6 ms·

But isn't there a big chance of the eagle getting hurt by the blades?

by pingec 10y ago

jdavis703 10y ago
Which is why they're investigating equipping the talons with glove-like protection.
slimsag 10y ago
From the article: > Worries have been raised that birds could be struck and seriously injured by a drone’s blades. Mr. Hoogendoorn said that the safety of the animals was a top priority, and that although eagles’ talons had scales to protect them, work was underway to give them more covering. Mr. Wiebes said safety measures could include some form of glovelike sheath for the talons.
- shpx 10y ago
  Larger drones have carbon fiber propellers. Sticking a body part in the props at full speed is like sticking your hands in a blender [0]. Intuitively it seems you'd still break talons if you stuck them in a blender even if you covered them in leather gloves. Seems like this would work pretty well for micro drones though. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/1b5ihe/nsfw_gore_warning_about_multicopters_power_cf/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/1b5ihe/nsfw_go... (NSFW obviously)
- leonroy 10y ago
  Absolute lunacy - a bird will be seriously injured by this at some point. Even the cheapest decent drone (Parrot AR Drone) can cause skin lacerations with its flimsy plastic blades. I shudder to think what some of DJI's carbon fibre blades and significantly more powerful motors do to flesh and bone. Why don't they simply use drones to take down drones? It surely would be cheaper than training an eagle!
  - sintaxi 10y ago
    You are vastly underestimating the strength and durability of an eagle. Eagles are birds of prey. They can fuck up wolves and goats both of which have significant characteristics to deal out damage themselves. I would guess an Eagle could take down any consumer level drone without any issue what-so-ever. Military drones are another matter completely. Eagles manufacture themselves and training them to take something out of the sky is probably not much more difficult than training a dog to play fetch.
    - Shivetya 10y ago
      Long term he is correct though. Drone makers will just about figure out how to circumvent birds one way or another, either from changes in selectivity, sounds, or even as someone suggested - chemical counters. Drones set to hunt drones are a no brainer. The military will certainly have them so it won't be long before the police do. Even a ground based solution might work against any non hardened drone - just fry its electronics. You can pretty much limit the range of such an effect and I can imagine scenarios where all drones are just dropped from the sky.
      - kawera 10y ago
        Japanese drone catching drones with nets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vknRo7aLhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vknRo7aLhc
      - fallinghawks 10y ago
        > Drone makers will just about figure out how to circumvent birds one way or another As anyone who has ever armed a fighting kite with razor blades can tell you. Sharpening drone blades might even cause an aerodynamic improvement.
      - RealityVoid 10y ago
        Except drone makers have no reason to do this. I've seen the hype with these anti-drone-falcons, but there is still not one case where thy actually caught a drone in the wild. Even if it were, drone builders do not want to be associated with rule-breaking drones. They are fine with falcons removing drones around, let's say... an airport. And so am I. so no reason to employ such anti-measures. But from the get-go, the antidrone falcons are such an idiotic idea I can't even begin to take is seriously. The falcon would be killed by the drone. I say that as someone who injured himself with a drone (an average one, even) so I know firsthand how serious the damage can be. It barely can find a place to catch the drone with the models the used in the demo video. If someone flied an octocopter, the only place it can hook onto it is right from below, on the landing gear, and I find that unlikely. This would kill the bird for sure. I find the very existence of anti-drone tech ridiculous. The who hysteria around this is right out of the middle ages witch-hunt.
- 13years 10y ago
  Why not have the eagles just drop a net over the drone?
  - usrusr 10y ago
    Because the key advantage of an eagle over something like a microwave gun would be retrieval vs the drone dropping out of the sky on whatever happens to be underneath. Also, grabbing is just what these birds happen to do. Try to teach a dog to run after a ball to drop a net on it instead of catching...
lucb1e 10y ago
Original Dutch news that covered this like half a year ago mentioned the people handling the eagles laughing it off with "they've got skin more than thick enough!". This article mentions they are going to add even more protection.
- dTal 10y ago
  Total madness. The first of these birds to encounter an RC helicopter will be shredded, protection notwithstanding. It seems to me like training animals to commit suicide by hurling themselves into whirling blades is a larger crime than flying a radio controlled toy somewhere you're not supposed to.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

But isn't there a big chance of the eagle getting hurt by the blades?

by pingec 10y ago

But isn't there a big chance of the eagle getting hurt by the blades?

jdavis703 10y ago

Which is why they're investigating equipping the talons with glove-like protection.

slimsag 10y ago

From the article: > Worries have been raised that birds could be struck and seriously injured by a drone’s blades. Mr. Hoogendoorn said that the safety of the animals was a top priority, and that although eagles’ talons had scales to protect them, work was underway to give them more covering. Mr. Wiebes said safety measures could include some form of glovelike sheath for the talons.

shpx 10y ago
Larger drones have carbon fiber propellers. Sticking a body part in the props at full speed is like sticking your hands in a blender [0]. Intuitively it seems you'd still break talons if you stuck them in a blender even if you covered them in leather gloves. Seems like this would work pretty well for micro drones though. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/1b5ihe/nsfw_gore_warning_about_multicopters_power_cf/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/comments/1b5ihe/nsfw_go... (NSFW obviously)
leonroy 10y ago
Absolute lunacy - a bird will be seriously injured by this at some point. Even the cheapest decent drone (Parrot AR Drone) can cause skin lacerations with its flimsy plastic blades. I shudder to think what some of DJI's carbon fibre blades and significantly more powerful motors do to flesh and bone. Why don't they simply use drones to take down drones? It surely would be cheaper than training an eagle!
- sintaxi 10y ago
  You are vastly underestimating the strength and durability of an eagle. Eagles are birds of prey. They can fuck up wolves and goats both of which have significant characteristics to deal out damage themselves. I would guess an Eagle could take down any consumer level drone without any issue what-so-ever. Military drones are another matter completely. Eagles manufacture themselves and training them to take something out of the sky is probably not much more difficult than training a dog to play fetch.
  - Shivetya 10y ago
    Long term he is correct though. Drone makers will just about figure out how to circumvent birds one way or another, either from changes in selectivity, sounds, or even as someone suggested - chemical counters. Drones set to hunt drones are a no brainer. The military will certainly have them so it won't be long before the police do. Even a ground based solution might work against any non hardened drone - just fry its electronics. You can pretty much limit the range of such an effect and I can imagine scenarios where all drones are just dropped from the sky.
    - kawera 10y ago
      Japanese drone catching drones with nets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vknRo7aLhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vknRo7aLhc
    - fallinghawks 10y ago
      > Drone makers will just about figure out how to circumvent birds one way or another As anyone who has ever armed a fighting kite with razor blades can tell you. Sharpening drone blades might even cause an aerodynamic improvement.
    - RealityVoid 10y ago
      Except drone makers have no reason to do this. I've seen the hype with these anti-drone-falcons, but there is still not one case where thy actually caught a drone in the wild. Even if it were, drone builders do not want to be associated with rule-breaking drones. They are fine with falcons removing drones around, let's say... an airport. And so am I. so no reason to employ such anti-measures. But from the get-go, the antidrone falcons are such an idiotic idea I can't even begin to take is seriously. The falcon would be killed by the drone. I say that as someone who injured himself with a drone (an average one, even) so I know firsthand how serious the damage can be. It barely can find a place to catch the drone with the models the used in the demo video. If someone flied an octocopter, the only place it can hook onto it is right from below, on the landing gear, and I find that unlikely. This would kill the bird for sure. I find the very existence of anti-drone tech ridiculous. The who hysteria around this is right out of the middle ages witch-hunt.
13years 10y ago
Why not have the eagles just drop a net over the drone?
- usrusr 10y ago
  Because the key advantage of an eagle over something like a microwave gun would be retrieval vs the drone dropping out of the sky on whatever happens to be underneath. Also, grabbing is just what these birds happen to do. Try to teach a dog to run after a ball to drop a net on it instead of catching...

lucb1e 10y ago

Original Dutch news that covered this like half a year ago mentioned the people handling the eagles laughing it off with "they've got skin more than thick enough!". This article mentions they are going to add even more protection.

dTal 10y ago
Total madness. The first of these birds to encounter an RC helicopter will be shredded, protection notwithstanding. It seems to me like training animals to commit suicide by hurling themselves into whirling blades is a larger crime than flying a radio controlled toy somewhere you're not supposed to.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]