As someone who recently picked up the multi-copter hobby, I would say I want people to have to register/license these things. Previously I might have scoffed at the "flying lawnmower" meme, but it is absolutely the truth. Even the small 250mm mini sized quads are massively dangerous and the larger octocopters are downright scary. They move fast and 10" carbon fiber blades spinning at 8000rpm connected to a 5lbs drone could all but decapitate a human. One GPS glitch and the thing might go full speed toward your face, or a kid on a bike, or the neighbors dog / beamer / house. How much do you trust GPS and hobbyist open source flight control code? I trust it enough to fly around an empty park, but I'd never want it near my cat.
With the prices for entry level models coming low enough to compete with an ipad or other consumer electronics, I can't help but think how scared I would be of teenagers flying these things around my neighborhood, let alone the hazards with wide scale deployment of automated drones for deliveries.
My favorite battlebots story was from a teen who built a 'spinner' and early in their testing they lost a nut when the blade was in full spin. It left a hole in the siding of his garage as if someone had shot a bullet out of the house, 14" off the floor. Fortunately nobody was hurt. He did all future tests in a drained swimming pool.
I've been in the hobby for almost 2 years, and my impression is very nearly the opposite of yours. I think the danger of hobby-grade quads is almost universally overstated. They're dangerous, but not significantly more dangerous than kids playing baseball, and certainly nowhere near as dangerous as an automobile. I think your fears are unfounded.
Less dangerous than a car? Perhaps. Although I'd point out that we require licensure and insurance for cars, and the threat of life in prison if you injure anyone through neglect while operating a vehicle
Baseball? No. These are injuries from 450mm sized quads.[1][2][3]
I say this because the heli in the story, as most high-end consumer RC helis these days, had 2 carbon fiber blades, and on the 700 size, tip to tip on the blades is about a meter. Consider the weight and tip speed of each blade vs. A large quad or hex or octocopter. The blades will be much smaller, so much much less kinetic energy at the tips. You also don't do this with quads: http://youtu.be/EYWLqui5VsM
Yes, spinning rotors can cut your skin if they make contact. That has to be weighed against the likelihood of spinning rotors and skin making contact. That likelihood is generally fairly low, but is much higher when a pilot deliberately flies straight at a person's head or throttles up the aircraft while holding it.
Baseball tends not to cause lacerations, so photographs won't look as gory (except perhaps for some eye injuries), but they definitely can cause serious injuries, and can very easily cause minor property damage.
I have multiple(big,expensive) drones. I program them too.
I am not too worried about them, they are far safer than a real helicopter.
"One GPS glitch" ?? When something fails on a drone you could detect it very easily. If GPS fails you have barometric sensors, you have accelerometers, you have compass, you have gyroscopes, you have infrared sensors for horizon.
When something fails you actually reverse and disconnect the motors automatically. Now it is just 1 or 2 kilos falling down. Mine have small parachutes.
Like humans you could add redundancy to those machines, and the probability of all of them failing at the same time is almost zero.
Normal toy quadcopters weight 100 grams and you can stop the blades with your hands (or you neck) without harm.
With the prices for entry level models coming low enough to compete with an ipad or other consumer electronics, I can't help but think how scared I would be of teenagers flying these things around my neighborhood, let alone the hazards with wide scale deployment of automated drones for deliveries.