FLYING ROBOTS WORKSHOP

What we'll cover

History

• 1849 Austrians attack Venice using bombs carried by balloon

• 1889 Arthur Batut first kite photographer

• 1916 First pilotless aircraft in WWI

• 1918 Cher Ami saves 194 british soldiers
  

now she's in a museum...

• 1935 British develop "Queen  Bee" Aerial Target.  First use of the term "Drone"

• Also, Marilyn Monroe

• 2002 US Military starts using weaponized Predator drones

NOW

• These guys can have drones!

Current legal landscape 

“Lawsuits and public apprehension over new technology is nothing new. The drone might well be considered a new version of the Kodak Brownie, which in 1884 caused no end of concern when it allowed anyone to take photographs in public places rather than in the seclusion of the studio.” —Mickey Osterreicher, photojournalist and General Counsel for National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

Current guidelines

• Congress wants the FAA to have a system in place by 2015
• Their current guidelines :
• Stay under 400 feet
• Fly within line of sight if  you're a hobbyist
• Without a license, non-commercial work only
•  Do not fly within 3 miles of an airport   
• Stated 10k fine for breaking any of these guidelines 

But...

• Amateur drone videographer Raphael Pirker fined $10k for below video and successfully fought back 
  

• Law vs.  ethics
• Rules are more lax in Britain, & nonexistent in some other countries such as India   

Consumer Drones 

AR Parrot 2.0: $249

DIY Drones

DJI Phantom: $499 - $1,200

Professional Multi-rotor UAVs

Solar Eagle: $89 Million

Programming AR Drones  

In a text file...

var arDrone = require('ar-drone');
var client = arDrone.createClient();
client.takeoff();
client
    .after(5000, function() {
        this.stop();
        this.land();
    });

Get crazy...

nodecopter.com/hack

Drone Journalism

"I think it'll be in most freelance videographers kits in the next few months." —Tom Hannen, resident drone journalist at the BBC 

"The NYT,  AP, Tribune Corporation, McClatchy, Hearst, Washington Post, and a host of other media companies formally suggested Tuesday that the use of drones to collect news should be a fully protected first amendment right." —recent Vice blog post on drone journalism

Challenges

Advantages 

Drone dances, etc

Dancing with drones:

Drones that play catch & carry water: