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Dutch Police Train Bald Eagles To Take Out Drones
Qbertino writes: Heise.de (German article) reports that the Dutch police is training raptor birds — bald eagles, too — to take down drones. There's a video (narrated and interviewed in Dutch) linked in TFA. It's a test phase and not yet determined if this is going real — concerns about the birds getting injured are among the counter-arguments against this course of action. This all is conducted by a company called "Guard from above," which designs systems to prevent smugling via drones. The article also mentions MTU's net-shooting quadcopter concept of a drone-predator. Of course, there are also 'untrained' birds taking out quadcopters, as you might have seen already.
So the Dutch are using birds to stop people from flying drones arrogantly?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
You do realize, if I am not mistaken, that bald eagles are raptors, so "too" is a bit redundant. Maybe "including"?
When you cant win, ad hominem.
... for the upcoming war against the flying SkyNet minions ;-)
The NL police should just teach the birds to drop a net onto the drone, gunking up the props. That way, the birds don't need to get near the drone.
This is like the future of the 1980's cartoons finally coming true.
In previous news in slashdot, an alleged Israeli spy vulture was caught by Lebanon.
The Israelis claimed this was ridiculous, that it was just an innocent bird.
But now we know the truth: the vulture was really out to get Lebanese drones!
The video shows several take downs of a DJI, and guys claim the bird claws are rugged enough to handle that.
I would get worried about the birds if they would do this on a heavy multicopter with carbon props. The interview mentions that they are looking into extra protection for the claws.
They so often seem to handle society's little problems so much more elegantly than the rest of us.
> Well, you probably shouldn't because even a small drone like the DJI Phantom will slice up or shred the birds legs on contact,
Sounds like a terrible legal liability if you really think about it. It makes the requirement for licensing and insuring these drones seem remarkably less absurd.
Either these devices are "harmless" enough to be taken down by a raptor or they shouldn't even be allowed in the air.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
...but they STILL won't fly Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom. Damn you, Eagles!
Koans and fables for the software engineer
Are these eagles to be permanently "deployed" , living in the wild in border areas, or cared for and transported by staff?
If humans need to be involved each time , it seems like a "foamie" RC plane (with automatic stabilization) would be easier to handle than an eagle. Crashing into the drone would sometimes wreck the $25 foam body.
They tested this on MythBusters. Small plastic propellers won't hurt people but heavy carbon ones will.
Having been severely cut by my own carelessness with my DJI Phantom; I'll have to say myth confirmed.
Those "small" plastic propellers cut the fuck out of me! I would not allow a bird or other animal (some dogs love chasing drones) to come in contact with a drone.
Larger carbon fiber blades will be much worse.
I am adding this under the Bird vs. Robot category in my list of versus:
https://docs.google.com/spread...
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Why don't we just cut out the middlemen and teach eagles how to fly around with cameras and little missiles?
I once saw a golden eagle do this. It was while I was rafting the Rogue River. There were a couple of osprey harassing the eagle and as it flew down the river about 50 feet above me one of the osprey was stooping on it with talons outstretched. As the osprey got close the eagle barrel rolled on its back, presented its twice as big talons to the osprey and the osprey veered off, all about 100 feet from me. A memory I will never forget.
How about training the birds to carry something in their talons that they can drop on the drone? Maybe a loose ball of string or something that would gunk up the drones props.
Another in a long list of moronic solutions that will never work against an intelligent attack, or even a large number of idiots.
What does such a bird cost? How many can you deploy at once and how many drones can it remove per unit of time? Can you train it to ignore a $20, deliberately attractive, decoy drone (or ten) an target the payload drone instead?
The only generally useful and economically viable anti-drone system is one that can take out hundreds per minute and at a significant range without causing collateral damage by spraying the surroundings with debris or projectiles, and without causing broadcasted broadband electromagnetic interference.
Not only is it illegal to keep a bald eagle in captivity but it's also illegal to possess eagle feathers unless you are a native American using them in your cultural expression.
Combine that with them being a symbol of the USA
And how do the Native American tribes for whom the bald eagle is sacred feel about that?
Your point about keeping endangered should-be-wild animals was perfectly valid, but I think you did it a real disservice by playing the "offended!" card.
Another example is English Premiere League club Crystal Palace, which has a live Bald Eagle "mascot" [dailymail.co.uk].
Kayla was stolen from the wild as a chick, recovered, and released back into the wild, but her lack of a natural upbringing left her unable to hunt naturally (she stole food from humans instead). Long story short, she ended up at the Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation in England (she doesn't actually live at a football club).
Where do they keep getting these Bald Eagles?
Well, when a mummy bald eagle and a daddy bald eagle love each other very much...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Maybe you can design some kind of metal mesh on strategic places around your drone that carries a high voltage, enough to give the bird something to think about?
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
I guess if the Dutch try it, so can we.
I wonder if this is not being done all ready. Some guy growing drugs notices that there seem to be too many drones flying around and decides to take matter into his own hands. Better than shooting the drones with a rifle, as there is culpable deniability.
Probably not really bald eagles. Bald eagles are not native to Europe and the Google Translate version of the article does not seem to mention bald eagles.
The risk of hurting the eagle really makes this a bad idea. If only there was some sort of machine that could do this job, like a robo-eagle? It'd have to be an agile remote-controlled flying machine which used a camera to send images back to the operator.
Sadly such a thing hasn't been invented yet.
Evidently, it is not rare enough circumstances to prevent this particularly egregious fucktardery, which also shows that some of the most "patriotic" 'Murkans have no problem with it at all.
But I do agree...just leave them the fuck alone.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Cane toads are native to America. There are a bajillion of them in Australia. Would you please come and collect them, we don't want them and it apparently upsets you that animals have been moved to new locations.
As for the birds, what about the ones that were born and raised in captivity. What should we do with those? Euthanise or let out into the wild to starve?
.... who thinks this is actually really cool?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Actually, if you read the text around that video, that was a WILD bald eagle that flew in through an open window. I happen to live about a mile and a half from that particular chapel, and yes we do have wild Bald Eagles here. Usually I only see juveniles on the utility poles behind my house, but I understand there are some adults over near the river (and that chapel happens to be smack dab between my house and the river).
Nobody wants injured Eagles. So arm them with submachine guns. What could go wrong?
I [accidentally] flew my SK450 into a cactus and it cut the living shit out of it. Small plastic propellers might not hurt people, but 1045s will.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
what about the ones that were born and raised in captivity. What should we do with those?
It happens. What usually should happen in this case is that the Eagle is taken care of by one of our Eagle Rescue organizations, and whoever caused it to have to be raised that way (if it was purposely done by a human) is thrown in jail and charged with a felony.
If I came to their country, took one of their cows, and then proudly ate it, yeah, that would be kinda shitty too.
I don't read Dutch, but if you view the linked video, it's clear that whatever kind of eagle they're using, it's not a bald eagle.
I don't read Dutch either but the second eagle is clearly a Bald Eagle. The first eagle (shown in action) appears to be a juvenile Bald Eagle. They don't get the characteristic white heads until maturity.
I don't know why they are using bald eagles either but perhaps it is precisely because they are non-native. The Netherlands probably has laws restricting possession and handling of native raptors, including Golden eagles. These laws might not apply to imports, like the Bald Eagle.
Sorry, but no, you're wrong. Here's another video of the event showing the handlers and the pastor announcing the eagle's arrival and that it was being released from the balcony. "Eagle flying in the Chapel window" should read "into the Chapel window".
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Ah, well that is indeed a bird of a different feather then. Even with a non-releasable Eagle, releasing that poor bird into an enclosed space filled with people is just not acceptable. That trainer will be smoking a turd in 'murica hell for that one.
OTOH, here's another Bald Eagle showing it still has the proper American spirit. A true American, that bird.
Can't someone build a $5 jammer and whoever is controlling a drone no longer can? There aren't many completely AI drones and they certainly don't cost under $1 million. That's easier than eagles and by definition a jammer for that frequency won't interfere with any electronics that the original transmitting controller for the drone would have.
Heh...actually I'm not sure which constitutes worse animal abuse: releasing the eagle in the Chapel, or putting one in same room as Trump.
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
WTF? Why? If there is a bird that was born in captivity in say France, from parents that were born in captivity also in France why the hell should that bird have anything to do with people in the US? Let alone being some random american crime?
If someone has a pet kangaroo that they raised in the UK should I be getting wound up? They are on my coat of arms after all, just like the Bald Eagle. An NO other country has them naturally which cannot be said about the bird.
maybe just train the birds to do the smuggling so there's no need for the drones.
this sounds like a pretty expensive way compared to say just putting up a net over the prison - or just using cheaper drones to crash into the intruders.
furthermore, if someone wanted to counter this then they could switch to more rugged props..
it would just be better to have other drones with wires hanging off them or similar.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
...because they're going to lose a few with the rotors of any half-decent drone...
Dutch police ARE using... Dutch police is plural, so bad grammar there. Also, what is smugling? Any why do they want to prevent it?
Am I the only one to see an arms race here? - Drones armed to take out birds, or escort drones means to distract the birds and keep them from attacking the important drone?
Like all arms races it can only either end badly or never - continuously escalating.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
It's not actually meant for anything like that at all.
In the video, the cops explain (in Dutch, so I completely understand that this isn't obvious to parent) that it's meant to take out the odd drone that is - often inadvertently - flying somewhere where it really shouldn't, such as near an airport, or somewhere where an air ambulance needs to land. Nowhere in the video is it claimed that the system will be used to stop terrorists, smuggling, mass idiocy, or anything like that. Consider it the air equivalent of a police canine unit.
You'd have to be a pretty retarded osprey to mistake a golden eagle for a salmon. The fact it was flying rather than swimming would seem like the most obvious clue.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
If I came to their country, took one of their cows, and then proudly ate it, yeah, that would be kinda shitty too.
We're not talking about foreigners visiting the US and kidnapping your bald eagles for pets though.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The bird will be injured and never attack a drone again or worse, killed.
Try catching my 650 with 15 inch carbon fiber blades, a smart bird wouldn't get near it.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
We're not talking about foreigners visiting the US and kidnapping your bald eagles for pets though.
Yes, we are. Those animals don't exist in the wild in Europe. Someone at some point had to come to North America, grab one, and take it back to Europe.
Cane toads are native to America. There are a bajillion of them in Australia. Would you please come and collect them, we don't want them and it apparently upsets you that animals have been moved to new locations.
We tried, but weirdly enough no Native American tribes wanted to claim them as majestic spirit animals. That left us trying to raise awareness by cute youtube videos of cane toads snuggling with fluffy blankies, but they kept losing popularity to videos of puppies, kittens, and piglets. We just can't seem to raise enough angst over the plight of expatriate cane toads to buy any senators to put a bill through. It's a sad day for the fate of 'Murican cane toads worldwide.
No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
Just sayin'... The Bald Eagle is their national bird, and it's their surveillance system that has everyone up in arms... Am I not the only one who sees the irony in this?
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
Falconry is still popular in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and elsewhere in the Middle East.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
The osprey wasn't after the eagle for food. It was in the spring and the two osprey probably had a nest nearby and they were harassing the eagle to protect it.
Cane toads are native to the tropical areas of South and Central America. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the native peoples there consider them a sacred creature. But you'd have to talk to them.
The quadcopter they showed with the eagle is a Spyrit Max FPV T2M, a toy level 230 size (measured in mm diagonally from motor-motor), and weighs less than 600g when it has the prop guards & camera on board (which it didn't at the time), yet the 360 sized quads (like the DJI Phantom) weigh around a 1000g and get heavier when you add things a camera & 3 axis gimbal, plus they have brushless motors that are far more powerful than the brushed motors of the Spyrit.
A Cheerson CX-20 is around the same size as a Phantom, and one has already accidentally killed a bald eagle that had attacked it: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=33893158&postcount=56152
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
And how do the Native American tribes for whom the bald eagle is sacred feel about that?
Well, I also happen to be Osage myself. I can't speak for the entire tribe, and certainly not for all tribes, but I personally look at it as showing the proper respect. Which is kind of a nice switch from the usual American attitude toward tribal sensitivities.
When you are appropriating something from another culture, context means everything. If you do it in a supportive and respectful way, it can be a huge plus for both sides. Thus laws like the prohibition on owning "pet" Eagles serve a dual purpose. By and large your typical American finds Bald Eagles nearly as sacred as natives do, but for slightly different reasons.
And this of course ignores the important point that Native Americans (within the confines of the USA boundries) are also Americans. Most I know love their country every bit as much as the non-natives. Sure, they might like it to be better, but you should feel that way about someone or something you love.