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Inside the DJI Drone Arena
A few months back, we reported that DJI was opening a drone arena in South Korea to host drone flying, education and racing events. Now that the arena has been open for a few months, we thought we’d check back to see what it’s like flying inside this amazing place. They have designed the arena to be very friendly to experts and beginners alike. There are bright LEDs around all of the o...
Shooting Guns At Drones Is Illegal And Not Smart
There have been news articles about property owners shooting down drones out of the sky if they perceive the drone to be flying over their private property. While flying over private property is not a good piloting practice, shooting drones out of the sky is both dangerous and illegal. Stray bullets kill hundreds of people every year and the chance of being hit by a falling drone is also very real...
Search and Rescue With Drones
Search and rescue organizations around the world are using drones as a method to cover vast spaces very quickly. Drones offer a safe, reliable and efficient way to take high resolution images of large areas to search for clues when operating a search and rescue mission. Images are taken of a large area and then the images are distributed to volunteers online to search for clues about missing peopl...
Going To Extreme With Drones
Some people get more thrill out of blowing stuff up than they do building. Gnat Warfare is based in Arizona and has a program for people who want to shoot drones out of the sky. This means that they load explosives onto the drones and when you get a direct hit, BOOM! Of course, shooting drones out of the sky is illegal according the the FAA, but because this is a private ranch and the activity is ...
Changing A Light Bulb With Your Drone
Want to do something useful with your drone around the house? Well, if you have a hard to reach light bulb that needs to be replaced this video shows that it can be done using a small, inexpensive drone. You might break some glass in the process, but you can get the job done as this video shows.
Why 3DR Solo Failed
3D Robotics was poised to take the drone world by storm, but that storm never happened. Through a combination of bad management, bad forecasting and bad luck, 3D Robotics burned though a ton of money and ended up with very little to show for it. This article covers the reasons that 3D Robotics failed and tells the story of the people who believed in the company but were not able to capitalize on t...
Drones Using Wireless Power
The biggest challenge with quadcopters is their huge appetite for power. Larger batteries mean more weight and don’t always provide the flight times that pilots are demanding. The future may not lie with bigger batteries, but instead with wireless power. Electrical engineering researcher Dr. Samer Aldhaher recently posted a video demonstrating how a drone can fly for long periods of time wit...
Automated Drone Battery Exchange
A company called Asylon is hoping to change the way that autonomous and manned drone missions take place by creating a system for automatic battery exchange. Drones can fly to one of their stations and automatically have their battery changed with a fresh one. Then, while the drone is flying the new battery, the old one is being recharged for later use. It’s a pretty cool idea and a very ama...
The SenseFly eBee Plus – More Features, Less Weight
The SenseFly eBee Plus was recently announced at the commercial UAV expo in Las Vegas. The eBee is now going to be bigger but also lighter. This comes from upgraded sensors that allow it to do even more than the original eBee. The eBee comes in at under 2.5 pounds and can fly for just under one hour in many different weather conditions. The eBee is primarily designed for survey and mapping mission...
Drone Maker CyPhy Works Tests Drone Delivery
Drone maker, CyPhy Works is testing its drone delivery of medicine to a summer camp off the coast of Massachusetts. The delivery, done in conjunction with package carrier UPS, is an effort to dismiss safety concerns from government agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration. Current projections in the United States predict that the commercial drone industry could generate more than $82 bill...
Hangar Technology Set To Bring Drone Data To Anyone
Hangar Technology, an Austin, Texas based start up, has raised $6.5 million dollars in funding to develop software that will bring the massive amounts of data available from drone technology to anyone who needs it through a cloud based data repository. Hangar wants to allow organizations to tap into the value of aerial data without having to pilot their own aircraft. Hangar was founded by two peop...
Drones Are Changing The Insurance Industry
While many people fly drones for fun or to take amazing photos and video, drones are becoming a hot commodity in the insurance industry. Many insurance companies are now using drones to improve the way that they service customers while, at the same time, helping maintain their bottom line. This means a variety of things to customers and insurance professionals alike. First, drones a helping insura...