I'm not sure if I've posted on this before, but last September the White House Office of Science and Technology policy commissioned a great report on DIY Drones and the rest of the amateur/civilian UAV movement. It's full of terrific ideas for non-military uses for UAVs, and is complementary about this community and its potential to revolutionize the future of aerospace.
It makes several recommendations, including that DARPA use this model for its own UAVs (which it has done with UAVForge)
It rightly sees the educational potential of DIY Drones, too:
The full report is here.
Comments
The problem from where I sit is not innovation but the lack of allowing the UAV community to operate in a specified airspace for amateur and commercial use. The community has been waiting for more than 5 years on this but I fear that unlike other countries we will yet again "over regulate" this and stifle the industry... just my observation.
Very good, accurate article... Its about time we get a good showing...
Why doesn't the government just use DIYDrones as an example of what people can acheive without any help from the government at all! (I was going to put this in more colourful language, but...)
Well the NRPM has been pushed back another month to February now and will probably change again. The ASTM is working with military vendors on creating the specs, this is the community based standard that the FAA sought. Looks like you are going to get mil spec as the baseline over there if this is allowed to continue......
It seems that there is a complete lack of connected thinking in the USA, lots of people pro rapid shed based innovation and lots wanting to slow the pace and keep things happening in expensive offices and hangers.