Drone Racing Poised To Go Mainstream

New submitter Strepto writes: Using video cameras and special goggles or screens, First Person View has been a thing in the RC world for a while. In the last couple of years though, mini quadcopters have taken things to a whole new level, and the inevitable racing has begun to happen with these incredibly quick and agile little machines.

A recent event in Melbourne, Australia, was covered by various media including the ABC, Gizmag and Mashable. Our little media race (first and last place videos here) went down well, but there are still a number of regulatory barriers to jump in Australia and overseas. It's hard to judge public perception though. I was just wondering what the Slashdot crew thinks about this; does it look dangerous, irresponsible or just plain cool? What do you think the future holds?

Comments

Let's go to the next level

[fustakrakich]

Drone dogfights... with projectiles and everything.

New? No

[YrWrstNtmr]

How is this any different than RC aircraft racing, which has been around forever?
Oh, I know.....'drones'.

Re:New? No

[Doitroygsbre]

Well, I was reading a definition of Drone vs. RC Aircraft.

It would seem that if this was a commercial activity (racing for money), then it could well be considered a drone.

Re:New? No

[CityZen]

This is multirotor (quadcopter/tricopter) racing. Since the drones are very maneuverable, the courses tend to be in interesting environments, such as within forests, or inside large buildings with obstacles. Racing out in the open sky is usually much less interesting.

Re:New? No

[Strepto]

FPV is the fairly new thing here. Being able to be on board for the race allows you to fly much more interesting tracks, around corners which you couldn't judge line of sight (or even see!). Also the mini quads are much more durable and agile than planes.

Hmmm ...

[gstoddart]

does it look dangerous, irresponsible or just plain cool?

I'm sorry, but since when are those mutually exclusive? ;-)

Prop shrouds

[ThatsNotPudding]

It still amazes me to see folks still operating (let alone being allowed to sell) drones without any shielding around the prop perimeters. Yes, yes; weight and efficiency, but I don't think the bystander damage would be nearly as great when *when* they fall out of the sky.

Re:Prop shrouds

[ScentCone]

It still amazes me to see folks still operating (let alone being allowed to sell) drones without any shielding around the prop perimeters. Yes, yes; weight and efficiency, but I don't think the bystander damage would be nearly as great when *when* they fall out of the sky.

I agree. Safety should be paramount. That's why I only buy kitchen knives that have their sharp edges hidden behind a shield in case I drop one on somebody's foot. And more importantly, I'm glad that we've finally got a market where we can only purchase 2,000-pound manually-operated motor vehicles that ride on inflated rubber balloons as people operate them over wet or icy pavement ... but which we're no longer allowed to buy unless they are completely surrounded by huge foam cushions, and can't go more than 3mph. You know, to mitigate the damage when *when* somebody operating one happens to collide with another human being.

Oh, right. Untold hundreds of thousands of multirotors being flown by amateurs and professionals alike (most without any prop guards), and no deaths. Compared to, say, hundreds of thousands of preventable medical deaths or traffic deaths.

Some perspective, please.

Re:Prop shrouds

[CityZen]

First off, these races should be held on closed courses with spectators kept well out of the crafts' potential paths.

Second, these are usually 250mm/10" class drones that are fairly small. Plastic props are usually required (no carbon fiber). Sure, they'd hurt if they hit you, but should do little damage (usually).

Re:Link to the drones

[OrangeTide]

I picked up a pre-made frame for 250 size, and bolted my own motors and stuff on it. It was a Saturday afternoon to put it together and get it running. But about 3 weeks waiting for all the different parts shipments to arrive. You can find very low-end bundles on ebay that have almost everything you need frame, motors, props, and flight controller. Get yourself a transmitter bundled with a receiver, a battery pack and charger. And you have enough to fly around a bit without FPV. Once you get that much working, you can start adding FPV gear to it. (I'd strongly recommend practicing without FPV first, even though FPV might seem more comfortable initially)

Expect to spend around $250 for a very low-end setup sans FPV. Triple that if you spend money on higher quality parts. (a good frame won't break the first time you crash, that's the difference between my $25 frame and a $125 frame)