Drones Down Under

[glenc]

"Australia's fledgling UAV industry may be about to get a big wake-up call from China.
It's dawn as 24-year-old Justin Gong and his team stride down to the launch point at Mrs Macquarie's Chair.
Before them lies the stunning vista of Sydney Harbour: city skyline, Harbour Bridge, Opera House, all bathed in a golden light.
Within two minutes, they've unpacked and launched their drones to record this perfect sunrise.
To passing joggers the team appears to be just a bunch of weekend model aircraft enthusiasts. Police and park rangers drive by, not bothering to stop. But looks are deceptive.
Justin is at the controls of his third generation X650 V8 - a quadrocopter the size of a wheelie bin lid. The UAV steadies, then rockets upwards. Live video streams back to his control monitor. The sales pitch is impressive:
"This one can go up to two kilometres above the land and also two kilometres away from your home position and this is around $3,000 for the full unit... and it can go up to about 70 kilometres per hour," Justin said.
Drone accessories include night-vision capability, GPS navigation, auto-pilot and automatic return home.
Justin concedes there are limitations: current battery technology limits flight time to 20 minutes. And the small size of the aircraft can make it unstable in moderate winds."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-21/drone-journalism-takes-off/3840616
http://www.hobby-wing.com/x650-v8.html

[multiweb]

Very cool technology. :thumbsup:

I like the part...

Q: "how do you regulate and control this technology?..."

A: "we don't sell to private customers"...

but before in the interview:

A: "Yes we provide our carrier technology to chinese military". :lol:

[bartman]

Love the technology!
I think it would be great also for the Police in a hostage situation or chasing cars ( no need for a pursuit vehicle.... pracically invisible to the driver so they think the chase has been called off and they 'might' slow down).
However, I dont like the idea of my next door neighbor ( or further away....) to be able to watch me hang up my washing in the nudie! Or for that matter a potential thief to be able to scout the area/house to see if somebody is home........it could still be a fair distance away and with a zoom camera look through your window to see what you have inside.
I think now that this has been broadcast, I'm sure a few " regulations" will come into place.....I hope?
Cheers for the post anyway
Bartman

[mswhin63]

I have been looking into the Arducopter which is far superior than this. Mostly because the Arducopter has full GPS control as well as remote control and can fly in pre-determined co-ordinates without user control in flight.
The Chinese is just cheaper (for obvious reasons) with better marketing than the Arducopter (Open Source).

Arducopter comes in 6 prop version as well.

[mswhin63]

Just read $3000.00 I looked at the website instead of the post What a rip-off. Definitely better marketing.

[TrevorW]

Probably did all his studies here but how long before he's back in China being paid big $$$

[bartman]

+1