In a field in Halifax, James Peverill and Adam Woodworth have been test-flying a new kind of aircraft. Its flight plan is set by a smartphone or laptop, using a map on the screen. It can fly for 45 minutes, while taking still photos or video of the ground below. The FocalPlane weighs about a pound, and could cost as little as $250.
Peverill and Woodworth’s start-up, Rotary Robotics, is just one of several local groups working to demilitarize drone aircraft. While the armed forces have deployed unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya that cost millions and are sometimes armed with Hellfire missiles, this new fleet will be small, cheap, and geared to tasks like evaluating farm crops, finding missing children, or inspecting bridges.
Comments
As a pilot, I am amazed that the media coverage on this issue centers on privacy concerns. While important, this is a small concern compared to the issue of FLYING LARGE THINGS IN THE SAME SKY AS AIRPLANES FULL OF PEOPLE. Until we figure out how to safely fly unmanned aircraft in our airspace, a catastrophic midair collision is bound to happen.
Only a matter of time before Al Queada straps a bomb or a bio device to one of them... or 2,000 of them...
Thoughts of the social chaos these immature model airplane enthusiasts promise to loose on an American society are truly scarey. One industry that might benefit from the use of these UAVs by Bubba sheriff deputies and bored big city midnight shift police is the window shielding manufacturers. Imagine, romance brewing at 1 a.m. in a second floor bedroom when a tv camera-equipped UAV flits by the window . . . a small bedroom lamp may cast just enough light for the bored cop at the UAV monitor screen to think about the jollies . . . And what about the arrests when a UAV tv camera records dozens of digits raised at it during a Patriots' football game, spurring Foxborough police to spread through the crowd seeking out the offending fans. . . First Amendment - what's that? One can just bet that police chief and prosecutorial societies across the nation will try to beat the drums for unimpeded use of their camera-equipped surveillance UAVs . . There is no constitutional right to privacy, they will argue. . . everybody is subject to UAV surveillance by prosecutors and law enforcement . . . Now what about private investigators - will regular everyday folks be subject to PI-flown UAVs trailing them to see if they are being induscreet?
Guys, you are nervous nellies -- which is typical for future stuff. I don't think al Queda needs them for a bio device, and bombs would be too heavy.