Informal design patents gallery/contest on DIY Drones
Starting at the small end of the scale, my personal problem is that I have some fantastic designs that I would love to share, but which I dare not, as that would likely eliminate my being able to makle money selling them. This is potentially just as much a problem for others here with similar situations.
Solution: It would be great if DIY Drones could establish some kind of gallery of design where people can post thier designs and be given credit for them publicly, so that those who publicly post the designs can have something remotely similar to published patents, but basically, as I said, a Gallery of images, and possibly CADD files, Plasma cutter files, etc, but with thier names prominently displayed on the thumbnail, pictures, etc so that there is no mistake who came up with it.
One seriouis benefit is that someone could see a great idea, build it, test it, come back and post the results and if it worked/how well it worked and have a great drone, and yet the person who actually designed it would get full credit. This would also be good if some unscrupulous person decided to start commercial production and make b ig bucks at someone else's expense - the original designer would have something to stand on if they felt they had a claim on that design.
Normal patents are expensive, and sometimes easily defeated or altered by one detail to screw someone over on a patent they spent a lot of effort, time, and money on. Most of us would not even setriously consider getting a patent, and thus, this would be much easier for all such designers.
If such a design got attention, then the designer's name would likely be associated with it, and wouldn't it be nice if someone's design was on Youtube or some Cable TV show, with the designer's name?
Preventing Drone injuries and damages which endanger us
One of the greatest threats to our 'movement?' is not just people doing dumb stuff, but specifically the injuries that can be caused by not just a drone crashing into someone, but also the reverse, if someone were to run blindly into a drone.
I was at a park where someone had one of those DJI's and he was messing with it only a foot or two away from small children (who were having fun running/racing his drone).
Aside from the usual words like caution, responsibility, etc. This guy could have potentially operated his drone flawlessly, but if one of those kids were to turn and run, accidentally into the drone instead of visa-versa, not only could it potentially cause horrible injury and permanent scars or worse, but the drone pilot would either be the bad guy, or be MADE the bad guy, regardless of the actual circumstances, even if they were flying it as safely as it could be.
The answer to this is not easy. There have been plenty of drones/multirotors made with various kinds of guards around the props, but those of you who have tried these have probably noticed that with many, it can cause the drone problems as far as speed, handling, etc. Drones with prop guards can often fly sluggishly - I am referring to larger drones, not the tiny ones.
Yes, there are various designs that fly ok, but most drones do not have prop guards, so the problem remains serious. Here, once again, we may need to start creating some standards (See my recent post on this) - because once again, if we do not, then when there have been one too many incidents, the standards will be set FOR US, or the problem could be used to seriously cripple drones in general via regulation to where drones are said to be just plain unsafe, and that is one thing we must try to avoid!
There are alternatives, and I have come up with more than one design that completely eliminates hte issue without limiting the drone's abilities much - however, (once again, see up top, regarding a designer's gallery) I hesitate to publish my designs, because if I do, someone ELSE is going to make the big bucks at my expense.
Extreme limitations vs. Outlaw Drone Pilots
Frankly, I am surprized that in my absence, I have not seen one news story after another about drones/multirotors zooming down city streets above the traffic and otherwise all over town.
Sooner or later this is bound to start happening, and yes, it might bring serious problems down on all of us, but there is a good but dark side to this...
This means that there are/will be two kinds of drone pilots, those who have no choice but try to find large parks or private land where and when no people will be around, which in itself is quite limiting, and will get ever more limited if there is too much regulation (See my post about setting standards).
On the other hand, there are a few (very few so far) of what I would call "Outlaw" drones/pilots, who will not be able to resist the extreme fun of flying all over the place, in the city, down the streets, etc. If we do not set the standards ourselves, over-regulation will most certainly occur, and as a result, there will be those who get fed-up with it, and say "To hell with it, I'm gonna do it anyway!"
Personally, I want to be able to fly a drone/multirotor from my home or office to various other places, in-town, for legitimate reasons or as part of my business. Personally, I would take off straight up to about 350 feet up, then across to the destination, then straight down to the landing pad or location. This seems quite reasonable. However, can any of us say that we would not LOVE chasing each other down city streets at night ?!? - if we could, or could get away with it?
This would lead to entirely new designs of drones, either meant to be disposable (and built without leaving fingerprints) if someone crashed into something, so they could just abandon the drone, or it could also lead to "Stealth" drones, built to be very difficult to see or identify or to follow, so that they would not lead police or others back to its pilot.
Say what you want, but this is something that may be inevitable, therefore we should start paying attention to the possibility and all its facets in advance, before it has a chance to become a serious problem causing over-regulation or drones in general being declared unsafe or something.
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