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Is my cookie robot really more dangerous than my [...] Jeep? I think so. This cookie robot would have to fly at least 500 ft AGL, and other aircraft do fly at
by trunnell 16y ago
Is my cookie robot really more dangerous than my [...] Jeep?
I think so. This cookie robot would have to fly at least 500 ft AGL, and other aircraft do fly at that altitude-- crop dusters, traffic helicopters, aircraft landing or taking off, etc. If your cookie drone were sucked into an aircraft engine or hit a helicopter rotor, it could be catastrophic for those aboard that aircraft not to mention those on the ground near the crash, which could include hundreds of people. So I'd say yes, the cookie drone is more dangerous than your Jeep, especially if the cookie drone were as popular and numerous as automobiles.
...conversations about failsafe mechanisms...
Personally, I think we'll eventually be able to build your cookie drone. And I think it has a chance of being very popular. But I think it will require a lot of coordination with the existing (legacy?) flying community, including things like new flight rules (maybe AFR for automated flight rules, to go along with the existing VFR and IFR?), standard and well-tested automated guidance systems that are good enough for this use case but not able to be weaponized (existing GPS + accelerometers w/ Kalman filters don't meet this criteria), and new ground systems for takeoff and recovery.
Yup, I've had the same thought experiment. ;)
- borism 16y agothere are other objects flying 500ft AGL and much much higher you know. Every now and then they too hit aircraft and are sucked into engines. How many people have died due to them during last century of flight? As many as car crash deaths in 1-2 hours, few days at most? And is it because they have some incredibly efficient TCAS module installed?
- blhack 16y agoGriffon Vultures have been seen up north of to 36,000ft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCppells_Vulture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCppells_Vulture) Nature really, really is amazing. Part of the motivation for "The MIT drone" as it was lovingly called among my friends was trying to beat nature :). There is a bird called the Arctic Tern which performs a polar migration (44k Miles/yr). The fact that there is an autonomous flying machine capable of refueling itself using its surroundings, and flying that far is really daunting.
- smackay 16y agoBar-tailed godwits can do a crossing of the Pacific Ocean - Alaska to New Zealand - 10000km in 8 days non-stop. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664343/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664343/ has all the details.
- blantonl 16y agoThis video clearly shows what might happen when a single engine aircraft at <500 AGL hits an object. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN_Zl64OQEw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN_Zl64OQEw This was an F-16 that ingested a bird after takeoff, engine relight failed and pilots ejected after pointing the plane into a field.
- organicgrant 16y agoThere are also THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of totally unregulated birds flying at 500 ft AGL. FAA should ground all the avians...then we'd be safe!