Amazon's Latest Drone Delivery Promo Answers Zero Important Questions

Surprise! It's Cyber Monday, and Amazon has a flashy but useless delivery drone announcement
via Amazon's Latest Drone Delivery Promo Answers Zero Important Questions

Robot Cars To Join Formula E Racing

Self-driving cars will be the opening act at the 2016-17 season
via Robot Cars To Join Formula E Racing

How Neuromorphic Image Sensors Steal Tricks From the Human Eye

By prioritizing the dynamic parts of a scene, machines can capture images more efficiently
via How Neuromorphic Image Sensors Steal Tricks From the Human Eye

30 Christmas gift ideas for tech-savvy children

Some entertaining and educational options for under the tree, from children’s tablets and coding board games to build-it-yourself robots and stargazer dolls

For parents looking to prise their children away from a life online, there are plenty of tangible, inventive, educational and/or entertaining physical products out there for the tech-savvy children of 2015.

Whether you’re a parent, carer, relative or family friend – and whatever your price range – you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to tech-related presents this year. Here are some of the best examples.

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via 30 Christmas gift ideas for tech-savvy children

FAA Task Force Recommends Registration for All Drones 250 Grams and Up

We take a close look at the FAA Task Force recommendations for mandatory drone registration
via FAA Task Force Recommends Registration for All Drones 250 Grams and Up

2015 Robot Gift Guide

The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s time to celebrate and reflect upon what new robots to get
via 2015 Robot Gift Guide

Drones and Mars 2020 & FAA registration guidelines & DHS privacy guidelines & racing on TV

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Question of the week

Yesterday the FAA released the recommendations of a Task Force (including 3DR) charged with developing best practices and guidelines for a national drone registration program. Remember that these are recommendations, not the final rules, which the FAA plans to announce by Christmas.

Here are the basics:

• Drones between 250 grams (.55 pounds) and 55 pounds that are operated outdoors need to be registered.
• The registration is owner-based, so one number can apply to all the drones an owner has. You can also register using your drones’ manufacturer serial number.
• Registration will be mandatory at the time of operation and not the point of sale.
• The owner’s name and street address will be mandatory (no P.O. Boxes).  Other information, such as email address or cell phone number will be optional.
• No citizenship requirement or information.
• Minimum age to register is 13.
• No fee for registration.
• Registration should be web-based.
• A registration certificate will be emailed or mailed to the owner.
• The owner registration number will need to be put on each drone, or you can register the manufacturer serial number.

Question of the week is simple: What do you think of these proposed guidelines? What works for you, what doesn’t? Suggestions of your own? Drop it all in the comments section below.

And now: all the drone stories fit to post.

Headlines

The FAA Task Force (3DR included) has announced its recommendations for drone registration requirements and process. (The Verge)

3DR leads the commercial drone industry with our first-of-its-kind collaboration with AirMap, an airspace information company. This will allow us to give Solo users fresh and reliable information about airspace rules and warnings wherever they’re flying, available at their fingertips later in 2015 right in the Solo app. (Engadget)

New York City is considering using drones for disaster response, traffic jam monitoring and tree pruning. Unrelated: All of Manhattan is a no-fly zone. (NY Daily News)

A new bill introduced to the South Carolina state senate would prohibit low drone flights over private property — similar to the bill California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed this summer. (WLTX) 

 

Culture and commentary

The Drone Racing League has planned six races in the US for next year. They’d broadcast the races on TV as well as mobile, with courses seen only through the drones’ FPV. (Tech Times)

The New York Times explores the ramifications of drone registration for the holiday shopping season.

Zano Drone, makers of a palm-sized drone — and who raised the largest-ever Kickstarter series in Europe — has folded. Failed Kickstarters may be subject to legal action from their donors. (Ars Technica)

The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to release its privacy guidelines for drone use. The guidelines don’t apply to hobbyist drones, but to drones in civil use, such as border patrol and law enforcement. (Wall Street Journal)

 

Tech

The aerospace and defense firm Aero Kinetics released a study that suggests toy drones pose a bigger threat than birds to manned aircraft in all phases of flight. (Aero Kinetics)

Patrick Meier, a global leader in the humanitarian drone sphere, has announced the creation of WeRobotics. WeRobotics is a global network of labs — with partners in industry, research and academic spheres — which will develop ways to integrate robots (drones included) ethically, effectively and efficiently into different regions, in order to maximize their utility in a humanitarian framework. (iRevolution)

The Mars 2020 rover might have a companion flying drone. In 2009, the Spirit rover got stuck in a sand trap and died there. An aerial drone would serve as a scout to keep the 2020 rover from meeting such an ignominious end. The addition of the aerial perspective might triple the distance the rover can travel in a day. (Popular Science)

 

Video

Last week San Francisco hosted the Flying Robot International Film Festival — here are the winning videos. 3DR sponsored, I attended, and more than a few entries blew my skull apart. Can’t wait to see what this festival looks like next year, with the addition of Smart Shots. (Eddie.com)

The post Drones and Mars 2020 & FAA registration guidelines & DHS privacy guidelines & racing on TV appeared first on 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology.

via Drones and Mars 2020 & FAA registration guidelines & DHS privacy guidelines & racing on TV

Announcing Solo App Version 1.3: GoPro control

Comprehensive GoPro control has arrived in the Solo App! In addition to other feature improvements, version 1.3 brings you in-flight access to GoPro camera settings. In the last release (1.2.1) you got the ability to toggle between standard video mode (shoot up to 4k w/ HERO 4 Black) and photo mode. Now you can use your Solo App to adjust the below settings on your HERO 4 Black (click here for HERO 4 Silver specs; here for Hero3+ Black), while you’re flying.

Can’t stop, won’t stop: In coming weeks we’ll release more new features for your Solo, including incorporating industry-first safe flight zone information from AirMap. You can learn more about that here. Other cool features soon to follow. Promise: You will say whoa.

To have the new functionality of this latest app update, you need to update both the Solo App and the Solo firmware. App updates are available on the App Store and Google Play, depending on your mobile platform, and the Solo firmware can be updated through the app. You can confirm that you’re using the latest versions right in the Solo App. Just go to settings -> system info.

Here’s the App store link (iOS).

Here’s the Google Play link (Android).

Here’s what your system info screen will look like if you’re all up to date:

 

GoPro settings:

1. Video Resolution: Choose from a number of resolution options, including 4K, 2.7k, and 1080p
2. Photo Resolution: Shoot up to 12 MP stills, with the option to select different resolutions. Different resolutions produce different detail and different file sizes: higher resolution gets you higher detail, but generally bigger file sizes.
3. Auto Low-Light Mode: Your GoPro will automatically change ISO to account for lower light shooting scenarios.
4. Protune on/off: Toggle GoPro’s protune feature.
5. Video Frame-rate: Adjust how many frames your GoPro captures per second. Useful because different frame rates give your video different feels: 24fps or 30fps are what you’re used to seeing on film; 60fps is good for action; and 120fps allows you to transform your footage into slow-mo.
6. Video Field of View: Choose between a wide, medium or narrow frame

Combined, the three main camera settings — resolution, frame-rate and field of view — determine the fundamental look and feel of your video. Here’s what we mean:

When you shoot 4K (best resolution quality) at 30 fps, you can only shoot with a wide field of view. These settings allow you to capture the most of the world around you.

However, we recommend using these settings to optimize your Solo video: 2.7k @ 60 fps in medium FOV. This setting makes your aerials feel more fluid (because an increased frame rate has smoother look) and, unlike shooting 4k, 2.7k allows you to shoot in a medium field of view, for perfectly justified video.

Shooting in 1080p is great for slo-mo, because in this mode you can shoot at 120 fps, which allows you to slow frames down in post and capture dynamic action moments in slow-mo.

 

Other updates in 1.3

• Improved the tracking performance and smoothness of the Follow Smart Shot
• You can now record video straight to your Solo App on Android devices
• Smart Return Home: Solo won’t climb as high to return if it’s close to home. Solo will always climb a minimum of 2.5m. Click here for a full explanation of how this works.
• Tuned vehicle flight performance for smoother footage
• Solo will not enter Return Home due to battery failsafe if it is already in Land mode
• Sharper white LEDs
• New sound when Solo powers off
• Refined stick control
• Reduced haptic feedback on the controller
• More clear alert for low controller battery
• Solo can now take pictures through the Tower app – useful for taking pictures in certain locations for mapping applications

Note: PAL support available in coming update.

The post Announcing Solo App Version 1.3: GoPro control appeared first on 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology.

via Announcing Solo App Version 1.3: GoPro control

Goodbye privacy, hello Alexa: here's to Amazon echo, the home robot who hears it all

We had Rory Carroll invite ‘Alexa’ aka the Echo into his home. There was helpful cooking assistance, endless facts and figures, an amusing misunderstanding – and concerns over what exactly Amazon does with all that interaction data

The experiment with having a robot in my home was going well – useful exchanges, mutual learning, some bonding – right up until the robot thought I told it to “fuck off”. I hadn’t. But the robot was convinced. It flashed its blue light and scolded me in a tone mixing hurt, disappointment and reprimand: “That’s not very nice to say.”

I could have laughed. Or shrugged. Or bristled, saying it had erred and should pay more attention before leaping to conclusions. I could have unplugged the thing.

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via Goodbye privacy, hello Alexa: here's to Amazon echo, the home robot who hears it all

Video Friday: Cyborg Athletes, Drone Drop Test, and Robot Makes Sandwiches

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
via Video Friday: Cyborg Athletes, Drone Drop Test, and Robot Makes Sandwiches

Researchers Teaching Robots How to Best Reject Orders from Humans

​There's no better opportunity to ask, What could possibly go wrong?
via Researchers Teaching Robots How to Best Reject Orders from Humans

NASA Awards R5 Valkyrie Robots to MIT and Northeastern

Robotics labs at MIT and Northeastern will both get their very own "superhero robot" on loan
via NASA Awards R5 Valkyrie Robots to MIT and Northeastern

Iran Demonstrates New Humanoid Robot Surena III

University of Tehran researchers unveiled yesterday the latest generation of their adult-sized humanoid
via Iran Demonstrates New Humanoid Robot Surena III

Parrot Pitches BeBop 2 Drone As “Flying Image Processor”

The only moving parts are the propellers
via Parrot Pitches BeBop 2 Drone As “Flying Image Processor”

3DR Collaborates with AirMap to Integrate Flight Safety Zone Software into the Solo App

3DR, North America’s largest drone manufacturer, has collaborated with AirMap to put accurate and automatically updated in-app flight safety zone information at the fingertips of all 3DR Solo® users.

Nov. 16, Berkeley, CA – Today 3DR announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with AirMap, a company that provides flight zone information for drone users and RC pilots around the world. 3DR will integrate AirMap’s safety information software into its Solo smart drone app in anticipation of the coming holiday season. It’s the first time that drone software has been able to directly deliver reliable safety information to users.

“We’ve made drones really easy to fly,” said 3DR CEO and co-founder Chris Anderson. “With Solo, for instance, we built software into the drone that made it automatic to get the kind of cinematic video you want. This dramatically reduced the amount of practice that used to be necessary back when drones were difficult to fly. Now, we want to make flying as safe as it is easy. Supplementing the Solo app with AirMap’s robust and reliable real-time airspace information allows us to increase education with a seamless and enjoyable drone experience.”

AirMap software continually pulls and compiles airspace information and displays the restricted, warning and informational areas on a map. If Solo users open their Solo app in a restricted area, they’ll see a yellow (warning) or red (don’t fly here) circle. Users can then tap the circle to bring up a map that displays any airspace information in the area, along with information about the type of restriction. This airspace information includes real-time Temporary Flight Restrictions that may be established in the areas around wildfires, major sporting events and other sensitive places.

The Solo app will contain basic airspace information: federal guidelines (e.g., five miles from an airport); national parks; airbases, etc.

“Drones are a powerful, important and increasingly popular technology, and we want to make it easy for people to fly them safely,” said Ben Marcus, co-founder and CEO of AirMap. “We collaborate with industry leaders like 3DR to give drone users the information they need to make decisions about where to fly.”

Though the effort is now getting off the ground, with future updates the Solo smart drone app will display more detailed and nuanced airspace information piped directly from AirMap. This will include state and local regulations in addition to federal rules.

To learn more about Solo and the Solo App, visit 3drobotics.com/solo.

To learn more about AirMap, visit www.airmap.io.

—

About 3DR:

3DR is the smartest and most technologically advanced drone company in the world. As North America’s largest personal drone manufacturer, 3DR makes advanced and easy-to-use drone technology friendly to consumers and pros alike, including their flagship product, Solo, the world’s first smart drone. Led by New York Times best-selling author and former editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine Chris Anderson, 3DR creates technologies and professional tools specifically designed to make drone photography easy for beginners and pros alike. With a Series C round of V.C. funding led by Qualcomm, 3DR is the first company to fully integrate drone and smartphone technology. For more information on 3DR, please visit http://ift.tt/Q1Yqf7.

About AirMap:

AirMap is the leading provider of airspace information and services for drones. AirMap’s real-time services are available to manufacturers through an API and through an SDK for application developers. The founders of AirMap are among the world’s foremost experts on drone technology, aviation, and policy. The company believes that drones are changing the world in incredible ways, and that providing accurate airspace information empowers innovators to deliver valuable products and services to end users. AirMap is a Consumer Technology Association Innovation Award Winner, a member of the Small UAV Coalition, Dronecode Foundation, AUVSI, NASA Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) program, and serves on the FAA’s UAS registration task force.

AirMap Communications Contact: Megan House

Email: media@airmap.io

The post 3DR Collaborates with AirMap to Integrate Flight Safety Zone Software into the Solo App appeared first on 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology.

via 3DR Collaborates with AirMap to Integrate Flight Safety Zone Software into the Solo App

Robots, Robots, Everywhere (at San Francisco Startup Launches)

Robotic hands-free luggage, store-roaming inventory-checking robots, door-to door-delivery bots—plus an under $1000 all-purpose one-armed robot that runs ROS
via Robots, Robots, Everywhere (at San Francisco Startup Launches)

Same old beneficiaries of the robots ruse | Letters

Every few decades since the 1950s, there is another automation scare (Letters, 10 November). Yet each new wave of automation displaces less labour than predicted. I investigated the last of these predictions in the 1990s about the imminent computer integrated factory (Forcing the Factory of the Future, 1997). By and large it didn’t happen. However sophisticated the systems, workers are still needed to fill in the unexpected and non-standard tasks. Investments are costly and labour is always cheaper somewhere in the world: today in east Asia and eastern Europe. As in previous episodes it is usually those who would gain from the hype being taken seriously, eg banks (for the capital borrowing) and consultancies (for the expensive advice), who are in the vanguard of propagating it.
Bryn Jones
Social and policy sciences, University of Bath

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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via Same old beneficiaries of the robots ruse | Letters

Megabots v Kuratas: US and Japan battle it out for robot supremacy

California startup’s robot isn’t quite ready to take on Kuratas but founders confident ‘Team USA’ can win as Japanese firm accepts challenge

They’ve been popularized in movies, television and video games, but giant fighting robots still haven’t left the realm of science fiction. That will soon change.

Megabots Inc, an Oakland, California-based startup, has built a 15ft (4.5m) mechanical gladiator called the Mark II and challenged a Japanese firm to an international battle for robot supremacy.

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via Megabots v Kuratas: US and Japan battle it out for robot supremacy

When a robot car makes a mistake, a human always gets the ticket

Whether it’s the person sitting in the vehicle or the one who designed it, where responsibility lies when a robot car commits a traffic offence is not always clear

When a California cop pulled over a Google self-driving car for holding up traffic last week, he knew he couldn’t send its robot driver to jail. But exactly where the responsibility lies for traffic offences caused by autonomous vehicles is not always so clear.

Related: Self-driving cars are the future, but there’s a tech traffic jam in their path

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via When a robot car makes a mistake, a human always gets the ticket

Video Friday: Shape-Changing Interface, Robot Pro-Wrestling, and 3D-Printed Humanoid

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
via Video Friday: Shape-Changing Interface, Robot Pro-Wrestling, and 3D-Printed Humanoid

Google’s self-driving car gets pulled over for driving too slowly

Automated vehicle caused traffic jam while travelling at just 24mph in a 35mph zone, causing police to pull the car over

They’ve driven 1.2m miles, and haven’t managed to get a speeding ticket yet – but a self-driving Google car got in trouble with the law on Thursday.

The car was stopped by a Mountain View traffic officer on the El Camino Real, a public road near Google’s main campus in California, not for breaking the speed limit or erratic driving, but for travelling 24mph in a 35mph zone and causing a big queue of traffic.

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via Google’s self-driving car gets pulled over for driving too slowly

Uncanny valley: why we find human-like robots and dolls so creepy | Stephanie Lay

It seems obvious that the more human robots are, the more familiar we find them. But it’s only true up to a point – then we find them disturbing

The “uncanny valley” is a characteristic dip in emotional response that happens when we encounter an entity that is almost, but not quite, human. It was first hypothesised in 1970 by the Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori, who identified that as robots became more human-like, people would find them to be more acceptable and appealing than their mechanical counterparts. But this only held true to up a point. When they were close to, but not quite, human, people developed a sense of unease and discomfort. If human-likeness increased beyond this point, and they became very close to human, the emotional response returned to being positive. It is this distinctive dip in the relationship between human-likeness and emotional response that is called the uncanny valley.

Related: Artificial intelligence: ‘Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us’

A compelling area for research is that it occurs because of mismatches between the robot’s appearance and/or behaviour

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via Uncanny valley: why we find human-like robots and dolls so creepy | Stephanie Lay

Bosch's Giant Robot Can Punch Weeds to Death

A modular agricultural robot from Bosch startup Deepfield Robotics deals with weeds the old fashioned way: violently
via Bosch's Giant Robot Can Punch Weeds to Death

How to Design a Robot You Can Swallow

Vanderbilt researchers launch open-source platform for make-your-own ingestible capsule robots
via How to Design a Robot You Can Swallow

The Real History of Drones, Part One: The Civil War and San Francisco in ruins

In this ongoing series we’ll tackle the long, weird and important history of drones, trying to answer a single guiding question: Just how did we get here?

The first transmission

On July 16, 1861, Abraham Lincoln walked out onto the White House lawn and looked up. The Civil War had been on for a few months, but aside from the initial Battle of Fort Sumter that April it hadn’t exactly been raging. Earlier that day, however, Lincoln’s Union Army marched out of Washington towards Manassas, VA, 25 miles away, where they would meet their first defeat at the Battle of Bull Run.

But for now Lincoln was looking up. Five hundred feet above him, Professor Thaddeus Lowe floated in a giant hot-air balloon.

Professor Lowe was a bit of an eccentric but also an expert ballooner, one of three that Lincoln had invited to DC to demonstrate the value of the aerial perspective to a military campaign. This was right on the heels off Lowe’s three failed attempts to hijack the jet stream and cross the Atlantic. His third and wildly wayward attempt just a few months earlier had actually landed him in, of all places, South Carolina, where he was unsurprisingly held for a time as a Union spy.

So you could say he had a lot to prove — both to himself and for himself. At the time, military leaders were highly skeptical of both the feasibility and the value of aerial reconnaissance: Balloons — big, heavy and slow to action — didn’t strike them as the most apt piece of battlefield equipment; was the view from above worth it? More importantly, balloons didn’t even seem to work, with Thaddeus’s own series of failures serving a particularly cutting example.

In fact, the aerial perspective wasn’t new to war. Balloons had already proven valuable to Napoleon, who used them in the 1790s for battlefield reconnaissance and mapmaking. And as far back as the third century the Chinese had flown rudimentary balloon lanterns to signal troops. But Lowe’s flight on the White House lawn was different in a significant way.

Lowe had a telegraph operator on board with him. Together they floated Thaddeus’s balloon — The Enterprise — to an altitude of about 500 feet over Lincoln’s stovepipe hat. A telegraph cable ran from the balloon’s gondola down to where the president stood on the lawn. Soon Lincoln held this message in his hands:

Balloon Enterprise

Washington, D. C. 16 June 1861

To President United States: 

This point of observation commands an area nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city with its girdle of encampments presents a superb scene. I have the pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station.

It was the first-ever electronic data transmission from the air.

THADDEUS LOWE ASCENDING OVER THE BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES

Three days later Lowe found himself in the employment of the Union Army. He flew reconnaissance missions over the Battle of Bull Run, which turned out to be a surprising mess for the Union, with some of the Confederate guerrilla tactics taking them off guard. Lowe delivered actionable strategic information from the air where ground recon failed, though the battle still was lost.

And at one point so was Lowe: He experienced a flyaway that trumps that of any drone owner, landing him once again behind enemy lines. He injured himself, and his wife Leontine — Thaddeus had named The Enterprise’s lifeboat after her — disguised herself as an old woman and came to his rescue.

I’m not sure that last part of the story is 100% true.

But overall the Army considered Lowe’s mission a success. Lincoln later named Lowe “Chief Aeronaut” of the newly-minted Union Army Balloon Corps, and for a couple of years he had a more or less successful run before the corps dissolved. During that time Lowe managed to launch a few balloons from a Union warship, making it the world’s first aircraft carrier.

The aerial information age was coming into its own.

Then and now

Obviously a lot has happened since Lowe sent that first transmission: We’ve removed the pilot; we’ve removed the cable; we’ve removed the balloon and the need to fly it yourself and have reduced the mass of an aerial vehicle by several orders of magnitude. We’ve also integrated cameras, hyperspectral sensors, sonar, smartphones and now, a la Solo, even computers. But the driving force behind the consumer drone revolution today is largely the same force that made Abraham Lincoln look up 150 years ago: People want to know what their world looks like from above.

Unfortunately, as is the case with those first balloons, a great deal of the history of drones involves the military, as the nightly news over the past decade or so has made so very clear.

However, the trickle-down effect from military to widespread civilian use applies to a lot of our most innovative and revolutionary technology — cargo shorts, for instance. And today, thanks more to the consumer electronics and smartphone revolutions than to military technology, the trajectory of drones points in a much different and much more constructive direction.

In this series I’ll tell, best I can, the whole story of drones, from theaters of war to the shelves of Walmart. We’ll look at exactly what a drone is and what they’re becoming, as well as consider the history of privacy rights, the DIY movement, even implications for augmented reality, artificial intelligence and the developing automation economy. We’ll also tell the stories of singular and fascinating characters who have contributed to this technology, such as Professor Lowe.

Wish me luck.

Lowe, by the way, recused himself from the Union Army Balloon Corps after the army cut his salary by 70%. He later developed a chemical gas-extraction process that made him a multi-millionaire. He invested in the railroad and later an extravagant chalet at the Grand Canyon, overextending himself as was the poor guy’s wont, and then promptly went bankrupt and died a pauper in his daughter’s house.

Sometimes the dreamer moves faster than the dream.

This unfortunate theme pops up again and again in the history of the American entrepreneur. It can get depressing. So by way of contrast, I’d like to offer up another great aviator story — this one unmanned.

San Francisco in Ruins

In April of 1906 an earthquake with a magnitude 7.8 struck San Francisco, killing about 3,000 people and destroying 80% of the city. People felt it from Oregon to south of LA and inland to Nevada. Because the quake ruptured the water mains, firefighters couldn’t control the blazes, and the city burned for several days.

Only a few weeks after the quake, George Lawrence, an expert in kite photography, traveled to San Francisco to photograph it from above. He saw destruction so immense and severe that if it weren’t for him, it would be difficult for us to grasp today.

Lawrence had with him an aerial kite photography system of his own design, consisting of sixteen kites, several counterweights and loads of cable. It probably took about a mile of cable for him to fly his 49-lb camera 2,000 feet above the city. Lawrence and his partner used binoculars to make sure the lens was positioned exactly where they wanted it, then they triggered the shutter from the ground with an electrical pulse sent from a hand-cranked generator.

“SAN FRANCISCO IN RUINS”

The result was the world’s first high-resolution aerial photo, which Lawrence titled “San Francisco in Ruins.” It’s an impressive photo even today — even to a guy who works for a drone company and sees incredible high-res aerial imagery all the time. (Though that fisheye is an easy fix in post.) The composition alone is remarkable, considering he had to spot the lens from the ground, and the kite’s position and stability was entirely at the mercy of the wind and the counterbalancing system Lawrence had rigged. You can see straight up Market Street, a main thoroughfare even back then. Everything looks flattened, but the city appears peaceful in its devastation, the sun settled calmly in a cloud over the Golden Gate. It even looks functional, with boats in the harbor. Lawrence sold enough prints to earn him $400,000 in today’s dollars.

A few things to note about Lawrence’s photograph. First, the New York Times claims that, thanks to the proliferation of cameras at the turn of the century, the San Francisco earthquake was at the time the most widely photographed disaster in history. Still, Lawrence’s aerial perspective stands out. This is not unlike the difference between smartphone cameras and aerial imagery today.

More importantly, the flight was unmanned. In fact, like Lowe, Lawrence used to ascend in hot-air balloons to get his aerials, but he shifted to kites after a fall from an altitude of 200 feet nearly killed him. He decided unmanned flight was the safer route, a choice we’re making today.

This photograph also shows the promise that the aerial perspective holds for disaster assessment and relief operations. We no longer have to wait weeks to have a comprehensive view of a large area; we can get the images and information we need immediately. Now, instead of merely reflecting on tragic beauty, we can act.

The post The Real History of Drones, Part One: The Civil War and San Francisco in ruins appeared first on 3DR | Drone & UAV Technology.

via The Real History of Drones, Part One: The Civil War and San Francisco in ruins

Thinking machines: the skilled jobs that robots could steal

Analysts warn that automation is now affecting mental labour as well as physical. So what tasks are vulnerable to the rise of the robots?

The fear that robots will destroy jobs and leave a great mass of people languishing in unemployment is almost as old as automation itself. And yet, from the Luddites onwards, the fears have been eventually proved wrong, and the economy has ended up stronger than before.

Related: Robots threaten low-paid jobs, says Bank of England's chief economist

Related: Will robots create more jobs than they destroy?

Related: The journalists who never sleep

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via Thinking machines: the skilled jobs that robots could steal

Robots threaten low-paid jobs, says Bank of England's chief economist

Speaking at the TUC, Andy Haldane says a wider array of jobs are at risk from automation than in the past

The Bank of England’s chief economist has warned that millions of jobs in Britain are at risk over the coming decades as machines do work that up until now has been the preserve of humans.

Andy Haldane used a speech to the Trades Union Congress to sketch out a possible future in which the labour market was “hollowed out” by the increasing use of robots, widening the gap between rich and poor.

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via Robots threaten low-paid jobs, says Bank of England's chief economist

Drone Download: The real crime edition

Question of the week

Lots of stories this week about drone laws and those who break them.

The biggest headline: The federal task force assigned to developing registration guidelines for recreational drones has apparently reached some conclusions after the first few days of discussions. No final calls yet, and the talks continue this week. Here’s the best we know:

• Registration will be free
• It will be web- and app-based
• You’ll probably need to put a registration number on your drone
• Registration will be required of users, not manufacturers
• Still unclear what the penalty would be for failure to comply

Registration will help law enforcement trace and properly attribute rogue drones, which today is next to impossible. 3DR supports registration in principle, but we don’t want it to intrude on people’s enjoyment of recreational droning. It’s also unclear what this will mean for the DIY crowd, who assemble their own kits.

So the question this week: How do you think these requirements stack up? Fair? Unfair? Suggestions of your own? Hit me up in the comments below.

And now the best links from last week.

 

Headlines

The federal task force charged with creating rules for federal drone registration (3DR is an advisor) seems likely to make recreational drone registration free of charge, available over the web or through a mobile app. Recreational users would also be required to physically put a registration number on their drone. (Reuters)

The US Bureau of Prisons has been sufficiently alarmed by the many recent attempts to break into prisons with drones. They’re asking for technology that prisons can use to detect and deflect drones on their way to drop contraband into prison yards. (Forbes)

The Japanese government plans to integrate delivery drones within three years. (Japan News)

The US has called for other countries to join us in opening radio spectra for drones and global flight tracking systems. (Tech Radar)

The NYPD seems to be adding recreational drone users to its terrorist watch list. (CBS NY)

 

Culture and commentary

Talk about DroneCon: The incredible story of drone maker Prioria, who allegedly swindled the US Army out of millions of dollars by selling them a drone system that has the capabilities of many $1000 hobbyist drones. Prioria’s systems, called Maveric, cost the Army $240,000 a pop. (Motherboard)

Are you the Chuck Yeager of drones? If you’ve got the right stuff, Alphabet (née Google) is hiring expert RC pilots to test fly drones for its Project Wing delivery program. They’re also hiring pilots to test fly the Solara drones that they plan to use to deliver web access by radar to countries without a robust internet infrastructure. (Business Insider)

A drone allegedly crashed into a small plane in Costa Rica. However, here are six questions about that crash whose answers might complicate the narrative. Although the questions are pretty specific, they’re also important to keep in mind when investigating any similar reported incident. (Robotics Trends)

At Aerospace America, Michael Peck takes an in-depth look at what might happen if a consumer drone strikes an airplane. 

 

Tech

Facebook and Alphabet advance their rival plans to deliver internet via drone. (The Guardian)

A new drone video game called Drone n Bass (for some reason a reference to electronic music genre Drum & Bass) allows you to race and even battle small drones. Like Mario Kart, the game includes virtual rewards and traps that help or hurt you along the way. It’s still just a Kickstarter, having reached $22,000 of its $77,000 goal, and with 24 days to go the race is on. (GeekWire)

Transforming drones into holograms: Researchers at Queens University are developing augmented reality technology that would allow users to physically manipulate drones in flight. They offer the example of using the drones to manipulate the orientation of a holographic building displayed in front of you. (Tech Times)

The forever drone: A new surveillance drone uses a tether both to receive power and transmit data, theoretically allowing it to fly indefinitely. (Technology Review)

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Getting the Shot: The Aran Eversman Aviator Edition

Alpha 2, a Humanoid Robot With Social Skills, Is Now on Indiegogo

UBTECH Robotics has big plans for this small and affordable robot
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The Best Robots at IROS 2015

Meet six of the most interesting robots from the 2015 IROS expo hall
via The Best Robots at IROS 2015

Disney Software Makes It Easy to Design and Print Custom Walking Robots

In minutes, you (yes, even you) can design a complex, customized walking robot
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The Manual Manual

Solo isn’t all Smart Shots and pushbutton flight. It’s also a powerful and fun drone to fly. Here’s a look at some of Solo’s manual flight characteristics, as well as a few pro tips for how to apply them to video.

 

What do we mean by manual flight?

First we need to make a distinction between two types of “manual” flight. First, there’s “Fly” mode: flying and shooting with Solo without the assistance of its automatic Smart Shots, but with GPS connection. This is Solo’s default flight mode. The other manual mode—“Fly:Manual”—is more advanced. It’s a largely a flight failsafe, but offers some unique benefits to shooting aerial video.

 

Fly mode

Solo’s default mode. In Fly you use the joysticks to control Solo, and its position and altitude are maintained with the assistance of satellite-guided (GPS) flight. When you let go of the sticks, Solo’s GPS lock brings the copter to a quick stop and holds it in place. GPS also enables Solo’s other flight features—Smart Shots, Pause and Return Home.

Solo comes pre-configured in “beginner” mode, meaning the copter reacts to your joystick commands smoothly and gradually. As the name makes clear, it’s a good way to learn how to fly.

However, you can go into Solo’s settings in the app and change these performance characteristics so Solo responds more aggressively. This means Solo both accelerates faster and hits the brakes faster. With top speeds of 55 mph, Solo’s a beast, more powerful than any other consumer drone.

We’ve made these high-performance characteristics so robust that even at its most aggressive Solo responds to your inputs immediately. Let go of the sticks at any speed and Solo will bring itself to an immediate halt. With GPS lock steadying it when you let off the sticks, it’s the ultimate RC copter.

We call this performance Solo’s “tune”—basically meaning its responsiveness, or its ability to rebound from deflections. “Deflections” include wind as well as extreme moves or simply letting go of the sticks. This responsiveness also applies to Pause, which yanks Solo to an immediate and impressive stop.

 

Fly video

With low performance settings, Solo responds to inputs with gradual acceleration and deceleration. We recommend using lower performance settings for shooting video, because your shots will be smoother. We’ve also built a little bit of drift into these lower settings, so your video has a smoother finish when Solo hits its final mark. With a jerky stop, your video audience might similarly be jerked out of their suspense of disbelief and realize that there’s a drone involved.

As for some tips, first you’ll want to go soft on the sticks. This means making continual incremental adjustments. When you let go, Solo wants to use GPS to lock itself into position. But with continual soft inputs (we call this “feathering”), you have more control over the copter’s movement.

It’s probably helpful to think of the joysticks the way you would an accelerator pedal on a car. Typically you don’t suddenly apply and release pressure on the accelerator, you ease off it to slow down, and, unless you’re punching hard to accelerate, you’ll also apply gradual pressure to speed up. To maintain speed you apply a little pressure, and to change speed smoothly you regulate that pressure accordingly. Joysticks work the same way.

 

Fly:Manual

You don’t need GPS lock to fly Solo—you can also fly completely manually with Fly:Manual mode. When you flip Solo into Fly:Manual you fly it like you’d fly any RC vehicle. And if you’re in an area with limited GPS availability, you can still fly in Fly:Manual.

First you should know that Fly:Manual is Solo’s failsafe mode. If you lose GPS lock in the air, Solo flips into Fly:Manual so you can maintain control. If this happens we recommend you land Solo and wait for it to acquire GPS again.

But the more fun stuff. In Fly:Manual, Solo automatically maintains its altitude for you, but you’re totally responsible for controlling position. (You can of course adjust altitude, but when you let go of the left stick Solo holds its altitude.)

Because your inputs determine Solo’s position, when you let go of the right stick (position) Solo will drift on a flat plane according to its momentum. Think of this like ice-skating in the sky: Without the GPS brake, it’s like Solo’s on a slippery surface, a plane with less “friction,” so the copter will continue to drift in whatever direction it’s deflected in. Again “deflections” could be your inputs and Solo’s momentum, as well as outside factors like wind.

 

Advanced tips for Fly:Manual video

The cool thing about shooting aerial video in Fly:Manual is that gradual “skating” drift. Because Solo stays level as it drifts, your video will have a smooth and straight aerial “dolly” effect.

To achieve this dolly effect, you want to give Solo a gradual input, then ease off of that input and let Solo’s momentum carry it smoothly through your shot.

Unlike Fly mode, in Fly:Manual Solo doesn’t want to stay in place. This means that when you’re shooting, you might want to consider letting Solo’s momentum be your baseline speed. This will make for the smoothest video, rather than continually starting and stopping. Again, it’s just like interacting with your car’s momentum. Ease on and off the sticks, feathering them like you’d feather your accelerator, without worrying about Solo immediately slowing itself to a stop to acquire GPS hold.

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The robot revolution and other great transformations in the nature of work | Letters

Deborah Orr (We are fools to think robots make the future better, 7 November) makes a point about the industrial revolution, but gets it backwards. Yes, children worked in poor conditions, as did their parents, but the countryside emptied as the towns filled up because a horrible job in a factory was (and still is in much of the developing world) a better life than as an agricultural labourer.

The towns offered wages, improved living conditions, access to better food and the opportunity for continuing education. It is also much easier for labour to organise in an urban setting than scattered across the countryside. If you don’t believe me, you could always ask the hundreds of millions of Chinese who have done exactly as we did as their country industrialised.
Geoff Jago
Hemswell, Lincolnshire

Related: Artificial intelligence: ‘Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us’

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Artificial intelligence: ‘Homo sapiens will be split into a handful of gods and the rest of us’

A new report suggests that the marriage of AI and robotics could replace so many jobs that the era of mass employment could come to an end

If you wanted relief from stories about tyre factories and steel plants closing, you could try relaxing with a new 300-page report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch which looks at the likely effects of a robot revolution.

But you might not end up reassured. Though it promises robot carers for an ageing population, it also forecasts huge numbers of jobs being wiped out: up to 35% of all workers in the UK and 47% of those in the US, including white-collar jobs, seeing their livelihoods taken away by machines.

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Graphene Paper Transforms as Tiny Origami Robots

Tiny graphene devices capable of folding in response to laser light could inspire future microrobots
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Video Friday: Breakfast Robot, Programmable Matter, and Exploding Ping Pong Balls

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
via Video Friday: Breakfast Robot, Programmable Matter, and Exploding Ping Pong Balls

Toyota to Invest $1 Billion in AI and Robotics R&D

The Japanese automaker is establishing a Silicon Valley research facility and hiring hundreds of engineers to advance AI for cars and robots
via Toyota to Invest $1 Billion in AI and Robotics R&D

Work in the year 2525, if man is still alive… | Letters

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch report (Resistance is useless, 5 November) misses the point. As robots take over the jobs in the service industries of bankers, doctors and drivers, as well as many manufacturing jobs, there is the potential for many new directions, with associated jobs. This fourth industrial revolution, led by robots, signals both doom and opportunity – but this time the route taken rests even more on intelligent human reaction: in this case, education. 

Related: Robot revolution: rise of 'thinking' machines could exacerbate inequality

Related: Robot doctors and lawyers? It’s a change we should embrace | Daniel Susskind

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Robot revolution: rise of machines could displace a third of UK jobs

Global economy will be transformed over next 20 years at risk of growing inequality, say analysts

A “robot revolution” will transform the global economy over the next 20 years, cutting the costs of doing business but exacerbating social inequality, as machines take over everything from caring for the elderly to flipping burgers, according to a new study.

As well as robots performing manual jobs, such as hoovering the living room or assembling machine parts, the development of artificial intelligence means computers are increasingly able to “think”, performing analytical tasks once seen as requiring human judgment.

Related: Robot doctors and lawyers? It’s a change we should embrace | Daniel Susskind

Related: Robots can take over some of our jobs. But some things only humans can do | Brooks Rainwater

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Watch This Massive Drone Launch and Recover Another Drone in Flight

The FLARES system uses one enormous drone to launch (and capture) another
via Watch This Massive Drone Launch and Recover Another Drone in Flight

Life After Gravity Field Notes: Episode Two

“Actually a root word of technology, techne originally meant ‘art.’ The ancient Greeks never separated art from manufacture in their minds, and so never developed separate words for them.”

– Robert Pirsig, Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Welcome to the second episode of our original sci-fi miniseries, Life After Gravity. Each episode will be accompanied by one of these blogs in which we’ll dive deep into the technical details that went into filming it.

 

Background

The whole concept behind Solo is simple: Make it easy for anyone to get cinematic shots. We’re filming this miniseries on Solo—and only on Solo—to illustrate just what this means for filmmaking. For most of these shots we used Solo’s Smart Shot technology, which not only makes it easy, but gives each shot a polish nearly impossible to replicate with a professional pilot.

We also wanted to illustrate that you can now tell an enormous story—this one is on a global scale—on a limited budget. Solo is an entire video production unit in a backpack: Most of the costs of production went to travel; other costs were relatively negligible.

Smart Shots are only possible because of Solo’s 1 GHz companion computer that works with the traditional autopilot system, and a gimbal that functions intelligently within that system. This means Solo not only flies on set tracks in space, but can actually point the camera for you, allowing you to set not only flight paths but also frame-to-frame narration.

The significance of Smart Shots wasn’t at first obvious even to us until we started shooting this series. But with these blogs and the behind-the-scenes field reports, we’ll show you everything Smart Shots can do.

Here’s how Smart Shots contributed to the second episode.

 

Episode two field notes

In Episode 2 (watch here!), a lab team from EON—a global, trillion-dollar corporation with as-yet unknown motives—tests what seems to be a supernatural element discovered in a cave in the Mexican jungle during episode one. They call this element “the anomaly.” The anomaly, we learn in this episode, appears to have powers that affect and possibly even defy gravity.

The element they’ve discovered is the “6th Signature.” EON is using this element, which was delivered from somewhere in space, to test for gravitational anomalies based on the lifefield resonance. This is represented here in the animations around the technicians at the Otomi site with a “.Hu” unit of measurement (1 Hu is the median lifefield resonance of a human) as well as with particle effects in the UI shots.

Here’s how we used Solo to tell this part of the story.

The Calakmul Building, Mexico City

Title card shot: Eon Space Agency – Cable cam

This shot is a testament to Solo’s usefulness as a run-n-gun tool that allows you to shoot spontaneously.

This building—Mexico City’s Calakmul Building (named after a pre-Hispanic Mayan city, and nicknamed “the washing machine”)—wasn’t on the initial shot list. In fact, the shot wasn’t picked up by our team at all, but by a local production team who on the way to the shoot saw the strange structure from the freeway and thought it’d be a nice complement for the film. And if they pulled over quickly to get Solo in the air and shoot it, it wouldn’t impact the shot schedule for the rest of the day. So they parked on the side of the freeway, put their blinkers on, got Solo up in the air and set a Cable cam.

Like a similar shot in the last episode, they set Solo’s first frame close in so the viewer can’t tell just what this structure is. Then Solo pulls back along its cable from the first keyframe to the last, revealing as the frame expands the full building and the context of Mexico City. And because you can engage with Solo even when it’s in fully automatic mode, they were able to give the camera a gentle nudge at the end to accentuate the pan, adding another dynamic. Again, this was unplanned, but it was such an interesting shot and done so well that we used it for the title card—narratively, it illustrates EON’s scope.

How we did it:

• Park on freeway; put hazards on for safety
• Select “Cable cam” from Smart Shot menu
• Fly to first keyframe; take your time and set it carefully so you get the frame you want. In this case we didn’t want to show the building at first
• When you’ve got the exact frame your want, hit A to set it
• Fly back to set the last keyframe; in this case with a slow pan that reveals more of the city; hit A to set it
• Hit A again to fly along cable to first frame; hit B to fly back to the second frame
• Use the right stick to “nudge” the camera for a more dynamic pan
• Hit Return to Home, pack up and head to the location

What we learned:

Shooting with Solo is fast and easy, and it enables spontaneity even in a packed shooting schedule. Also, you can nail shots literally on the go—a perfect complement to a run-n-gun style of shooting.

 

“Mexico City” card – Selfie

Solo has a Smart Shot called “Selfie,” and while yes, it’s an easy and practically perfect automatic aerial selfie, we like to also think of it as “Reveal.” This shot, though simple to execute, illustrates how Selfie can also be a really useful narrative device.

In Selfie, Solo fixes its camera on a subject and then flies up and back to a predetermined distance and height, revealing a greater context as it goes. The Selfie subject doesn’t have to be a person, though—just set the focal point for the camera where you want it. In this instance we began by setting our starting frame, then setting in the app the height and distance we wanted Solo to reach at its zenith—making sure it would reveal not only the skyline in front but also the dome to the left. We also set the speed of Solo’s ascent, and it might be helpful to note here that as you pull away, the rate of the frame’s expansion will appear to slow, which added a dramatic effect here as we lifted the curtain on Mexico City.

We hit “play,” and we had the scene.

How we did it:

• Select “Selfie” from the Smart Shots menu
• Take your time to set your first frame and Selfie focal point
• Make sure you have a clear and safe flight path behind Solo for its ascent
• Press A to lock in the starting frame
• Set the height, distance and speed you want; you can adjust these in the app if you need more takes
• Press play

What we learned: Selfie is a more sophisticated storytelling tool than its name implies.

Soccer field—Orbit

We storyboarded some very specific shots for this scene. But when we got to the soccer field with our actors, a storm was about to roll in. Time was so short that on any other shoot we would have had to scrap the day. We were running really tight on time—had maybe 20 minutes before we got dumped on, which meant one flight on one battery—so we just got Solo up in the air, set a focus point for Orbit and hit “play.”

With the center marker set and Solo locked on its track, the pilot (who had limited experience as a cinema pilot) could get a feel for the angles and visuals that he wanted. Soon he was comfortable enough to start functioning as a DP and not a pilot, manipulating the altitude and radius of the Orbit with the sticks on the controller and discovering interesting angles. When he had a feel for what he wanted to do in the space, the crew could then direct the soccer players, knowing exactly where Solo would be.

Now the pilot could swoop down from the sky and improvise with Solo steadily curving for him. He could come down for low dolly shot, then swoop up and around and suddenly take the camera hundreds of feet away. Solo’s camera control handled the framing perfectly, like a true 5-axis cam move. All he needed to do is say high or low or close or far, and Solo maintained speed and direction (both adjustable). Not only that, but Solo also automates the hardest part of filming with a drone—the camerawork.

How we did it:

• Pop Solo up, select Orbit
• Set the center mark you want Solo to circle and film
• Begin experimenting with altitude and radius using the left and right sticks (respectively) on the controller, turning a flat circle into a three-dimensional spiral
• Use FPV on your phone or tablet to get a visual for the camera moves you want
• Use these frames to direct your actors as needed

What we learned:

Solo can handle the challenges of flexibility: time; location; distance; affordability.

Soccer field, soccer ball POV—Cable cam

In the same location, under the same time crunch, and on the very same flight and battery, we used Cable cam to get one shot that we absolutely needed: the POV of the soccer ball slowing to float in the air as the anomaly’s gravitational flux acts on it. To get this on a traditional shoot, you’d have to break down the gear from the first shot (would have been a crane) and then set up the dolly for the second shot. By then, everything would have been drenched.

We used Cable cam to mimic the trajectory of the shot on goal, then slowed Solo to a stop to hover in place. (The ball itself was inserted in post.) We knew we would use Cable cam, because in this mode Solo automatically eases to a stop as it approaches the end frame. What’s more, in Cable cam you can adjust speed midflight to control both Solo’s velocity and the rate it slows down.

Traditionally you’d need either a dolly or a skilled pilot to get a shot like this, someone who can ease a drone to an imperceptible halt. Not only is it next to impossible to get a camera to hit a mark smoothly

In our case this would have also meant the pilot would fly a drone up close to an actor, which we wouldn’t have wanted to attempt with that human variability in the mix. But because Solo’s companion computer controlled the positioning precisely, we were comfortable with the shot: We knew Solo would ease itself to a stop at the cable’s end point, so we just had to set the path and the framing. The first pass was a little slow at the start, so we rewound the cable and set another speed to mimic the initial kick. Two takes and we were done—with no human variability, all you have to do is set it in the app and you know exactly how Solo will react.

We wrapped the whole shoot in twenty minutes, and got out before the rain hit—both literally antediluvian and space age.

How we did it:

• With one tap take Solo from Orbit to Cable cam
• Fly down to set the first and last frame, careful of framing and actors
• Have Solo fly the cable, easing to a stop and hovering in place
• Rewind cable and adjust speed for a second take

What we learned:

First, you can move quickly from shot to shot without having to take time to set up additional gear. Second, Solo’s computer-controlled flight guarantees smooth starts and stops for your footage—no longer do these shots have to remain in motion; this opens up ideas for shots we never would or could have conceived of otherwise. What’s more, with precise computer control—and Solo’s small size—you can fly much closer to your actors than you could with any other drone, which would have to be piloted to achieve the same smoothness and positioning.

Otomi cones—Cable cam

We shot about half of this episode at the Otomi Cultural Center, on a ceremonial stage built for the Otomi people in the 1980s. (You might recognize is from License to Kill.) For this shoot we had a precise shot list, and thanks to Solo’s automation we nailed every shot as planned. There are lots of cable shots in these scenes, and the cuts are fairly quick, so we’ll address a few of them here conceptually.

We took a lot of shots around and between these great conical stone structures, where EON techs in lab suits were testing the anomaly. This means we had to navigate Solo safely between these cones and around moving actors. To accomplish this, we used Cable cam to set clear and safe flight paths so we could be certain that on every take Solo would fly clear.

Cable cam is really a narrative, which is all about framing. It’s a great linear device. For instance, one of these Otomi shots starts on nothing but foliage, and as we pull back we get a feel for the site’s architecture, and then pulling back further we get a new feeling when characters enter the scene. We set our first frame and the last, and in between we can introduce new elements one by one, which builds the narrative nicely.

If the actors didn’t quite get where we wanted them when we wanted them, we would rewind the cable, press play and take it again without worrying about the camera’s role. This freed us to direct the actors. We reset some of these Otomi shots three or four times until the actors got it just right.

What we learned:

Solo is like having an expert DP on set, but you don’t need the personnel—instead, you’re the director and the camera operator and you don’t need to coordinate with anyone. Solo also empowers you to do more with less: You get high production quality, a low footprint, and you get what you need better, safer and faster. Cable cam transforms droning for film, because it’s not just about big aerials, but real scenes and stories.

Otomi tracking shot following tech—Cable cam

Normally we don’t think of using drones two feet off the ground. And yes, if you’re flying low you’ve really got to pay close attention to your position. Solo’s automation accounts for so much of this variability that we felt quite comfortable setting up this low tracking shot.

If you were to set this up with a track or a dolly, it would take a long time to get the gear in place, and then you’d have to control the speed. But you can get Solo in place, even moving seamlessly from a previous shot, without any extra gear. It’s small enough to be safe: A bigger (and more expensive) drone wouldn’t be safe around the actors. Solo’s speed is also controlled by computer, so you know exactly where it will be and when.

How we did it:

• Select Cable cam
• Set first frame on actor’s mark
• Fly to actor’s final mark, set last frame
• Return to first frame, call action and press play
• Watch your footage in real time to check framing as it plays out
• Direct actors or adjust Solo’s speed as needed
• Repeat until you nail the shot

What we learned:

Solo is a Swiss Army knife for a filmmaker: We used it here as a helicopter, a dolly, a crane, a jib, a slider and a handheld camera. Add up the cost of that gear, then stuff it all in a backpack.

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