Developer Comment by John Arne Birkeland on June 22, 2012 at 12:14am

This is the kind of applications multicopters are perfect for.

And regarding the $12K copter. Cinestar's are very highly priced as a strategy I think (so that people will go "since it's so expensive it must be something special"). And yes, they are one of the best platforms for video and photo at the moment. But a lot of the cost is just to have the Cinestar name on the copter. I am currently halfway build a same performance level 100% CF octocopter, and total materials/equipment cost including a 3 axis camera gimbal was just under $3000.

Comment by bGatti on June 22, 2012 at 6:45am

I think this is one of the most interesting application of UAV's I've seen.

Contrast this with MIT's worthless "tacocopter" program.

Here is a legitimate use; which provides a great benefit over largely unpopulated areas.

Congratulations to those involved - and thanks for the find.

Comment by John Wiseman on June 22, 2012 at 12:06pm

This is a neat idea for a UAV application.  Maybe I missed it--does the video show what a fossil site looks like from the air?

By the way, tacocopter is not an MIT project, it was done by someone who happens to be an MIT graduate.  And I found it to be an inspiring and fun project, even if it wasn't useful (I'm guessing a very small fraction of DIY Drones members are doing anything other than having fun).

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