The Slog drone may have stared down a Seattle Police Department waterfront spy camera last Friday, but commenter Greycat is unimpressed with video of the encounter:
It’s a very good point. (And one that I tried to make here.) The abilities of today’s personal drones are actually quite calming when you see them displayed, in the sense that they’re so far from our worst fears.
The Parrot AR.Drone, for example, is easily pushed around by light breezes. That’s one reason I kept the Slog drone—a Parrot—well away from the SPD waterfront camera and nearby power lines, and instead just sent the thing up above an empty patch of grass, turned it to look at the SPD camera from a distance, and then set it back down. (It’s also a reason that the promise of newspaper delivery via Parrot is a joke, for now.)
- Specs from the SPD’s cancelled drone program. (Click to enlarge.)
The Draganflyer X6 drones that the SPD wanted to use had similar limitations, by the way.
Documents made public during the controversy over the now-cancelled police drone program show that the SPD’s Draganflyers wouldn’t have been able to handle winds over 18 miles per hour. I was also told they couldn’t be flown in strong rain. Which means a lot of Seattle days would have been no-fly days for those much-feared SPD drones.
If these machines can’t even handle regular Seattle weather, and have to wait for a windless and sunny day in order to be in top form, why worry about them?
Because of their potential. These weather-related problems and many others—including the drones’ short battery life—are likely to be solved relatively quickly. When that happens, if we haven’t thought seriously about where we do and don’t want to encounter personal drones, and what they should and should not be allowed to do, then we’ll be unhappy people.
As it already stands, even with its limitations the Slog drone is capable of creeping up on Paul Constant. (Video proof coming on Monday morning.) Plus, this:
You’ve been warned.
