Slashdot Mirror
A New Human-Seeking Drone, Much Cheaper Than a Predator
An anonymous reader writes with this envy-inspiring bit from Gizmodo on the Aeryon Scout Quadrotor: "The drone, packing a camera that can ID a human from almost two miles away (using a standard digital cam or thermal vision), can be hand-assembled. Once in the sky, it gyro-orients itself to track whatever it is you're tracking, can hit speeds of over 30 MPH, and is all controllable with a touch remote. Tap a target, and watch the drone zoom over. It's not going to rain down any Hellfire missiles, but hey, it only weighs a kilogram."
Can it detect hot chicks?
"can be hand-assembled..."
I can't be the only one whose first thought was, "Well, I can understand not wanting to use a high level language in its firmware, but we've had assemblers for a long time now and they're really pretty good by now."
Darth Maul had these in 2001.
Something that small would be hard to spot with radar, and it does not need to rain down hell fire missiles, a single well places .22 round will neutralize many targets.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
OK, so it's cheaper than a predator. It's also completely different than a predator.
It's like saying a golf cart is cheaper than a Freightliner. It's true, but they don't serve the same purpose.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
This type of statistical image analysis is too easy to do these days. It would be a Synch for the terrorists to construct them. The idea would make a great video game. "Quadrotor Warz!"
The purpose of existence is to make money.
I'm waiting for them to come up with a self-assembling drone.. Now _that_ ought to make some news!
Geekism is your _only_ God!
iWing!
Just plug the darn accessory into your iPhone, and throw it into the sky - off you go!
Did I mention it comes with both black and white?
What can possibly go wrong?
If enithin kan gow rong it whil. (Murfey)
This sounds like a hunter-killer. So now we've got Bin Laden does that mean we're going after Paul Maud'Dib next?
There are plenty alternative quad/octo/hexa-rotor projects out there by today.
Something wrong with using Mantracker to hunt for people?
Daily read for tech news: Freezenet.ca
I wonder if the Middle-Eastern market for crowbars is a good place to invest.
WTF all of slashdot's comments?
1 + 1 = 3, for large values of 1. % 1 Billion
dollars of budget deficit = 1 Gramm-Rudman
6.023 x 10 to the 23rd power alligator pears =
Avocado's number 2 pints = 1 Cavort Basic
unit of Laryngitis = The Hoarsepower
Shortest distance between two jokes = A
straight line 6 Curses = 1 Hexahex 3500
Did anyone else get that dump on the bottom of their page? It was exactly 64,613 bytes.
Sorry tor being offtopic, but did slashdot kind of break for anyone else? I got this as quote at the bottom of the page.
Anyone that can afford one can setup a porn site using these things to peer in windows.
Is a very good band. Listen to "Universal Migrator: The Dream Sequencer" and "Into the Electric Castle". Beautiful music.
what was the subject again?
You can get your own:
Here:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/parrot-parrot-ar-drone-ipod-iphone-ipad-controlled-quadricopter-orange-blue-pf720002ag/10156982.aspx?path=81e4f1876418f65ce283409ba0d00969en02
for $330 Canadian this baby flies for 20 min. indoors and out self stabilizes and hovers, and can be controlled via your iphone or your computer via wifi
and has two onboard cameras (one forward facing one downward facing.
It's made by AR Drone
http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/usa/
It's even hackable:
http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/news/73-urbi-following-a-ball-in-25-lines-of-code.html
I've seen it fly and it's sweet. With a VGA camera its pretty cool.
----- "Profanity is the one language that all programmers understand."
After watching the Youtube video of this device, I got very interested. I would love to give it a whirl, to look around the town etc.
Well done, Canadians. If you have the lack of wisdom to outsource production to China, I might get me one of the cheaper Chinese knock-offs ;) Just kidding.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Two Canadian technology posts on slashdot in two days.... WE ARE THE NEXT CHINA!
What's with the Canada flag on the story? Not only is there not mention of Canada anywhere in the story, it's kind of annoying that whenever there's a tech development in Canada, Slashdot editors seem to assert that the most important feature of this development is that it is Canadian, rather than the cool tech. This is kind of condescending. Don't forget who won the recession.
This older story even has the price tag: $50K
http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/aeryon-scout-flying-surveillance-robot-is-possibly-the-most-intelligent/
Can you say "Paparazzi"? I knew you could.
What's the point of any technology that can't rain down Hellfire missiles?
That's right! None!
Anyone who is developing any technology, from baby food to high-powered anti-personnel ordnance, should ask themselves: "How can we monetize this, and how can we weaponize this?"
It can refuel itself and with little more than a dirty sock it can track a target for miles. Best of all you can deploy hundreds of them for less money than a single drone.
The real damage would come from much further away.
When packed with explosives, this sounds like a perfect tool for assassination. Make it cheap, decrease noise, increase range, add some further refinement in stealthily bringing it into a location (composite materials?)....
The Germans were already marketing these in 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4jtguSF0n4 In fact, Voice of America has already publicly announced (March 2011) that the millitary is using "hummingbird drones" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcXH4iCnck4 in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If the robot spies the size of a hummingbird are already publicly discussed on Voice of America, I would assume they have tick, mosquito, and chigger drones in actual use by now.
Gently reply
The 2009 Indian geek movie 3 Idiots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots had a prototype just like that. It looked like they built it for less than $500.
There were toy radio-controlled helicopters selling for $1,000. http://www.rctoys.com/rc-products/DF-VTI-EYE.html
Killing got cheaper. What a great achievement.
...in thirty years, when the technology is so commonplace that every terrorist, assassin, etc. can get one.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
A lack of ways to kill without guilt has been a big problem for this country. Glad to see progress on this. Wait until these get deployed by police in the US.
MQ-1 Predator can cruise at 80-100 mph, 2000 mile range, 24 hour endurance at 25,000 feet, satellite uplink, SAR, IR/UV/Visible light cameras.
So yea, its going to cost more, it can do alot more.
as if the .5 million dollar per citizen fake terror tolerance stipend isn't enough? with the 3X6 airtight personal citizen bunker attachment, most of us should be able to ride our way out of the storm systems. mynutswon;on to babylon.
disarm, as if it were almost all we really need to do about the 'weather' problems.
I am going to hold out for a model where the landing struts are replace with multi-functional :D
robotic tentacles... then it will have some real use as a fun toy
Out of interest, why does this story have a Canadian flag icon on the front page? It's true the company's Canadian, but other tech stories aren't flagged (heh) by their country of origin -- I don't see the Stars & Stripes gracing every piece about Apple or Oracle.
One step closer to Judgement Day!!!
Or a directed energy weapon (i.e. lazurs, sound waves, microwaves, etc) that would only be limited by its power supply. Good thing significant gains in battery tech are far off and there is no chance this thing would ever be used by an autocratic government. Secret police of 2012 are scarier than those mentioned in the history books.
.... if we could get it to take a crap on their heads, we could revel in the fact we've mechanically reproduced the pigeon.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
The problem I understand nowadays is not that we (the U.S.) don't have enough drones (even though the predator costs millions) but that we don't have enough flight crews to operate them. I understand they require the equivalent of a fighter pilot and navigator/"gunner" and while the armed forces are training them as fast as they can there still aren't enough.
So why not "outsource" (from the military not from the U.S.) these less lethal but presumably easier to fly drones?
Have a reality show where any U.S. citizen is permitted to try flying one of these things. A decent home computer with a broadband connection should suffice. At the basic level, groups of these beginner flyers will be supervised (moderated) by a flight instructor (moderator). Fly enough hours and you get to fly solo and then become a moderator yourself. Gain enough hours successfully "moderating" flight groups without too many crashes and you'll be allowed to try being a navigator/gunner (again being moderated). Rinse, repeat.
Do this, with improving more capable drones until you are flying predators with hellfires!
If you could thow in a little pay, it might help reduce the 9 percent unemployment. And it would provide the U.S. with one hell of a reserve force in the event of a major war!
Seriously, all you need is a tiny charge and fly it over the person. If people think this won't be weaponized they are fooling themselves.
From the Aeyron website "Operational duration: up to 25 minutes."
In practice it's probably a lot less than that.
I'm not sure that their scenario of detecting a dork dressed up like a spy stealing my Hyundai has me sold on the concept.
... also, I can kill you with my brain.
Say someone lands it on a rubbish heap or something, Its flat, quiet, drab. Camera is running. They watch a house. The target appears in a doorway for a second. Bing. The signal goes out. The target is painted. A global-hawk-predator-whatever that has been sitting on station for the past month refueling in-flight is tasked. Weapons free. The weapon follows in the laser. Boom.
They could make it smaller with a top mounted camera so it could sit in on a haystack or on top of a barn. With just a fiber-optic camera sticking up. Heck, it could even have a solar panel to keep the camera transmitting for long periods.
It seems like a sweet way to get "public" pictures if you were in the paparazzi / picture media biz. People are talking about loading it down a load of weapons, but I say, just load it up with extra batteries to get more flight time, and a good camera, and I imagine you'd do quite well following (or doing recon on) anyone.
If it were just a little bigger (next version, perhaps) it could carry a hand grenade, weight one US pound, about 1/2 kg.
No hellfire missiles, much cheaper than a predator. Lame.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
so if a non human comes onto my land without permission can i shoot it and have fun.
Did anyone else think the camera, at the end of the video clip, reminded them of Sauron's Eye?
I can imagine this being used in the movie industry as a cheap way to get shots from hard to access places. Not to mention beach pervs!
My worry as an RC enthusiast (I have three RC helicopters) is when our increasingly paranoid governments see this sort of thing, they are going to start legislating the RC hobby into oblivion because of "fears of terrorists". It really wouldn't be that hard to automate my T-Rex 600, the parts can be bought from Sparkfun Electronics, and governments will fear that an ordinary citizen can build a drone from off-the-shelf RC parts and electronics.
All of a sudden we're treated as "terrorists" and another avenue of harmless pleasure is closed off or made so awkward (for instance, you need a background check to buy RC parts) that it will destroy the hobby.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
"It's not going to rain down any Hellfire missiles, but hey, it only weighs a kilogram."
I'm sure they'll figure out 1/4 kilo hellfire missiles soon enogh
Could this be used to transport of small things like pizzas or groceries?
Can this find my lost golf balls?
missiles are noisy and needlessly, senselessly destructive. too many collateral casualties and too much unwanted attention. this is the nineties, people. we have aerosol propelled chemical weapons. you can drop a bulb the size of your paintgun's baby co2 canister right between a target's feet and have your choice of impact or radio release. tsch. missiles. as if!
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
I knew Harper using child labor in our Maple plantations to fund his defense spending would pay off in the long run... and their legs and arms will be stronger when we sell them off to the NHL in a couple years!
How high do wind speeds have to be to make this thing ineffective?
I am tired of the use of that childish phrase to describe anyone being targeted by the military or law enforcement. It's infantilizing, naive and may even contribute to an imperialistic foreign policy.
http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
"Military robots like drones are ironic because they are created essentially to force humans to work like robots in an industrialized social order. Why not just create industrial robots to do the work instead? "
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
Sounds like what happened to train hobbyists. Just taking pictures of trains will now get you arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
Think Kinetic energy, folks... even the little helicopter hitting someone in the head at 50kph would be injurious. Knock someone over at the right time, and it could be fatal. Or just pack a few oz of C4 in it.. Yep. It could be a weapon.
If China gets hold of this tech in dealing with dissenters; or Colonel Gadafi; or the next Osama bin Laden, we will need to arm ourselves. I hope the Maker community is thinking about how to deal with human tracking drones.
i wonder if they're actually doing a search replace on km with mile.
Anyone purposefully sending them traffic is a fucking reject. Fuck you slashdot.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.