The military uses them, law enforcement uses them, Wired’s Chris Anderson is crazy about them … hey, even you can fly one via your iPhone or build one of your own.From nifty creations by amateurs on DIYDrones.com to professional equipment entering the market, drones or UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) are definitely hot these days. Most will remember how Parrot sent the blogo-&-twittersphere abuzz with their iPhone-controlled ARDrone at the CES preshow event.

Equiped with a video camera (some even infrared), microphones and intelligent autopilot, the current generation of drones are already more than mere new toys for the boys. In the hands of teenagers for fun or in those of authorities for surveillance etc., some people worry about a new wave of privacy and even terroristic threats, while others see a whole range of new opportunities opened up by drones ranging from augmented reality games to lightweight logistics or environmental scanning solutions. One thing is for sure: this is gamechanging beyond the technology itself.

Image of Parrot’s ARDrone via Bright.nl

Related posts:

1. drones away

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 10:23 and is filed under future, technology, trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.