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12.12.2018 Feature Article

Amazing Benefits Of Drones In Modern Life

A drone brings food to customers at YO! Sushi Restaurant in London- Photo credit: Neil Hall  ReutersA drone brings food to customers at YO! Sushi Restaurant in London- Photo credit: Neil Hall / Reuters
12.12.2018 LISTEN

In the 20th century, the use of quadcopters ( a multirotor, drone, or quadrotor, a simple flying mechanical vehicle that has four arms, and in each arm, there is a motor attached to a propeller) was a novelty. Anyway, what is a drone and its usefulness?

One of the first manned copters with four rotors, which in practice could detach from the surface and hover above the ground, was created and tested by the Russian-American aircraft designer Georgy Botezat in 1922.

However, the invention turned out to be inopportune - the mechanisms allowing an aircraft to float for a long time were developed much later, and the use of quadrocopters began to gain momentum only in the 21st century.

There are hundreds of definitions for a drone, however, I like this simple one: A flying robot that can be remotely controlled or fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS.

Below are some of the amazing benefits of a drone to man

Drones allowed humanity to make a real breakthrough through the centuries. At first, they were used for military purposes, which saved many lives: instead of scouts, a drone with a camera was sent to a hot spot, which fixed the location of enemy troops. Drones are sometimes used to find survivors when any calamity strikes, like an earthquake.

From June 2017, on the International Space Station, is the Japanese drone IntBall, created to work in zero gravity. The drone works autonomously, but it can be remotely controlled from the Earth. IntBall is a spherical device with a built-in camera, it takes photos and video reports about experiments conducted at the station, thereby, saving astronauts time in orbit.

In the future, Japanese scientists plan to expand the functionality of the drone - to increase the operating time of the drone and teach it to help the team.

Amazingly, today, drones are actively used in doing many tasks which could have been time-consuming and expensive for man. Previously, in order to a bird-view photo of a landscape, one needs to take a flying object like a plane or helicopter for that job but now a drone can simply do the job.

Scientists from Australia have designed a drone that accompanies a man while running. The Robotrener suggests what speed to follow, and also has a mode in which you can run a race with it.

In 2016, an ancient settlement was found using the GoPro quadcopter in Mexico. Thanks to the drone with a thermal imager, areas with altered temperature were tracked, where the burials turned out to be.

The management of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn bought drones to prevent acts of vandalism after unknown hooligans painted the graffiti of one of the company's trains. Copters hover over the protected object and rapidly fly down when sensors record suspicious activity.

Modern drones-guards are far from harmless: they are armed with a stun gun and, unlike people, will not linger to use it.

Artists from around the world often use quadrocopters in their performances. One of the large-scale events with their participation is the CES-2016 exhibition. While the musicians were playing the number, hundreds of drones with LEDs were moving synchronously in the air above them. The tandem of art and science made such a strong impression that the performance of UAVs entered the Guinness Book of Records.

The restaurants of the Wokker network use copters to advertise their dishes. A dozen unmanned vehicles circling around business centers at lunchtime, inviting office staff for lunch. The annoying promoters distributing leaflets have no chance to compete with a drone.

The company DJI, has released drones Phantom, a feature of which they are able to follow the intended goal while circling outside objects on the way. The bot can reach speeds of up to 70 km per hour with a battery that runs for about half an hour.

The manufacturers, having announced the Phantom, have released an advertisement that illustrates one of the ways to use the bot - farming. Thanks to the drone, you can now quickly find the animal that attacked the herd.

London restaurant Yo Sushi is an institution where quadrocopters are used instead of waiters. Here the drones, which are remotely controlled via the app on the iPad, deliver food directly to the visitors' tables on a tray.

French winemakers use a drone in their craft. Kopter flies over possessions and transmits video of crop status to enterprising farmers. This allows you to prevent the onset of insect pests on time, to avoid soil dehydration and, if necessary, add nutrients to areas with weakly growing vines. Thanks to the infrared camera you can control the level of maturity of the berries.

How drones will be used in the foreseeable future

In 2013, Amazon announced that it was working on organizing the delivery of parcels to cities in America using copters. In 2017, an application for patenting the tower was filed, which will be the starting point for drones.

Air Courier will track the location of the recipient through the application on the smartphone of the latter and be able to go directly to the target, scanning the terrain and avoiding collisions with animals and people in their path. Now the project called Prime Air is in the testing stage, Amazon is working on the design of the couriers.

It is known about plans of another company to arrange delivery by means of UAVs: Domino's pizza purchased the so-called 'house copters' for this purpose. In 2016, for the first time, a pizzeria delivered an order to the island of Whangaparaoa in New Zealand. In the future, the company plans to arrange a delivery in Australia, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Japan, and Germany.

How do they use drones for the rescue? Rescue services with their help looking for lost people. Engineers from Switzerland taught the quadrocopter to navigate in the forest: the device scans the area around, finds paths trodden by man, and flies over them at a height of about two meters.

To prevent the robot from crashing into trees, scientists at the University of Zurich have developed special software for it. In fact, it is artificial intelligence, trained by a neural network. The developers promise that after the finalization of the program, it will be enough to send up to six quadcopters to search for those who have lost their way.

The fire service in the capital also purchased a pair of drones. In this area, quadcopters are used to detect fires, assess their scale and promptly eliminate them. At the same time, firefighters will not risk their lives.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, mini-helicopters with remote control were developed.

The uniqueness of the invention is that drones refuel with gasoline and keep in the air for up to five days without refueling, and are also capable of lifting and carrying nine kilograms of cargo.

The creators of an unmanned aerial vehicle plan to monitor the well-being of the environment with the help of their invention, however, thanks to the long flight time, the drone will be able, among other things, to transport medicines and vital materials to hard-to-reach continents.

Work is underway to train drones to recognize faces

As technology advances, drones will be used to identify criminals. In the XX century, Robocop was popular - a robot-policeman from the same series of films. It turned out that this futuristic character or its likeness could very well be created in the coming decades. At this rate, patrolling the streets and searching for criminals will be much more productive.

Internet distribution
Since April 2014, Google has been working on creating a network of solar-powered satellites and drones to provide Internet coverage around the world, including “complex” and remote sites.

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Drone emergency medical rescue
In the States, due to poor ecology, the population of bees is decreasing at a critical pace. Researchers at Harvard University have created a robot for the elimination of this problem. The mini-drone with the funny name RoboWee can move in a given direction, hover in the air, stick to the plants and swim in the water.

The wingspan of a robopchela is only 3 cm, while the number of strokes reaches 120 per second. While the robot bee is attached to the power source with wires, because attaching a battery to it is not easy - the size of the insect is too small.

The best of journalism with a drone
At the University of Missouri, journalist students attend drone control classes. Through drones, you can get a lot of information, and this is used by the media. Now stars and politicians will have even less opportunity to hide from the paparazzi. Flying unmanned devices are also planned to be used for shooting extreme sports. Soon blurry frames will be a thing of the past.

Real estate agencies are also exploring new technologies in order to provide potential buyers with a virtual walk through the building around or around the building.

The world famous company Disney decided to use flying robots in puppet shows. The show will be attended by remote-controlled drones disguised as puppets. According to preliminary data, a whole station will be assembled that will monitor the drones. So the show will be realistic and unforgettable.

Already today, drones are actively helping people in many areas of activity, from entertainment and ending with rescue operations. Progress is evident, and perhaps in this or the next century, we will achieve the ideal technological future, which our predecessors could only dream of or read in books.

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