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Commercial Drone Industry Heating Up

Posted by Soulskill on from the parcel-delivery-services-i'm-looking-at-you dept.

DeviceGuru writes "In light of the FAA's recent approval of two unmanned drones for commercial operation in U.S. airspace, it's interesting to see the bits and pieces for building commercial UAVs falling into place. For example, Airware demonstrated its line of autopilot computers for UAVs this week at AUVSI Unmanned Systems 2013 in Washington DC. The devices include multi-rotor capabilities, and support various radios, GPS and inertial systems, servo interfaces, and onboard interfaces such as USB and CAN. The autopilot controllers run a configurable, royalty-free AirwareOS embedded Linux OS, making them amenable to considerable customization. Adding to that, Airware recently received $10.7 million in funding from Google Ventures and several other investors. This raises the question of what's next for the fledgling commercial drone industry."

13 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. What's next? by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    Search and destr... uhhh... rescue! That's it...

    And maybe crop dusters to eradicate cannabis.. er.. I mean.. bol weevils

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:What's next? by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      It doesn't who the buyers and sellers are. When money changes hands, it's commercial.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:What's next? by Ken_g6 · · Score: 2

      Yeah, what is the point of "commercial" drones?

      (If they are to be used for Law Enforcement and anti-terrorism domestic surveilence I would say thats not 'commercial'

      TV news stations might also buy them. A 1-foot-square quadcopter is much cheaper than a real helicopter.

      --
      (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
    3. Re:What's next? by peragrin · · Score: 2

      an AR parrot modified to use longer range radio, and longer lasting battery pack(so a slightly larger version) deployable from the back of news vans.

      traffic accident reporting could literally take on a new dimension.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    4. Re:What's next? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Aerial photography, surveying, temporary communications relays for large gatherings (sports events, concerts and such - hover a few cellphone stations over the crowd), traffic monitoring/reporting, security.

    5. Re:What's next? by Urkki · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeah, what is the point of "commercial" drones?

      (If they are to be used for Law Enforcement and anti-terrorism domestic surveilence I would say thats not 'commercial'

      First will be ubiquitous aerial photography. There's of course just plain getting photos for fun and for checking things like condition of roof, basically just cheaper version of current aerial photography and videos, such as a personal drone (instead of a helicopter with a camera crew, with total cost probably around $1000/hour) following you and filming you doing some sports.

      But things will quickly go further with imaging stuff. For example, now you have "baby cams" so you can check on your baby sleeping from different room. In future there will be "kid drones" which will follow your kid (to playground, friends houses, going to school...) and let you check on them remotely.

      Then there will be drones that actually do something, such as robot window cleaners, much like there are robot lawnmowers now. A bigger drone can function as a safety harness when working in high places much like an always-deployed parachute, and even a bigger drone can replace so called "cherry picker". In a restaurant or bar, a drone might bring your order to your table.

      Lot of possibilities, and what really happens with drones during next several decades is hard to imagine beforehand, because drones have potential to be a life-changing technology, much like phones - mobile phones - smartphones, or travelling photographers - personal compact cameras - Internet-connected digital cameras. The essential thing with drones is, they can get to places without interfering with people (at least as long as we don't have personal jetpacks in common use).

    6. Re:What's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Great.... helicopter parents with actual helicopters. What could go wrong?

    7. Re:What's next? by demachina · · Score: 2

      Japan has been using unmanned helicopters to spray crops for decades. Yamaha makes them, though they are a little expensive. They are extremely good at it, the down wash from the rotor helps spread the spray all through the plants.

      UC Davis, if memory serves, has started trials on them in the U.S. recently but the restrictive drone regulatory climate needs to relax a little

      --
      @de_machina
    8. Re:What's next? by drkim · · Score: 2

      I can just imagine the crowded airspace over graduations, little league games, etc...

  2. thousands of commercial applications... by aapold · · Score: 2

    Fedex drones, Google Streetview Drones, Pizza Delivery Drones, Banner-toting advertisement drones, Summons serving drones, etc etc..

    --
    "Waste not one watt!" - CZ
    1. Re:thousands of commercial applications... by slick7 · · Score: 2

      Fedex drones, Google Streetview Drones, Pizza Delivery Drones, Banner-toting advertisement drones, Summons serving drones, etc etc..

      Don't forget Chinese take out. The Flying Wok brings a whole new concept into being.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  3. I have a feeling... by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    I have a feeling that Apple and Samsung's drones might shoot at each other.

    1. Re:I have a feeling... by aaronb1138 · · Score: 2

      Well, I think we already know which one will be able to survive landing on the ground from more than 3 feet...