You May Soon Be Able To Buy Your Own Drone For Only $50

[FarCenter]

Unmanned aerial vehicles have seen extensive use in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the military isn't the only organization playing the drone game.

As IEEE Spectrum reports, you may be seeing your own personal drone on shelves soon, and the small price tag will make it accessible to everyone.

A company called Always Innovating is working on a palm-sized robot called MeCam that is capable of autonomous flight. Four rotors keep it in the air as it follows you around and shoots video, which it then can stream to your smart phone.

...

Embedded in the chip is a fully open-source version of Linux — a platform that would give tinkerers and hackers alike plenty of opportunity to change its given use into something even more interesting or insidious.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/you-may-soon-be-able-to-buy-your-own-drone-for-only-50-2013-1

[cantbeserious]

1. Big Brother Here We Come

eom

[el_bryanto]

2. Oh no! Model Airplanes with cameras? Truly we are doomed.

I am going to conduct all my business in a bomb shelter from now on. No drones in there.

Bryant

[Bradical79]

3. Barnes and Noble sells drones.

For $200-$300 rather than $50 I think, also I'm not sure how sophisticated they are. But it was sitting right next to the checkout line at the front of the store last time I went.

[backscatter712]

4. Hobbyists have been flying drones for years.

They're called remote-controlled model airplanes.

[Bradical79]

5. Not the same thing.

[tridim]

8. I flew my first RC plane/cam about 12 years ago.

It's the same thing, just not autonomous.

Lots of people are building autonomous models these days. RC hobbyists are a crafty bunch.

[NCTraveler]

6. You can already buy what most would define as a drone.

I have a glider with a small electric motor and a camera. I nose dived it on its first flight. Haven't fixed it and probably won't. Granted, the one being discussed is more technical.

[Eleanors38]

7. I know a few drones I wouldn't pay a plug nickel for...Oh! Wait.

[Ian David]

9. I want one that will launch from the roof of my house when my burglar alarm is triggered.

I want it to automatically circle for a bird's-eye view, and then sweep up and down the street at a level where it can view license plates, and then return to a high, central position until myself, the police, or an alarm-monitoring call center can take control of it.

It would also be nice if it had the range to follow a car or person for a few miles after they've robbed my house.

It might also serve as a deterrent if a burglar sees a little plane hovering in front of them taking their picture.

[lame54]

10. I'll call mine The Great Gazoo

[justiceischeap]

12. Where I work, the guys all have remote helicopters

attach a camera, and my office space would be filled with drones. There's even been talk by one of the other guys of getting the copter that shoots nerf missile's. Oh no, unmanned attack drone in the office.

[backscatter712]

13. Here's a fun one. Model F-16 with a camera in the cockpit where the pilot's head would be.

[warrprayer]

14. we used to call them r.c. model airplanes

back in the day

[Fumesucker]

15. Drones aren't necessarily all bad

Sometimes they give us video like this.

[1-Old-Man]

16. You can buy one today on E-Bay if you want one.

And you can bet that no body in the Government is keeping any kind of track at all of who buys them. And they aren't listening in on your phone calls either ....

[ManiacJoe]

17. Multi-rotor RC crafts have been available for years.

The catch to it all is lift capacity and battery life. Lots of really cool video out on the internet!

[LanternWaste]

18. A surveillance state by and for the consumer.

A surveillance state by and for the consumer. This is a very relevant reason why I'm more concerned about civilian yahoos denying privacy rather than the government.

A surveillance state doesn't need the melodramatic (yet well branded) black helicopters if the people are spying on the people and posting the results to Youtube all in the name of fun and entertainment.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. I wonder the liability issues are with these

With true model airplanes, the AMA provides insurance. There will be wide open. Add to that they are trivial to jam and things could get interesting.