I've been flying model airplanes, helicopters and other RC contraptions since I was 10 years old. Decades. I've flown, designed and built nearly everything out there, from pure (no motor) gliders to aerobatic planes, electric and turbine jets, helicopters and multi-copters --even an occasional RC blimp. One of my favorites are very high power-to-weight ratio 2 meter-ish gliders with thousands of watts of power. They go straight-up like a rocket and reach incredible speeds, well in excess of 100 miles per hour (youtube: F5B glider).
The preface is to say: I get it. I do it. I love it. And, I'll probably stay in this hobby forever. Having kids has a way to help with that.
Having said that, I also understand, in no uncertain terms, just how dangerous this stuff can be. I have seen many nasty accidents first hand. A small propeller spinning at 5K or 10K RPM can shred a hand or a face in horrific ways.
The idea of toy drones flying around town is a scary one. The FAA is right in wanting to exercise restraint and gradually walk into a sensible set of rules. The have been working very closely with the RC flight community in order to understand the needs and voice their concern as well:
I love the idea of small inexpensive drones coming online to help firefighting efforts, disaster aid and such needs. Still, it has to be done right and it has to be done with safety in mind.
Small inexpensive model aircraft, even when they cost thousands of dollars, are not designed to the same strict engineering standards of full-scale aircraft in general aviation. Most of these devices suffer from catastrophic single-point failures in their designs. None of them are put through strict process control during manufacturing to ensure that such mundane things as cracked or "cold" solder joints don't creep into a batch. None of them are made with conformal or environmental coatings applied to circuitry. Not one of them uses rugged, vibration and environmentally-tested hardware, boards, wiring, connectors and batteries.
As an example of this, a prominent motor controller manufacturer recently produced designs that started to violently catch on fire and even blow-up under varied conditions. They have been reported to catch fire by simply plugging in a battery or in the middle of a flight. In a lot of cases people have lost helicopters costing thousands of dollars to this particular problem. However, in most cases, because the activity took place within the confines of AMA model aircraft flying fields not one person seems to have been hurt and no property (other than the model and electronics) was damaged.
Did you know that the LiPo (Lithium Polymer) battery packs these models use can also spontaneously catch fire and explode? YouTube search: "LiPo fire"
It's exciting to think of these little things flying about and doing all kinds of things for us. The reality, I think, is as far away as building a C3PO that actually works as it does in the movie. OK, maybe not that far, but nowhere close to reality. The legal and liability hurdles alone are massive.
Can someone make a quadcopter that can safely and reliably fly around buildings in a city with an acceptably low probability of failure, redundancy and solid engineering? Sure. But it isn't going to be anything like these little toys we are seeing in hundreds upon hundreds of youtube demos.
I believe that, once the FAA has a chance to sort this out there will be really good opportunities for very high quality, professionally designed drones. It'll be a few years though. And rightly so.
Similar stuff could be said to Henry Ford about cars back in the early 1900s ("What? You want us to zip around town with a vehicle full of GASOLINE? Yeah right...").
This is a truly revolutionary idea, one that has so many different positive side-effects (reduce traffic congestion, reduce pollution, faster deliveries, cheaper mailing costs, etc). It needs to be pushed forward by visionaries, folks who really believe in it.
Yes, they'll have to be a little crazy. Yes, they'll likely have to deal with setbacks.
But if they persist and succeed, their name just might one day be written in history books.
Delivering tacos with RC helicopters is a revolutionary idea?
I believe you misspelled evolutionary. Inventing a helicopter was a revolutionary idea (pun!), and coming up with a delivery model for food consumption may have been a revolutionary idea, but combining the two definitely is not.
This is basically a sky lawnmower with a taco hanging below it. Seems kinda dangerous.
I'd sure like to know if those who are for this sort of thing have any experience building and flying these things. It's really easy to voice opinions from the outside. Armed with experience your opinion is sure to change. I don't think I know of anyone involved with RC as a hobby or even among my aerospace friends who would not cringe at the idea of having swarms of unsafe little drones flying around a city.
Once again, Mark Twain said it best: "He who holds a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way".
It's not just "not super safe". It's actively dangerous. These things can straight-up mangle a person - at least ones big enough to carry tacos. Guess what happens when a little kid or a dog sees an RC helicopter flying around or landing - they run to it.
So are roads, yet we build them near homes. Children are just going to have to learn not to touch spinning blades like they learn not to run into traffic. And dogs will be dogs, I suppose.
This is an exceptionally low standard. Are unmanned flying taco deliveries one millionth the benefit towards society that roads are?
There is also an entire industry based on keeping children safe from everyday dangers. We have baby gates, plugs for electric outlet, fences for yards, childproof medicine caps, cabinet lock, etc. Exactly how are you keeping your child safe from the swarm of helicopters delivering tacos en masse to the park he's playing in? Do kids need to walk around in protective bubbles because the need to avoid waiting in line at Chipotle outweighs the need for safety?
The preface is to say: I get it. I do it. I love it. And, I'll probably stay in this hobby forever. Having kids has a way to help with that.
Having said that, I also understand, in no uncertain terms, just how dangerous this stuff can be. I have seen many nasty accidents first hand. A small propeller spinning at 5K or 10K RPM can shred a hand or a face in horrific ways.
The idea of toy drones flying around town is a scary one. The FAA is right in wanting to exercise restraint and gradually walk into a sensible set of rules. The have been working very closely with the RC flight community in order to understand the needs and voice their concern as well:
http://www.modelaircraft.org/aboutama/gov.aspx
I love the idea of small inexpensive drones coming online to help firefighting efforts, disaster aid and such needs. Still, it has to be done right and it has to be done with safety in mind.
Small inexpensive model aircraft, even when they cost thousands of dollars, are not designed to the same strict engineering standards of full-scale aircraft in general aviation. Most of these devices suffer from catastrophic single-point failures in their designs. None of them are put through strict process control during manufacturing to ensure that such mundane things as cracked or "cold" solder joints don't creep into a batch. None of them are made with conformal or environmental coatings applied to circuitry. Not one of them uses rugged, vibration and environmentally-tested hardware, boards, wiring, connectors and batteries.
As an example of this, a prominent motor controller manufacturer recently produced designs that started to violently catch on fire and even blow-up under varied conditions. They have been reported to catch fire by simply plugging in a battery or in the middle of a flight. In a lot of cases people have lost helicopters costing thousands of dollars to this particular problem. However, in most cases, because the activity took place within the confines of AMA model aircraft flying fields not one person seems to have been hurt and no property (other than the model and electronics) was damaged.
Did you know that the LiPo (Lithium Polymer) battery packs these models use can also spontaneously catch fire and explode? YouTube search: "LiPo fire"
It's exciting to think of these little things flying about and doing all kinds of things for us. The reality, I think, is as far away as building a C3PO that actually works as it does in the movie. OK, maybe not that far, but nowhere close to reality. The legal and liability hurdles alone are massive.
Can someone make a quadcopter that can safely and reliably fly around buildings in a city with an acceptably low probability of failure, redundancy and solid engineering? Sure. But it isn't going to be anything like these little toys we are seeing in hundreds upon hundreds of youtube demos.
I believe that, once the FAA has a chance to sort this out there will be really good opportunities for very high quality, professionally designed drones. It'll be a few years though. And rightly so.