DRONING ON
Summer has arrived, you want to hibernate in your room, to
play the latest video games; your parents are droning on at
you, they want you out and about in the sunshine. If they’re
going to drone at you, maybe you should drone back!
Technically, a drone is a robot
in the skies, an unmanned
aerial vehicle piloted remotely
or flying autonomously with
embedded software guided
by GPS. Often operated with
onboard camera feeds, they
are used by the military, and
for tasks as varied as search
and rescue, monitoring traffic,
videoing events, surveillance
and fighting fires. However, it is
their leisure potential that has
really caught the imagination.
On YouTube (other video
channels are available!) you
won’t just find drones feeding
6
IGNIS
videos from high above sports
games, you’ll now find that
drones ARE the sports games,
speeding around tracks, taking
part in aerial freestyle or
travelling through deserted
buildings at 75 miles an hour in
drone racing – a bit like Super
Mario’s Rainbow Road brought
to life. First Person Video Drone
Racing rose to prominence on
the ability to take the viewer
along for the ride on the
internet. Drone racing has only
been around a couple of years,
but it has already become a
multi-million pound sport.