Drones

[indago]

Journalist Scott Smith wrote for The Associated Press 29 August 2016:
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A drone whirred to life in a cloud of dust, then shot hundreds of feet skyward for a bird's-eye view of a vast tomato field in California's Central Valley, the nation's most productive farming region.

Equipped with a state-of-the-art thermal camera, the drone crisscrossed the field, scanning it for cool, soggy patches where a gopher may have chewed through the buried drip irrigation line and caused a leak.

In the drought-prone West, where every drop of water counts, California farmers are in a constant search for ways to efficiently use the increasingly scarce resource.
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[indago]

Drone used to record Baton Rouge flooding.

 

[indago]

Journalist Cara Anna wrote for The Associated Press 9 October 2016:
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At first, the drone took some explaining. Anxious villagers buzzed with rumors of a new blood-sucking thing that would fly above their homes. Witchcraft, some said.

The truth was more practical: A United Nations project would explore whether a small unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, could deliver HIV test samples more efficiently than land transport in rural Malawi.

Once understanding dawned and work began, young students and their teachers would spill out of the nearby school, cheering, each time they heard the drone approaching. "It was very exciting," UNICEF official Judith Sherman said.

...such deliveries can take weeks by land. With drones, it will take hours.
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[indago]

Man uses drone to catch wife cheating...

 

[indago]

From The New York Times 25 October 2016:
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The small drone, with its six whirring rotors, swept past the replica of a Middle Eastern village and closed in on a mosque-like structure, its camera scanning for targets.

No humans were remotely piloting the drone, which was nothing more than a machine that could be bought on Amazon. But armed with advanced artificial intelligence software, it had been transformed into a robot that could find and identify the half-dozen men carrying replicas of AK-47s around the village and pretending to be insurgents.

As the drone descended slightly, a purple rectangle flickered on a video feed that was being relayed to engineers monitoring the test. The drone had locked onto a man obscured in the shadows, a display of hunting prowess that offered an eerie preview of how the Pentagon plans to transform warfare.

...the Pentagon has put artificial intelligence at the center of its strategy to maintain the United States’ position as the world’s dominant military power. It is spending billions of dollars to develop what it calls autonomous and semiautonomous weapons and to build an arsenal stocked with the kind of weaponry that until now has existed only in Hollywood movies and science fiction, raising alarm among scientists and activists concerned by the implications of a robot arms race.
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[indago]

Journalist Carol Pogash wrote for The New York Times 8 January 2017:
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Most drones are harmless toys — albeit ones that seem to have a shorter shelf life than a Christmas tree — and can be bought at Amazon or Walmart for under $100. But drones, particularly bigger ones, can cause major damage and injury, especially in the hands of neophytes. Like birds, drones can be sucked into engines, creating a risk of planes being brought down. There is also a risk of drones themselves falling on people or their property. The Federal Aviation Administration requires a $5 registration for drones over 0.55 pounds, and insurance companies are girding for a wave of drone-related accident claims.

“My daughter got a drone from Santa, and its first launch took off and never returned”
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[strollingbones]

we considered a drone but then decided our neighbors are few and far in between and not that interesting....as i was telling our closest neighbor we didnt get a drone cause they are boring....their son got one for christmas....we were glad to know or we would have shot the damn thing down...and now we are plotting on spying on the dude with the pitbulls

 

[indago]

Journalist Dave Kolpack wrote for The Associated Press 14 January 2017:
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Leaders in the unmanned aircraft industry are trying to persuade young people who think drones are cool to consider flying them for a living. ..."I think a lot of people my age are interested in drones because it's cool technology that is really just starting to be available for everyone," said 17-year-old North Dakota high school student Ava Niemeier, who plans to attend new training being offered by a commercial drone company in her state. "There are a lot of kids at my school with smaller drones that they fly for fun." ...James Barnes founded the New Jersey Drone Academy on an old miniature golf and driving range complex nearly three years ago. His primary motivation, he says, is to give kids from urban areas who can't afford to go to college a chance to learn a trade and make decent money.
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