Mind-Controlled Drones

Dear Future,

Please slow down and let me catch my breath. This is a $300 drone being mind-controlled, thanks to a team at the University of Minnesota. While the commands may be limited, it's still incredible!

(Re)Imagining Drones

(small drones such as these are available in many stores)

Awww... they are so adorable!  Right?

If somebody says "drone," our brains often leap to imagery of death-dealing monsters.  What else can we envision?  What do you imagine when you see a video like this:

A) FLYING DEATH-STARS OF TERROR & DYSTOPIAN SURVEILLANCE

or,

B) HOVERING BUDDIES THAT DO USEFUL THINGS & ENTERTAIN US

I suspect that this is a matter of mood & imagination...

Companies like Apple or Google aren't going to design a flying sphere just because it's cool, but I bet they have people trying to figure out ways a personal drone could improve our lives.  One guy already figured out how to use Siri voice control.  How long until it can order and then pickup my dinner?

The AR.Drone Film Festival - 2012 

This film festival is a significant attempt to intentionally push the public imagination, with drones being used as both a central subject and as a medium for story telling.  It shouldn't surprise us to see humanizing themes.  Enjoy.

"Samuel Eros Cupido" (Netherlands)

"The Flight of the Ninja" (Japan)

"What a Difference a Drone Makes" (England)

"Berlina" (Germany)

Tripped the Bots Fantastic

This iphone-controlled hover-drone was for sale at a Barnes & Noble in Florida (July 2012).   It has a camera.

If you had asked my childhood-self what life would be like in 2013, I would have imagined a scene out of the Jetsons:  jetpacks, flying cars, sarcastic robots that clean my room.  Are we there yet? I wouldn't have been able to imagine Facebook and social networking.  I wouldn't have imagined a world where video games are a bigger industry than movies.

However... TacoCopter makes perfect sense!

Yes!  That's right, there is a business in San Francisco that will be delivering tacos using unmanned aerial drones.

Most of the media attention on drones involves military and police application, but how might the rest of us use it?  Imagine what farmers, scientists, and industries will be able to do with advanced UAVs.  Imagine what the medical and emergency response experts might do with this power.  Unfortunately, it's also not hard to imagine what the commercial media and paparazzi will do with drones.  We might expect years of legal and regulatory struggles ahead.  For now, the Federal policy is to keep commercial applications illegal.  Whether personal and commercial drone use evolves as illegal activity or as regulated activity, it's going to explode.

Hummingbird drones already exist.

What might this mean for our daily lives?  

How long until Siri can hover next to us?

Small, personal robots combined with increasingly networked, sophisticated lifestyle-oriented AI?  This is such a natural extension of today's technology that I believe it's only a matter of years before the air around us is buzzing with them.

I believe we're entering a new phase of lifestyle and entertainment technology that will evolve at the same pace as social networking and gamification.

What might the sidewalks of New York look like in 2050 or in 2100?  Today's engineers are doing truly inspiring things.  Who will make the first flying gaming console? (and if nobody thought of this yet, can you please cut me a check for coming up with the idea?)

Fascinated?  Follow groups like DIY drones and DronesForPeace.




MorpHex (imagine if this thing could also fly!)

Microdrones

Birds 

And now to share some random "background" music as I go back to writing... 

Personal Drones (inspired)

Kids like power and cool things.

Can we imagine personal hoverbots/drones on the street in 10, 20, or 30 years?  What types of uses and capabilities will consumer drones offer in the years ahead?  Micro-drones, UAVs, nano quadcopters, octocopters, nano-drones, etc.  Whatever they end up being popularly called, how will they change our daily lives?

Check out these examples of what's already out there.  Truly inspiring.

An iPhone-controlled commercial toy/drone.

July '12 Update:

Browsing a Barnes & Noble in Florida, I spotted the "Parrot AR.Drone" from the first video.  If these are in B&N in mid-2012, then can you imagine what might be available in 10-20 years?