Drones - Page 3

The new Parrot Mambo FPV allows pilots to get a first-person view of flying their mini-drone thanks to Parrot's HD camera, and all new Parrot Cockpitglasses 2 that provide a 96° field of view for the ultimate immersion. This puts the pilot at the heart of the cockpit, and in complete control of the drone.

The Parrot Mambo is a quadcopter that offers superior flight stability curiosity to state of the art technology features and is capable of reaching speeds up to 30km/h. The Parrot Mambo caters to all skill levels and features three piloting modes (easy, drift and racing). Racing mode deactivates all assists, allowing you to be one with the drone. A 120° FOV HD camera is the Parrot Mambo FPV's eyes, transmitting images to your attached smartphone in your Parrot Cockpitglasses 2. You can even share your experience with friends thanks to a live streaming feature.

Offering a precise flying experience, the Parrot Flypad controller features a customizable joystick and button controls that provide control for your Parrot Mambo up to 100 meters away.

DJI, innovators regarding aerial and handheld cinematic, have released two new drones to complement their extensive drone range, the Mavic Pro Platinum and the Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian. Two iconic drones that are enhanced for new ways to explore the world.

The Mavic Pro Platinum includes the same 4K video recording 12 Megapixel camera and up to 7km control range as the standard Mavic Pro. However, we're treated to an elegant platinum finish, extended flight duration of 30 mins and operates at 60% noise reduction. These features make the Mavic Pro Platinum DJI's best portable drone yet.

DJI's Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian retains all features the Phantom 4 Advanced offers, which include a 1-inch 20 megapixel camera capable of 4K 60FPS video recording and a top speed of 70 km/h. Included in the Pro Obsidian is the sleek, matte grey finish that allows for aerial imaging in true renegade style.

Retired RAF drone operation deputy commander said their future potential drone pilots might be the teens who are playing games on their PCs, Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Greg Bagwell, former Air Marshal that oversaw RAF drone operations in Syria, states that they need more new blood to pilot their drones since most of the current batch are quitting due to the enormous pressure in an exchange with theguardian: "The problem we have had is that in seven years of constant operations we have not been allowed to have a break point, to step back and take stock without having to keep pushing crews. It was stressful for the operators to mount complex attacks over Syria and Iraq and then to return at night to a family home in the UK."

The ex-deputy commander believed that the RAF need to test the viability of making pilots out of teenagers who spend their days on video games: "We need to test harder whether we can take a young 18- or 19-year-old out of their PlayStation bedroom and put them into a Reaper cabin and say: 'Right, you have never flown an aircraft before [but] that does not matter, you can operate this."

On December 7th, Amazon delivered its first package by drone. The first package delivery took 13 minutes from placing an order to delivery.

The Prime Air service is at the moment in a test phase in Cambridge, England. Amazon published a video showing more details of how the service works. In the video, they state that they are testing Prime Air on two customers, but they will expand the number in the near future.

Back in August, Domino's Pizza began testing drove delivery in New Zealand. In partnership with delivery company Flirtey, today it made its first official delivery in the region: a peri-peri chicken pizza and a cranberry pizza to a couple in Whangaparaoa, 25km north of Auckland. The food was received at 11:19am with an impressive delivery time of under two minutes.

The drone utilizes GPS to find its way and was controlled by a team of experts, including a certified drone pilot.

Flirty is said to be planning on bringing drone delivery to the US. Assuming continued success, it seems inevitable.

GoPro's $799 Karma drone has been recalled after a "very small number" of units were found to randomly lose power during operation. No injuries or property damage have been reported, but presumably GoPro wants to get ahead of the issue (or is required to).

All 2,500 units are estimated to have been sold since October 23. If you're one of the buyers, you can return them to GoPro or at whichever retailer you purchased from for a full refund. If you want an exchange for a fixed model, you'll need to wait until the matter is resolved.

"We are working in close coordination with both the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Federal Aviation Administration," said GoPro CEO Nick Woodman. "We are very sorry to have inconvenienced our customers and we are taking every step to make the return and refund process as easy as possible."

GoPro announced its new Hero5 Black action camera alongside their first ever drone, with the upcoming foldable Karma drone priced at $799.

The new GoPro Karma features a 3-axis stabilizer that slides out from under the drone, and attaches to a handheld "Karma Group" so that you can record stabilized footage on the ground, as well.

GoPro is offering a more expensive $1,099 bundle that includes the Hero5 Black camera, but if you only want the new Hero5 Session the bundle drops to $999. Karma also includes a slick-looking gaming-like controller, sporting a built-in touchscreen with GoPro CEO and founder Nick Woodman proudly saying that Karma is "more than just a drone", and with these specs and features - he's right.

Domino's Pizza is about to begin testing drone delivery, starting in New Zealand, where aviation laws passed this month allow for such a service. Parterning with drone company Flirtey, the plan is to launch the service to the public later this year, marking the first commercial drone delivery service worldwide.

"With the increased number of deliveries we make each year, we were faced with the challenge of ensuring our delivery times continue to decrease and that we strive to offer our customers new and progressive ways of ordering from us," says Domino's Group chief executive and managing director, Don Meij. "Research into different delivery methods led us to Flirtey. Their success within the airborne delivery space has been impressive and it's something we have wanted to offer our customers."

Meanwhile, New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges says he's in full support of the service.

If you've ever wanted a portable robot buddy, the Hover Camera is pretty close. Combining foldable functionality as well as "follow me" functionality, the compact drone will go wherever you go whether he's on or off. It's not quite pocket sized, but will fit into a backpack or messenger bag very easily.

The Hover Camera is also very safe as its propellers are enclosed by a carbon fiber frame, so you can grab it like you would a toy.

Developed by Beijing startup Zero Zero Robotics, it's intended for aerial photography and videography. Specs-wise, it weighs 238 grams, includes 13mp and 3mp cameras, supports 4K video, live streaming, and a 360 Pano mode complete with face and body tracking, and features Qualcomm's Snapdragon Flight platform.

The Australia Post is currently testing drones for small package delivery. Assuming all goes well, they will be used to test home delivery later in 2016.

The company -- the first of its kind to test this kind of thing, beating Google's plan by some margin -- believes the drones will mean quicker delivery, including for imperative items like medication.

It's said the testing will be rigorous as it's carried out over the next few months. The Post's goal is to to determine exactly what the drones can deliver, how far it can deliver it, and how customers will receive their goods.

Set as an advertisement for the upcoming World Drone Prix set to kick off in Dubai, the marketing team for this event has released an awesome video depicting a race between a drone and the McLaren 650s supercar.

Spotted on Gizmodo, we're told that a straight line drag race between these vehicles would be a fruitless venture, but the twists and turns of a drone race actually gives this remote controlled 'rocket' a chance.

This isn't me telling you that travelling to work at over 100mph by drone is going to be the next best thing, but it's something cool to think about at least. If you're a little short on cash and can't pick up a McLaren 650s as your Sunday driver, maybe a pocket rocket drone is more up your alley.

So what exactly goes on at Area 51 in the Nevada desert these days? Well, we're no closer to the truth, but thanks to one incredibly ballsy drone pilot, we've got some new views over some of the world's most restricted airspace.

Pilot Hans Faulkner sent his drone up over a number of locations at the secretive base, North West Gate, and the Groom Lake from South Gate - a historically significant site which served as the airspace for some of the experimental aircraft and which the pilot uploaded to his YouTube channel.

Faulkner described the spot as "very difficult to move around" and that "white trucks follow us and hide when we record them". My hat's off to you, Hans.

Drones have become popular and cheap enough that their misuse and subsequent danger -- like when obstructing an air ambulance from landing -- is becoming a problem for Dutch police. Though they are investigating conventional methods to deal with it, they are also electing to train eagles to identify and capture them.

To this end, the "Politie Nederland" are teaming up with Guard From Above, a company that trains raptors. It's entirely possible things will go smoothly, as eagles are formidable birds of prey that already take down drones on their own, as well as handgliders, going so far as to take bites out of them afterward. Small drones seem fine, but larger ones could pose serious harm to the birds, so the impact on claws and a protection system and are being investigated by GFA (we're going to go ahead and assume it'll end up something like this).

There are two bills sitting in the California State legislature that could change the future of drones in that state, and probably beyond. These laws, if they pass, would require you to register with the state, have a tiny physical or electronic license plate and have insurance for damage to property and for hurting people too.

The first bill is is just a requirement for a small amount of property and personal insurance should injuries or damage accidentally occurs. It might even eventually evolve as a natural extension of auto insurance, though in this case it's a small policy bought at the point you bought the drone. That bill also requires GPS enabled drones to have an auto shut-off feature enabled that'll shut drones down when they approach airports. A necessary function, unfortunately.

The second bill wants to help curb future hit and run type accidents, with a state registration system similar to what we already have for cars. This would also require pilots to leave their information, much as with a car accident, in a conspicuous place after the fact, or face legal consequences. This should help place more responsibility on the drone pilot themselves.

Remember when everyone told Ralphie in the Christmas Story he shouldn't get a BB gun because he'll just "shoot his eye out", and lo and behold, the first thing he did with his Red Ryder was blast a BB into his eye? A recent accident might make you rethink your plans to become a drone enthusiast, as it's been proven those unmanned fliers can be pretty hazardous.

According to the BBC, the blades of a recreational drone sliced an 18-month-old toddler's eye in half after the pilot lost control of the vehicle. "It was up for about 60 seconds," said Simon Evans, a family friend who was operating the drone. "As I brought it back down to land, it just clipped the tree and span round. The next thing I know I've just heard my friend shriek and say 'Oh God no' and I turned around and just saw blood and his baby on the floor crying."

Despite being a seasoned pilot, Simons was unable to keep the UAV from crashing into the toddler. The boy, Oscar Webb, will have to wait before he can get surgery and an artificial eye. The accident will serve as a cautionary tale to parents everywhere and may very well have lasting implications for the future of drones.

After months of speculation and rumors, the internet's most popular e-tailer has finally taken to the skies with a fleet of delivery drones that may usher in a new level of convenience.

As explained by Jeremy Clarkson, Amazon's new Prime Air delivery service taps the power of autonomous drones in order to ship packages in 30 minutes or less. The drones themselves are quite advanced, using "sophisticated sense-and-avoid technology" to detect and avoid nearby obstacles in the sky, and even scans the landing zone to ensure safe deliveries. The drones can fly up to 400 feet at 55 miles-per-hour, and can deliver 5-pound packages--things like DVD's, games, CD's and even shoes--in a 15-mile radius.

Amazon notes that the Prime Air service isn't ready for deployment, and the drones are still being manufactured and developed. "We are testing many different vehicle designs, and delivery mechanisms to discover how best to deliver packages in a variety of environments," reads the official Q&A. The company plans to offer Prime Air in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel to start, with other territories to follow.

It looks like the US government and police agencies are looking for some type of counter-drone system, able to protect vulnerable sites from rogue drones.

One test conducted by the New York Police Department relied on a microwave-based system designed to send the drone back to its operator. There were problems with the test, such as interference from local media broadcasts. Even though trying to shoot down drones would be fairly simplistic, it leads to public safety hazards - and there is more interesting in finding ways to send drones directly back to the operator.

"We can't shoot it out of the sky," said a source speaking to Reuters. "We have to come up with something that's kind of basic technology so that if something happens, the drone or device will just go right back to the operators. It won't crash."

The US government plans to expand UAV flights over the next few years, expanding daily drone sortie operations away from just the Air Force, according to officials.

The number of UAV flights will increase from around 60 every day up to 90 by 2019, though there are significant manpower and financial budget issues that must be addressed.

The global demand for UAV flights must expand, as the Air Force fleet continues to face trained pilot shortages. As the US combat mission in Afghanistan finally came to an end, the US military planned on reducing the number of combat drone flights by its Air Force staff. However, the rapid rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq has caused an uptick in reconnaissance and targeted strikes.

A drone dropped a bundle of narcotics and tobacco into the Mansfield Correctional Institution, located southwest of Cleveland, Ohio. The incident left nine people in solitary confinement for fighting over control of the contraband.

The delivery included more than five ounces of tobacco, over two ounces of marijuana, and about one-quarter ounce of heroin, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The package was dropped on the north recreation yard, and was thrown into the south recreation yard as inmates fought.

All inmates in both the north recreation and south recreation yards underwent mandatory strip searches and clinic checks.

The California National Guard is using an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the search for Edward Kavanaugh, a person missing since July 17 riding a motorcycle in Northern California.

The drone can collect real-time images, so ground units have a better idea on where to search while looking for Kavanaugh. So far, the hunt in El Dorado County has not turned up anything, even with the drone's assistance.

The California National Guard previously used a drone to help fight the Rim Fire in 2013 - as it has special abilities, including infrared sensors, image-intensified cameras, and the ability to stay in the air longer than helicopters and traditional aircraft.