What is a Drone?

[kireinaha]

We've had RC planes and helicopters for a long time.. decades I'm sure. But now I keep hearing about "drones". Like, a few years ago, when I heard this word, I envisioned a relatively large, remotely operated plane of some type that the military weaponized and used in the middle east to bomb innocent people (and occasionally terrorists). But now, I see "drones" on TV all the time, and they're smaller, like toys almost. But when they're featured in a story, it's always like, 'drones are the future! And soon Amazon (or whoever) will use them to deliver packages! And police will use them for law enforcement!'

Well, what's so god damned revolutionary about them? I could have taken an RC plane 10 years ago, strapped a small camera to it, and flown it around the city. What am I missing here?

[3dGuy]

The gyroscopic stability and the gps thing.
Also batteries have gone much better since the days of Rc quartz things.
Just imagine the plane could go back to it's take off point alone if the radio is out.

[Cryptopher]

I think that drones are generally just machines that perform some task or utility.

You hear a lot about them these days because of advancements in Artificial Intelligence thanks to the abundance of research, not least by DARPA funded projects.

With more and more data available, and better processing power in a smaller space, drones (in some form) are becoming more and more popular for performing tasks that are either too dangerous to do, or simply too monotonous.

[pedrog]

Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle

[kireinaha]

I guess the GPS aspect makes sense. GPS functionality with devices is becoming more ubiquitous over the past several years. Maybe 10 years ago if you launched a drone like device, it may have gotten lost and never returned home. Kind of makes sense.

[Sutters Mill]

A drone is usually just some sort of robot that's unmanned (usually) and autonomous. Recently, a tower sculpture was built by small drone helicopters as an art installation. You can see a video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnkMyfQ5YfY.

This drone in particular is hoping to change the way people think about architecture of the future, with little aerial bots working together and interacting with one another.

There are all types of drones, including the combat drones you described.

[Peacefrog]

They are illegal in my state after they discovered one carrying drugs and phones to the local prison. fuckin hilarious if you ask me

[hilariousandco]

Drone is a really shitty genre of music. Here is a mini documentary on Drone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYadgUJ_pGk

[grumpy619]

Quad copter drones are the best.