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At last year’s Paris Air Show, some of the hottest aircraft were the autonomous unmanned helicopters—a few of them small enough to carry in one hand—that would allow military buyers to put a camera in the sky anywhere, anytime. Manufactured by major defense contractors, and ranging in design from a single-bladed camcopter to four-bladed multicopters, these drones were being sold as the future of warfare at prices in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In May, at a different trade show, similar aircraft were once again the most buzzed-about items on display. But this wasn’t another exhibition of military hardware; instead, it was the Hobby Expo China in Beijing, where Chinese manufacturers demo their newest and coolest toys. Companies like Shenzhen-based DJI Innovations are selling drones with the same capability as the military ones, sometimes for less than $1,000. These Chinese firms, in turn, are competing with even cheaper drones created by amateurs around the world, who share their designs for free in communities online. It’s safe to say that drones are the first technology in history where the toy industry and hobbyists are beating the military-industrial complex at its own game.
Comment by Harry on June 22, 2012 at 11:35pm Wow, how far model aircraft have come. I remember building and flying FF with my father - building, crashing, losing in thermals. Then he got a single stick Kraft with the huge brick Rx, servos and NiCd batteries and thought that was the bomb. Today, I'm building with carbon fiber, foam, putting GPS and autopilot/IMU on a plane which is the size of my first .049 FreeFlighter. Amazing.
Comment by Paul Marsh on June 24, 2012 at 4:28am @Chris -- Great article. It has been fascinating to watch the progress here at DIY Drones and then 3D Robotics. What you and the developers have accomplished is amazing. Congratulations.
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Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.1355 members
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© 2013 Created by Chris Anderson.
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