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UAVs can be used to watch the watchers, too

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 14, 2011 at 8:51pm


People tend to assume that UAVs will be used by the police to keep watch on us, but as this video, taken by a RoboKopter of riots in Warsaw, shows, they can equally be used by citizens to keep tabs on the police. No need to wait for the local news to send a helicopter to get the aerial scene of a demonstration, just Do It Yourself!

 

Via Kottke

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Comments

  • Ellison Chan November 18, 2011 at 11:51am

    It may sound naive, but distrust goes both ways.  If society doesn't trust the police, the police in turn will treat people as hostile to them, and it's a vicious circle.

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    Krzysztof Bosak November 18, 2011 at 11:10am

    @Ellison"you want to film in a public scene like this, I would just try and get permission from the police first.  If they're going to object to giving you permission, they probably will not be too happy if you do it without permission."

    Oh man you sound truly naive now. Default police answer is 'it would interfere with the requrement of clean communication required for organising police action' or anything similar. The default answer is not yes, it is NO! Unless you prove not guilty. And they always find a reason for not allowing. How do you think in the whole police in a country ruled by descendants of faithful communist you would find a single person that actually cares about potential lost job of somebody involved in technology? Get real. Round Table and peaceful transition to democracy meant for eastern european countries exactly that all rulers, ideologists and prominents stay as they were before.

  • Ellison Chan November 18, 2011 at 11:00am

    With a good quality FHSS radio, it'll be hard for the cops to jam it, since they don't normally carry radio jamming equipment as standard kit let alone ones that can jam FHSS.  Again this is not Hollywood.  It's real life.

     

    And why do people want to antagonize the police?  If you want to film in a public scene like this, I would just try and get permission from the police first.  If they're going to object to giving you permission, they probably will not be too happy if you do it without permission.

  • bmarshall5253 November 18, 2011 at 8:15am

    There is a simple solution for the police to put an end to this without trying to shoot down the copter, just claim there is an IED threat and install RF jammers on their riot vehicles. I believe Black Sheep or someone else filming over Berlin encountered the jammer problem.

  • avionics November 16, 2011 at 11:03pm

    I personally think this kind of stuff will make the police very uncomfortable and could be banned if used in sensative situations where the police or autorities are involved.But as a member of this community i simply LOVED IT !!!

  • Rob_Lefebvre November 16, 2011 at 4:08pm
    As for the comments about video quality necessary to be on the national news... clearly you haven't watched the CBC in the morning when we are "graced" with the presence of Kevin O'Leary via Skype over a cell phone. :rolleyes:
  • T3
    Krzysztof Bosak November 16, 2011 at 2:50pm

    There are no easy answers. Enclosed props=less endurance, tighter mission time margins. It leads to nowhere, or ppl flying between 3.4 and 3.2V cell voltage.

  • Ellison Chan November 16, 2011 at 1:49pm

    There's no doubt that this is going to be a future application for civilian drones.  However, when we fly amongst people, one must take great care to ensure that no one gets hurt.  That means we must be sure that all the equipment is well tested and reliable.  Definitely having enclosed props is one of the prerequisites for flying in areas with people.

    I feel like maybe we should start a "Safety Manual".

  • T3
    Krzysztof Bosak November 16, 2011 at 12:54pm

    @Ellison "Besides, if anyone's done any bird hunting, it's not so easy to shoot anything down from the air, living or human controlled."

    Exactly, there are videos on youtube of civilian guys spraying M249 on closed site in US into flying RC model. Looks like they spent a few bags of ammo until they hit flying wing from 200m, but not sure if it wasn't just pilot error from how it looked.

  • Ellison Chan November 16, 2011 at 12:50pm

    I don't know about Poland, but if a policeman in Canada takes a gun out, and just shoots willy nilly in the air at something flying around, it would be in all the news.  Police normally will no open fire without cause.  Real life is not like the movies.

    Besides, if anyone's done any bird hunting, it's not so easy to shoot anything down from the air, living or human controlled.

    That craft looks quite sturdy, and professionally made to carry an expensive DSLR up there. So whomever it belonged to was most likely skilled at flying and building it.  I wouldn't recommend that for everyone, since having a drone dropping out of the air into a crowd, while all those policemen are around would not be a booster for our hobby.

     

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