Hello folks,
I just joined the forum. I found my way here after hearing a radio piece about 3D robotics a few weeks ago. What interested me in particular was the mention (perhaps just a hypothetical?) of a small drone with camera designed to follow a wind surfer. I am a backcountry skier, so my thoughts immediately jumped to the possibilities of using a drone to capture backcountry ski footage. Helmet cams have become nearly ubiquitous in the ski crowd as of late. POV video is interesting, but it certainly can't replace the type of footage one can take from a helicopter. Needless to say, most folks can't afford a helicopter. :-) Down the road, I could even see the use of drones in avalanche control, avoidance and rescue. The possibilities truly seem limitless.
For the use I am talking about, I'd really appreciate any pointers for where to get started on my research. Any links to similar projects would also be welcome.
Thanks!
Replies
Josh - just stumbled across your post and wanted to share a little bit on some of the work we are doing with drones as it relates to backcountry skiing:
Mountain Drones Inc. is focused on ski safety and snowpack monitoring to predict water supply. We finally jumped through the regulatory hoops necessary to provide a truly safe, reliable, and effective way to deliver explosives to avalanche prone faces. After nearly 2 years of prototyping, we are proud to announce a testing program this winter to begin keeping ski patrollers and backcountry skiers safe!
I would love to hear any of your thoughts and ideas about how drones could provide value in ski resorts. We agree - the possibilities are endless!
Hello,
"Follow Me" is the function/device you're looking for. It's basically a GPS receiver and a data radio packaged into a small device. The follow me beacon stays with the target and broadcasts it's position to the air-bot through the data radio link. You can build one yourself now, or I believe a production version will be ready for purchase at some point. You will need to get up to speed with all the basics of flying and maintaining an air-bot before you'll have success with a fully autonomous feature like this. You might as well build or buy a quadcopter and get started with the learning curve, the follow me beacon can be added to the mix at any time.
Search around this site a bit and holler back if you get stuck.
I dig the avalanche mitigation idea, that's something I had recently been pondering myself.