lot of technology in very snall spaces.
The stuff that the military uses now like Global HAwk or the Predators are huge sumbitches with more technology in one wing than the entire Apollo Space program ever had.

I forgot, we called ours 'worker bees" insted of drones

The pictured drone is the cheap one, at $300. All it is outfitted to do is take high resolution pictures. But if one is truly clever, I bet other things could be added. Not that I have thought it through. Not sure what to add.

You can make your own, with anything that comes to hand.

Look at the fun the kitty's having.

Installing an integrated thermal imaging camera, drones can easily be suited for search and rescue missions and possibly play an integral role in law enforcement agencies. Micro UAV's might as well be an effective way for environmental activists and biologists to easily track down wild life under suspicion of imminent danger by human sources. It'd be cheaper than using helicopters.
And I'm quite sure that on a Law enforcement (civilian model/ micro UAV) quadrotor drone, it is possible to mount a very light pistol. But I doubt such feature will increase the effectiveness of the drone unless considerable amount of automation programs is implemented into the technology to automatically calculate and predict trajectory instantaneously in flight. But besides that, the legality of that matter would be in question.
On that train of thought, I am seriously considering the effectiveness of a paint ball gun mounted on a sizeable quadrotor drones with a camera. This can definitely add another layer of tactical role at a sporting level.

The technology for these things gets better every day. Given what's possible with simple home materials and low costs, I can only imagine what the military already has available to it.

This guy suggests using these things a remote cameras for filming unique locations in sporting events (like Mountain Biking and Skiing).

Just look at the range on these things...

I think that ultimately the true impact of these devices will be realized not in increasing the size, but in decreasing the size and cost and increasing the number of them.



If they get the size of these things down to the size of a dragonfly and get the costs down to a few dollars per unit, I can easily imagine computer controlled swarms of these things being used for a myriad of functions not the least of which would be military.

Swarm flight demonstration

DARPA Cyborg Beetles


If they can control a beetle like this then it's only a matter of time before they can control a fly or a mosquito. Why reinvent the wheel and build microtechnology when you can just take over an insect. Insects also know how to refuel themselves when they are not being compelled to do something else.

All this doesn't bode well for the freedom of insects, but I doubt that's going to stop anyone from developing the technology.

Such as nefarious "hobbyiest/ stalkers" who will gut cell phones and camera (or even solder a lightweight cam) and use a monitoring script they can download off the internet (without having much coding experience) and instead of using a typical RC controller they can use their phone and a GPS software to fly this thing out of range of a standard RF controller and as long as the batteries keep up (which could probably be hours) fly this thing anywhere and take close up photos of people in their backyards five to ten miles from their home.

I don't doubt that will happen even for a minute. That type of activity will simply become a reality of the future that people will have to deal with.

I wouldn't be surprised if nano technology of this type becomes the dominant cultural footprint of the next hundred years. But as worrisome as that sounds to us right now, I think humanity will adapt to it just as smoothly as we have already adapted to computers and to the Internet.

I was just being sarcastic. I can't wait to get my hands on a few drones myself (not for nefarious purposes or anything, if that came out wrong ).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/drone-hunting-deer-trail-colorado_n_3611806.html
Drone Hunting In Deer Trail, Colorado? Town Considers Bounty For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

I live near the Montgomery County line, in Harris County. Montgomery County uses drone patrols as policy. I was told yesterday that it recently revealed some acreage under cultivation for pot. So far I don't know of other achievements. But it was news to me. I will look for other information later on.

Time for a soundtrack . . .

Birds attack and crash drone -

I used to fly drones years ago, or to be more accurate:- radio control model planes. This is my 42" wingspan Cessna, I never put a small spy camera in it but i could have..

I can't stand drones, every last one (better get used to them) for myriad reasons, and don't even want to read this thread (who, me? thread fear?) but I will admit there may be some good uses as tools. Good - that's the word that is the question. But even for "good use" I am strongly against them.

Much less amazon sending books fast.