DIY Drones Take on Silicon Valley | Hacker News Reader

DIY Drones Take on Silicon Valley

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30 pointsphilipdlang10 comments

I walked into Home Depot yesterday to buy a saw blade. The tools aisle had an eye level security camera with a proximity sensor that chirped to get my attention. I looked at it and there I was -- being recorded.

I took it up with the store manager who informed me it was for theft deterrence. So, y'know, no problem. There was another camera in the electrical aisle near the bulk wire. Each self-checkout lane had a camera too. I was recorded three separate times.

The manager could not tell me where or how long my image would be stored or how it would be used. So now HD has my credit card number, a digital signature, a photo ID and from overhead, a shopping pattern.

That's more info than I was required to provide the state police for a background check needed to teach.

The saw blade cost $4.95.

Do we really want all these drones in addition to the millions of cameras already in place?

Theft is a real problem for these stores. And theft makes me angry.

I'm willing to trade being recorded in public for a low-crime society.

There's so much potential for drones.. for example, I'd love to see traffic monitors that use drones.

What I mean is, on top of having color-coded maps, I'd like to see a bird's-eye view just by clicking on the map, that'd be sweet.

I don't think drones would be any more helpful than well placed static sensors* (say, atop existing lightpoles). Or a tethered mylar baloon w/ a wireless camera.

The total time of flight is limited by battery capacity - and adding video transfer [and/or basic CV] is going to obliterate whats left of the charge.

I think for survey, emergency services, and short distance deliveries [burritos] are easier targets for drones.

*our startup is firmly in the 'ubiquitous, cheap sensor' camp of traffic monitoring.

i'm working on it ;-)

Would you care to elaborate how you'll be able to power a drone for an extended amount of time? I was doing some minor research (I was curious about the pirate bays 'server drone' idea), and the best that I could personally come up with was flight times of about an hour. That doesn't seem all that useful to maintain a constant server, or traffic cam, presence.

For the traffic cam application, where people aren't trying to shoot it down, it would be pretty simple to switch it out regularly with one from a nearby charging station. You might even be able to use a balloon to take off a lot of the weight, so you can just use the rotors for altitude adjustment. You'd be slower, but would probably last a lot longer.

I wonder if anyone is looking at a hydrogen balloon/drone hybrid. Small so it's not a Hindenburg bomb, lots of failsafe, but the power/lift ratios might give it a significant mission duration.

The same way they do satellite coverage at non-geostationary orbits: You have a group of drones that swap in and out. Depending on how far/how long it takes to refuel and get a drone back into the air, you could provide continuous coverage of a single area with as little as 2-3 drones.

Am i the only one for who this video is broken in 3 different browsers?

Other video: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/diy-drones-take-on-silic...

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