FLYING ROBOTS WORKSHOP


Fletcher Bach   |   @fletcherbach
Kristina Budelis   |   @kbudelis



What we'll cover

  • Intros   
  • History
  • Current social and legal landscape surrounding drones 
  • Flying AR drones
  • How to program AR Drones with node.js, a javascript library
  • Drone journalism & videography
  • Guest speaker: Ben Kreimer 
  • Drone dances, etc

Defining "drones" 

  • Pilotless, remotely controlled, autonomous craft.
    • Can be submarines
  • Alternate terms: 
    • UAV/UAS, flying robots, flying networked robots
  • Military vs. Civilian  
  • Kinds of drones
    •   Multirotor vs. fixed-wing

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


    Let's get flying! 


    • Flying AR drones with cellphones
      • Download AR Drone / AR Free Flight app
      • Connect to drone's wifi network 

    Programming AR Drones  

    • Example: drone booth , a drone selfie station we made
      • dronebooth.tumblr.com
    • Tips and tricks: http://nodecopter.com/hack
    • Install node.js: http://nodejs.org/ 
    • In Terminal:  $ npm install ar-drone
    • Connect to the drone's wifi  
    • In Terminal:  $ node flight.js

    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

    • Limited flight time 
    • Operator skill requirements
    • Danger and high liability 
    • It's often kinda illegal  

    Advantages 

    •  Eyes in the sky for citizens to film things like protests; guerrilla journalism, ie Thailand rally & Warsaw protests:  
      • Zucotti Park, anti-whaling activists


    • Natural disaster stories, i.e. The Daily's footage of Alabama Tornado aftermath: 


    • As a new perspective on an old story  
      •  Bell Labs documentary   


    • BBC is the first major news organization to have a drone unit. CNN  and The Daily (now defunct) have also used them, but the rules in the US are currently stricter.   

    Guest Speaker: Ben Kreimer




    www.benkreimer.com      |      @benkreimer

    Drone dances, etc

     

      Dancing with drones:



      Drones that play catch & carry water:



      More resources 


      And feel free to reach out to us with any questions!   

      Fletcher Bach  |  fhbach@gmail.com  |  @fletcherbach
      Kristina Budelis  |  kbudelis@gmail.com  |  @kbudelis
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