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There are a LOT of very useful things that drones can do. A short list: * delivering food * scouting location based markets * observing weather patterns
by hooande 14y ago
There are a LOT of very useful things that drones can do. A short list:
* delivering food
* scouting location based markets
* observing weather patterns
* optimizing traffic flow/stop lights
* crowd management
* emergency relief
Entire startups could be built around the gathering and analysis of visual data from drones. A lot of businesses can a benefit from a little bit of being in the right place at the right time, and some business are only possible with reliable real time information. Imagine the applications to all kinds of businesses if they could put a 24 hour, 10,000 foot tail on their rivals. It won't be long before these drones have the ability to read a piece of paper from thousands of feet away.
From a machine learning perspective, I see drones as flying data factories. So much can be learned and predicted based on the movements of people, animals and low pressure systems. The level of "eyes on" analysis provided by drones can really improve a lot of key technologies. Privacy will be an issue of course, along with the logistics of many flying machines in the same air space. Smart cities of the future will operate their own drones and charge a subscription to the data feed for businesses.
I think it's definitely work watching the PBS Nova episode about drones [1]. I walked away thinking about the implications of 10 years of advancement in this field.
[1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/rise-of-the-drones.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/rise-of-the-drones.htm...
- n0mad01 14y agoI rather think that all of the information gathered by ARGUS can and will be used against citizens and/or armed troops. The only useful cases i'm able to imagine where civilians may profit from it are : * traffic predictions * safety issues ( but only after the fact, to convict criminals ) but i'm pretty sure that for the larger part it will be used in a disadvantageous manner for the majority of citizens.
- dmix 14y agoAlso: * Delivering drugs and guns over borders and in urban environments * Filming sports events
- 31reasons 14y agoDrones should never be privatized, combining that much surveillance data with your Facebook data, it can basically predict your next move. That would be too much power in the hands of big corporations or malicious hackers.
- scarmig 14y agoLuckily we'll keep drone use safe and restricted to governments, immune to the ill intents of big corporations and malicious hackers.
- jhuni 14y agoThat way we only have to worry about the ill intents of the governments themselves.
- patrickk 14y agoWall Street already uses satellite data to determine sales for WalMart by seeing how full the car parks are: http://www.cnbc.com/id/38722872/New_Big_Brother_MarketMoving_Satellite_Images http://www.cnbc.com/id/38722872/New_Big_Brother_MarketMoving... The next logical step is for a private drone company with the ability to collect, and analyse this data in near real time and sell it to Wall Street. Maybe even sell the data to WalMart so they can monitor staffing levels, and have the right amount of staff on the tills at all times for maximum throughput. You could also monitor shipping at ports, rail yard delivery volume, trucks at warehouses and so on.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- n3rdy 14y agoAren't drones already privatized? Every time I pass a Brookstone at the mall, they're selling the "arduino board not included" models.