WEBVTT - The Big Deal About Drones 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.560 Get in test with technology with text Stuff from stuff 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:15.400 dot com. Heathen and welcome to Text Stuff. I'm Jonathan 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.239 Strickland and I'm Lauren Bo. Today we're going to talk 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.799 about some unmanned aerial vehicles you a v s, also 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:26.279 known as drones drones. So, drones have been in the 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.120 news a lot for multiple reasons. Some of them are 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.479 fun reasons and some of them are not so fun recently. Right, 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.040 they are a really interesting development in robotics that has 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.199 a lot of very positive applications and unfortunately a lot 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.040 of negative ones as well. Right, So we're going to 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.560 cover kind of the whole spectrum. Right, We're gonna look 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:50.839 at everything from the silly and sublime to the pretty serious, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:54.320 pretty serious and scary really uh, and and also talk 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.760 about why is there a debate about drones. But so, 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.680 to start off, Jonathan, what actually is a U A 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.080 b okay so unmanned aerial vehicle? You can essentially say 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.080 that this is any sort of flying device that doesn't 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.280 carry a passenger in it, that is used for some 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.240 other purpose. Usually we go one step beyond what would 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.840 be a typical r C airplane or RC helicopter. You 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.040 wouldn't really call that a drone because there's not really 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:23.920 anything on there other than the fact that this is 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:25.800 something for you to pilot around and have fun with. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.840 So like a remote control air shark, maybe maybe not 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.000 a drone. Yeah, probably not a drone. But if you 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.040 were to put say a camera in that remote controlled 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.600 air shark and you could actually spy on people, that 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.720 would be a air shark drone. Probably not the most 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.559 subtle of unmanned drones that you've ever seen. But maybe 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.480 you were to create something like a camera on it, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.480 and also to have some sort of fabric display, which 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:53.320 is a possibility. Let's say you have a fabric display 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.760 and then on the underside it can actually show you pictures. 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.840 That would be like a crazy kind of art experiment 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.120 that I would expect to see it burning man or 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.920 dragon con. I really want that now, actually totally something 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.919 that could be a possibility. And so when we're talking 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.840 about drones, were usually talking about something that does something 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.239 on top of just flying around. Now that might mean 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.600 that it's got some cameras and sensors on it that 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.360 allow it to do some things like navigate through spaces 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.040 or give you a look at a particular area. Maybe 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.520 it doesn't have those sensors. Maybe it just carries stuff. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.640 And we'll talk about some of the crazy delivery drones 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:35.080 that have popped up, sometimes literally across the globe. But 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.040 usually these are controlled remotely by a pilot using some 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.920 sort of interface that connects via radio signal to the 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.840 vehicle's navigation and control systems, or the vehicles themselves are autonomous, 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:51.560 meaning that they can use their own sensors. Yeah, exactly, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.320 you have to program what it's going to do ahead 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.880 of time. It's not like they have artificial intelligence. And 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:59.720 can you know, it's not RoboCop on wings, you know, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.880 I suppose it could could hypothetically be one day, One 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.400 day we might get there. But right now we're talking 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.119 about devices that you you give it a pre program 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.560 set of parameters. Perhaps it's to fly to a specific 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.840 coordinate and then fly back, and it's using things like 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.520 the GPS sensor to navigate to where it needs to go. Uh. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.320 But otherwise, once once you've said in motion, it takes 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.640 control of itself. I think most drones tend to be 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:30.399 under human control. Although we have drastically increased that capability, 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.240 it used to be that it was all line of sight. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.160 In other words, the controller had to be able to 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.360 see the the drone in order to maintain control. That's 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.880 not the case now. Increases in miniaturization and GPS technology 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.760 has has really pushed that field force certainly. Yeah, satellite 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.240 communications has made it possible for us to have ridiculous 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.560 kinds of control over unmanned aerial vehicles. So they can 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.400 often stay in the air for longer than a day, 0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.600 particularly when we start talking about some of the ones 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.520 that are used in scientific research and military applications, they 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.440 can go for up to up I've heard up to 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.600 forty eight hours and without refueling in some cases. Yeah, exactly, 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.040 so you can have forty eight hours of consistent flight time. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:15.240 And now, obviously, if you're talking about a manned control situation, 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.279 you then are also talking about having shifts switching off 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.359 teams of pilots, right, And there's there's usually for for 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.640 this kind of thing to pilots, one to actually do 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.719 the controlling assumed assuming that it's not being autonomously controlled, 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:33.159 and a second watching the sensory readouts and helping the 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.239 pilot there, right, And then some some cases you're talking 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.480 about even larger teams. But we'll talk about some of 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.520 the more complex ones in a bit. So they also 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:46.640 can very pretty widely in size and sophistication. So a 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.200 typical tiny little drone you might think of like the 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.520 parrot drone, which is a quadrocopter drone. It's the kind 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.039 of has the rotors on the four corners, so it 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.080 gives it a very stable flight path, and you can 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.200 even do some crazy trips tricks. Rather, you can do 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.640 crazy trips too if you wanted to, but crazy tricks 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.840 letting it do things like barrel rolls, although it's more 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.920 like a very quick flip because obviously you lose stabilization 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.920 once those those uh, those those blades go vertical as 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:18.520 opposed to horizontal, and then you can control that with 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.120 an iPhone, So you can actually use a smartphone to 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.880 control a parrot drone. I was talking earlier today about 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.120 how I had a really crazy schedule today. So today 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.320 Jonathan schedule included a phone call with FEMA uh A 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.640 talk about electronics in the f a A, which was 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.760 an episode that we recorded earlier today, although when it 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.400 publishes is a mystery, and then also talking about drones, 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.800 and so a friend of mine said, oh, so is 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.760 that is this all in preparation for talking about how 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.680 FEMA could control a drone with a an iPhone because 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.440 the Apple event was also the day that we're recording 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.760 this and said, you know, you're making a joke, but 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.280 that's totally possible. But as the parent drone allows you 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.600 to control it with an iPhone, absolutely, and uh yeah, 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.279 these are small, you know, commercial devices. You can you 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:10.160 can go out and buy something. Yeah, yeah, you can 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.360 actually buy one right now. And I remember the first 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.680 time I saw one at ce S several years ago, 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:18.200 maybe twenty ten or maybe even earlier, and I was 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:20.800 really impressed. And it included a little camera on the 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.239 device itself, so it could allow you to look around 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.080 and you were you were able to play games with 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.560 other people who had parent drones and do kind of 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.760 a virtual shoot him up type thing that would be 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:36.080 reflected with your actual drones real world location. So it's 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.560 kind of neat stuff. But if you want to talk 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.359 about the other end of the spectrum, now, that's on 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.880 the simple side, right, that's that's a very small, portable 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.400 device that the average person can use and you're using 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.520 a very simple interface to control it. The other end 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.440 of that spectrum is drones that are the size of 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.560 an actual like manned aircraft, like a small business jet 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.680 or so I think is the size that which I 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.480 think are the largest military drone and predators are both 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.960 pretty big. Yeah, because a predator. If you see a 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.760 picture of a predator drone, you might think, what's the 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.960 size of that? Is that like maybe you know, half 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:14.800 the size of a car? No, those are much bigger 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:19.120 than cars, but they if from casual glance, if you 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.679 were near one, you might think, well, that's an interesting jet. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:23.920 Where's the cockpit because I don't see where the person 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.760 would look out because it looks blank. Yeah, but it's 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.200 in fact a drone, and so you end up flying 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.600 it using all the different sensors and cameras that are 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:36.160 on it as the guidance. Although for aerodynamic purposes it's 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.560 still shaped more or less the way that a passenger 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.080 airplane would be, right, I mean, and that just makes 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.760 sense for pure physics, right, I Mean, it's not like 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.840 theoretically we could have it shaped anything that would fly, 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.320 But why would you change it up so much if 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.400 that's the most efficient shape. I kind of want them 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.120 to paint just just go ahead and paint like a 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:58.360 cylon toaster, have like a little led that goes back 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.400 and forth and it just constantly chanced by your command. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.080 That's from the nineteen superior version of Bellstar Galatica. Um, 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.000 we're really gonna have to have a geek fight about 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.720 that same day, Chaathan. Anyway, there will be a reckoning. 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:18.320 So with those kind of military style drones are the 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.280 ones that scientific endeavors are using. These large, large drones, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.520 those are the ones that need multiple people to really 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.560 control it. And also they usually have a link up 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:30.600 where you can control it from quite a far away away. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.600 But we'll get into that a little bit later. Uh. Now, 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.480 there's some rules about drones though, right, Yes, some some 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.200 countries China for example, and this will become important in 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.960 a moment. Uh. It's it's basically legal to operate commercial 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.200 drones anywhere that you want, as long as you get 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.920 local authorization. Here in the US, um, drones are authorized 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:56.079 in some military airspace and patroller borders. Also there's some 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.640 three public agencies that can use them at low altitudes 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.040 away from airport. Right. It's essentially the same sort of 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:07.800 rules that the Guide r C h r C flight 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.720 vehicles like anything like a remote control plane and remote 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.800 controlled helicopter. There are specific rules that that are dictated 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:17.880 by the US government and most of them are the 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.600 same as for the drones. Sure, sure, And now, um, 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:26.120 the f a A. H the Federal Administration, thank you. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.720 I always want to say aeronautics, and that's not quite 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.480 the right word. Um, it does is working on new 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.800 regulations right now. They're supposed to come out in and 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.160 at that point we're probably going to see a lot 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.120 more commercial and private drones flying around. Yeah, it's going 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.080 to be one of those those things where they'll be 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.640 there may be some more specific rules to guide this 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.320 sort of thing. You know. This is again another one 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:54.439 of those examples of how technology evolves faster than the 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.520 laure because I don't know if you've ever noticed, but 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.280 the government does not move in the speed of night, 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.079 certainly not by Morris law. No, no, no, no no. 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.040 So so we see these developments happen faster than the 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:12.719 way agencies can legislate them. But that is coming. The 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.560 two thousand fifteen will be interesting to see exactly how 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.720 the f a A handles that and and how, you know, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.400 is it going to be really restricted? Is it going 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.640 to open things up. Will there be specific agencies that 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.560 people who operate drones will have to report to? We 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:29.360 don't know. We have to wait. It's a it's it's 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.480 part of a larger like sixty three point four billion 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.760 dollar initiative for the f A to to update traffic 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:39.520 control systems and expand airspace. So that's important stuff. So 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:44.200 let's talk about some uses fun uses of some drones, 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:48.400 like scientific research. So there are a lot of organizations 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.640 out there that are using drones in some way or 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:56.000 another to conduct scientific research, and that includes NASA and Noah. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.600 Those organizations are both using drones to study inhospitable environments 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:02.760 here on Earth, right, you know, lots of places that 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.199 it would either be uh overly expensive or difficult or 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.760 dangerous to get humans out to to take a look at. Right, Yeah, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.080 if we can get an unmanned aerial vehicle to fly by, 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:18.640 say a giant crater that's remote and difficult to access otherwise, oh, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.280 to say, or in a volcano or at an oil 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.560 spill or exactly. Yeah. So here's some of the examples, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.079 and we've mentioned a couple of them. Oil spills, volcanic ash, 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.200 that kind of stuff. Looking at these sort of things 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.080 that's that can be hazardous, but also they using UH 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:37.920 drones to explore repositories of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska. 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.640 In other words, trying to get a real look at 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.600 what how how these giant areas of ice are doing 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.480 because the melt off is happening pretty quick quickly, but 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.240 it's hard to get a good look at it because 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.880 these are pretty remote areas. U a v s can 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.480 give us a much closer look at that. NASA is 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.360 using them to study hurricanes, so we're looking at the 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.920 way hurricanes develop and sort of the paths they take, 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.320 and also how hurricanes how storms can change when they 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.600 start to encounter different types of land masses. This hurricane 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.280 season in particular, NASA is using a lot of drones 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.400 to um to just watch the way storms are developing 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.360 and and send information back. Yeah, they're using what are 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:17.920 called global Hawk drones, which are the same type of 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:21.960 drones that are used in some military surveillance operations. Global 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.800 Hawk is not the most prevalent of the drones that 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:27.680 the military uses, but it's sort of one of the 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.360 precursors to what we tend to use today. We've also 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.520 seen agencies use these drones to study wildfires and to 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.280 get an idea of where the wildfire is spreading. Again, 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.520 obviously a very dangerous situation to send people into. And 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.440 you know, the worst case scenario with a drone in 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.360 this kind of situation is that you lose an expensive 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:52.800 piece of equipment. But the worst case scenario in other 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.720 situations is that you lose human life. So that's obviously 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.000 one of those reasons why it's very attractive for science. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.720 Diffic study also is a bonus. These things can can 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.560 fly lower, slower, and more quietly than um than a 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.679 typical manned aircraft, right, so you can get a longer 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.480 look at things. And perhaps if you're using it even 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:17.439 to study things like wildlife, it's not as likely. Uh. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.120 And and these research vehicles can vary, just like the 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:22.760 U A v's we talked about at the top of 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.520 the show. And and Lauren, I think you found an 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.439 interesting U A V that's being used in scientific research, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.640 something that's actually using solar power. Right, there's something called 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.199 a pathfinder that was built in the nineties for civilian 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:40.000 purposes like collecting data on on weather and the climate. UM. 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.160 It's it's reached. It's it's reached a record of of 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:50.600 height for solar powered aircraft, which is what's that sixty feet? Yeah, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:55.480 which is something like twenty kilometers kilometers. That's that's pretty 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.200 incredible elevation for an unmanned vehicle, right and you know 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.640 not not too and that kind of data is is important. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:09.120 Yep yep. Uh. So other uses for drones include things 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.720 like historic research. I came across an article that was 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.840 interesting was talking about Peruvian archaeologists who were using drones 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.840 to explore ancient ruins without disturbing the area with actual 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.960 vehicle or foot traffic. So they didn't want to disturb 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:28.440 an area that had a lot of cultural and historical significance. Also, 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:33.600 they want to use drones as a way of monitoring 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:35.880 a site, so not just mapping a site, which has 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.480 turned out to be incredibly useful. In fact, I read 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.760 one archaeologist report that said that they were able to 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:43.800 do in a few days the same sort of work 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.960 that normally would take them years to map out a site. 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.520 But they also want to use it in order to 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:54.000 monitor a site and keep people from taking advantage of it. 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:58.880 There are examples of people who have squatted on land 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.360 that's directly a adjacent to historic sites, either as a 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:06.080 means of trying to monetize that or just because they 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.440 figure that by being close to something like that they 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:12.000 are less likely to be displaced. So it's kind of, uh, 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.360 it's this idea of trying to protect the area before 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.960 people try and leverage that in some other way. You 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.160 also have a note about using using this for pest control. Yeah, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.160 Florida is looking at using drones for pest control. Now 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.200 they're not actually talking about arming drones with some sort 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.760 of pesticide and then blasting it at laser mosquitoes, app 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.640 or something like that. They're outfitting all the drones with 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.680 these two giant robot arms that come together in a 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.920 slapping motion and then they're just gonna squish them one 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.400 by one. So that's not true. Now, it's Florida's using 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.080 looking at using drones in a way of controlling the 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.720 mosquito population. Now, mosquitoes obviously can carry lots of different 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.240 diseases that can be very harmful to animals and people, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.120 and they mostly they must be breed in very shallow 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.520 pools of water. Still shallow pools of water. That's where 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:04.760 you get the mosquitoes breeding, you get all the mosquito 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.840 larva and uh, I don't know if you're familiar with 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:11.240 Florida having lived there for so long, only four years. 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.240 So there's some some there's like a little puddle called 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:19.640 the Everglades that's out there where there could that's a 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.720 lot of It's a large area, right, We're talking like 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.080 lots and lots of square miles or kilometers if you prefer, 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.520 that could potentially have this kind of shallow water where 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.960 mosquitoes could breed. Now, traditionally what would happen is Florida 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.960 would send out people to go and cover this ground 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.000 and look for places that would be mosquito breeding grounds 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.680 and then treat those areas so that they could control 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:48.680 the mosquito population somewhat. But that's time consuming and expensive, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.360 and it's it's hard. It's hard to send people out 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.000 and really, you know, covered all that ground, because it 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.160 really is a great deal of ground. There's alligators and 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.400 sometimes crocodiles if you get far enough towards the coast. Anyway, 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.200 the point being that there are many things that could 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.520 potentially cause someone harm or just be difficult to navigate around. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.360 Um and uh not to mention things like boa constrictors 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.280 and anacondas. But more importantly, drones can be used to 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.920 deliver cakes. Okay, yes, alright, so we're going beyond past 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.960 control here, we're going into using drones to deliver things, 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.520 including possibly cake, although that may or may not also 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.160 be a lie. Uh no, no. Drone delivery is something 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.480 that has popped up a few places, and it's mostly, 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.800 I would argue, a kind of us A publicity stunts, 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.200 the marketing. It's not not meant as actual like here 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:46.080 here's service because it is so much more expensive and unreliabing, 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:48.879 and it's still very werek intensive because you still have 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.720 to have someone navigating the drones and in most of 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.800 these cases the drones are remote controlled, so there's actually 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.160 you have to have a car or a person following 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:00.760 the drone right when you could just have that person 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.560 deliver whatever it is. But that's not nearly as cool 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.560 as having this rhodocopter thing dropped from the sky and 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.919 deliver your pizza. And by the way, pizza is one 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.040 of the things in fact Domino's Pizza, the doma coopter 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.160 demacopter this is this is in the UK right, Yeah, 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.320 as in the UK. It was a joint effort between 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.840 Aero Site, which was the company that built the drone, 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.200 a company called Big Communications, in another company called T 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:30.880 Plus Biscuits. It's cute that very very British. Um. And 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.879 so this was a sort of a publicity stunt where 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:38.119 they showed a a quad copter very similar to something 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.960 like the Parrot drone that you could you could look 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.800 up online. There's a quad copter that could carry a 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.920 bag that would contain pizzas. Um, there's a heat bag, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.119 you know. It's one of those that is lined with 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.200 a reflective material on the inside to try and keep 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.879 as much heat in as possible. And I saw a 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.520 video where they loaded one up with two pizzas and 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:02.400 then flew it over some fields into a different, uh 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.399 like neighborhood and landed it near a guy who pulled 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.639 his pizzas out, and then it flew off again. Very clever, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.960 but again mostly just a marketing kind of stunt here. 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.840 It's not something you're not going to get robot delivery 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:17.920 of pizzas because, like you were saying, Lauren, you had 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.840 to have a human pilot who had to have a 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.400 line of sight on this to make sure that they 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:28.840 were not going to pilot into a tree or or 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.240 drop the pizza in the wrong place. I mean, nothing 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.639 is more irritating. I think you'll agree that when you 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.600 order pizza and you find out that you know you're 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.880 you're my pizza drone has delivered to the next house 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:41.560 over right. Yeah, like all those people who listen to 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:43.960 fish all night long at all your pizza, you know 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:46.200 what I'm talking about, Lauren. Anyway, so all the time 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.439 with those pizza drones. Also in Shanghai, China, a company 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.600 called in Cake was was delivering cakes in a very 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.320 similar way. Yeah. Another delivery company in China called SF 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.920 Express was using drunes to deliver packages. The packages could 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.880 weigh up to six point six pounds or just under 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.760 three kilograms, and the drones themselves could fly at an 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.320 elevation of three thirty feet or just over one which 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.320 is pretty high for one of those old quad copters. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.720 Supposedly that that in Cake company got got shut down, 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.479 or the drone delivery system anyway got shut down by 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:22.439 Shanghai police when they got worried calls in from the 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.320 populace saying like I am in danger from this cake Drone. 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.159 There are from this cake drone aliens flying over the 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.640 city and they're dropping confectionery on us. Uh, I think 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.320 we're like three D cakes. I'm still I'm a little 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.840 bit obsessed with this. Yeah, I need some flying cake. 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.440 So in Philadelphia there was a cleaner, a dry cleaner. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:46.240 The men a young cleaners and I'm sure I'm this 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.880 pronouncing that, but any kind of Native American names from 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:54.960 the Northeast are completely beyond my ability to pronounce. But anyway, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.040 this was a dry cleaners that used a drone to 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.080 deliver dry cleaned clothing to cut to mers. But that 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.520 one required two operators, and it required someone who was 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:09.000 holding the controller and also a spotter. There was no camera, right, 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:13.159 most most of these rigs have included cameras, right, But 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.400 like the one the Dominoes, one had a camera bill 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:17.480 it so if you watch the video you can actually 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.000 see it from the the drones point of view as 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:26.080 it flies across the English countryside delivering pizza by by 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.960 by flight. But there's also the Taco copter, which I 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.320 really hope this becomes a thing because I want if 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.160 I could get my tacos delivered by robot I don't 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.720 think I'd ever leave the house. Um to San Francisco 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.240 area Bay Area invite only app where you can order 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.239 tacos and have them delivered via drone. Although it's more 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.399 or less just a concept right now, it's not really 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:52.360 a service. And again, this is one of those things 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.760 where they are talking about waiting for the f a 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.560 a S regulations to really you know, it doesn't make 0:21:57.600 --> 0:21:59.840 sense to pour a lot of money into a business 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:02.560 that might not be able to operate depending upon what 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.280 the FAA's regulations are. Right. Sure that goes along with 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.960 your next note, which is for a burrito bomber. Yes, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.959 Darwin Arrow spaces burrito bomber. It's a drone that drops 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:16.040 burritos on you. But the burritos also have little little parachutes. Yeah, 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:20.480