Impatient Futurist: Rise of the (Friendly) Drones | DISCOVER Magazine

Illustration by David Plunkert

The Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, has proven a formidable weapon for the U.S. military, quietly lurking in the sky and then zipping in to loose a missile on enemy targets. Its effectiveness raises an important question: When will I have a robotic plane of my own buzzing about that I might summon down to teach a lesson to some of the many deeply annoying people who cross my path? A mild Taser zap or even just a spitball would be fine.

Im very likely out of luck on this score, due to the bizarre fact that neither Taser zaps nor spitballs share the constitutional protection afforded bullets. So Ill just have to find other ways to make use of the tiny airborne drone that will almost certainly be at my beck and call in the not-too-distant future.

In fact, Im tempted to head over to a Brookstone right now and pick up a Parrot AR.Drone Quadricoptera $300, four-rotored, self-stabilizing microaircraft with two video cameras that I can send 150 feet up and down my street to hover outside homes and put my neighbors on notice that their transgressions will no longer go unrecorded. That could keep me occupied until I can afford the more sophisticated $10,000 swinglet cam by senseFly, which can fly 10 miles, or the $20,000 Draganflyer X4-P, which can carry a 1.5-pound payloadusually a high-end camerafor about 15 minutes.

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With a winged camera to beam images to me, Id also be able to effortlessly inspect my gutters, track my occasionally escaped dog, gauge the lines at the drive-through window, or scope out a dark parking lot before making my way to my car.

But Ill probably hold out on buying a microdrone, because even the Draganflyer is a mere toy compared with what dozens of engineering teams at universities and companies around the world are hard at work on: miniature, autonomous, inexpensive aircraft that you or I could send flying miles to perform any of a wide range of tasks.

Here Come the Flying Tacos

I, for one, cant see what could possibly be wrong with providing personal air-force capabilities to the masses. But if were going to get truly interesting things done with our drones, well need them to fly farther, higher, and longer, as well as to carry more, and do it with much more sophisticated control. All thats in the works, according to Mary Missy Cummings, a former F/A-18 fighter pilot who is an MIT aeronautics professor focusing on human interfaces for UAVs. This is the best thing to happen to aviation since the space race, she says. Were talking about a technology with a low cost of entry that anyone with a cell phone can use.

The new field is engaging students around the world, Cummings adds, and is engendering some creative ideas. At the top of her wish list: a personal drone to shadow her 3-year-old daughter when shes old enough to walk to school. A hobbyist has reportedly used a drone to track cattle (apparently taking up the slack left by the EPA, which contrary to widespread reports, is not sending drones to spy on farms throughout the Midwest). And one group of students, Cummings says, is drawing up plans for a drone-based taco delivery service.

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Impatient Futurist: Rise of the (Friendly) Drones | DISCOVER Magazine