Drone News Roundup: Drone-Powered Hydrofoil, FPV Freestyle Flying Around an Active Conveyor Belt, and More!
BY Zacc Dukowitz
4 July 2024Happy 4th of July everyone!
This week we’re covering a hydrofoil powered by a drone—you have to see this to believe it.
We’re also covering a fun FPV freestyle video shot at an active conveyor belt in the desert, a Florida man shooting down a Walmart delivery drone, a drone patent to support off-road driving from General Motors, and a letter from lawmakers asking for proof that DJI is spying to be declassified.
Now on to the links!
Can You Power a Hydrofoil with a Drone?
As YouTuber Daniel Riley of @rctestflight points out at the start of this video a hydrofoil—also called a wakefoil—is basically a small aircraft on a stick. But they’re really unstable, which makes them really hard to ride. Drones are similarly hard to stabilize, a problem that gyroscopes help solve by measuring displacement, allowing the drone’s electronics to correct and stabilize it while in flight. Riley wondered if these same electronics could help stabilize a wakefoil, and he began experimenting with different ways of attaching a drone to one—watch the video to see the results.
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FPV Freestyle at Moving Conveyor Belt—2 Drones Lost!
2019 DRL World Champion and FPV master Alex Vanover met up with a few FPV pilots to do some risky freestyle flying around an active conveyor belt in this fun video from Rotor Riot. They got some amazing shots, including continuous barrel rolls around the moving belt and shots inside the conveyor belt’s metal structure, following the belt as it transported earth. But the footage came at a cost. At 2:14 Vanover loses a drone and at 6:44 Bubby, a Rotor Riot FPV pilot, loses another one. Do you think the footage was worth it? We do. Check out the video to see for yourself.
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Florida Man Shoots Walmart Delivery Drone
A 72-year-old Florida man recently shot a Walmart delivery drone, punching a hole through its payload. The delivery was being made by DroneUp, which has pivoted to focusing exclusively on drone delivery. According to the shooter’s arrest affidavit, a two-person crew from the company was at a delivery point in the Lake County neighborhood conducting a demonstration delivery when the drone was shot. The man faces charges of shooting or throwing a deadly missile into dwellings, vessels, or vehicles; criminal mischief above $1,000; and discharging a firearm in public or on residential property.
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General Motors Off-Road Drone Idea
Credit: General Motors
Imagine you’re off-roading and you get to a pretty wild spot in the road, where you can’t see which route forward is the best one to take. What do you do? You may get out, walk a ways from your truck, and determine the best way on foot. Or maybe you’ll drive forward only to have to reverse and start over. General Motors has a better idea—using a drone to scan the area and choose the best way for you. GM recently patented a system that includes a car dock for a drone, allowing it to deploy so it can scan the road ahead using what it calls AI Scout Drone mode. The AI piece is key. Not only will the drone scout possible off-road routes, it will also collect data like incline, rocks or obstacles, and soil conditions, then process this data using specialized software to give you an informed recommendation for which way to go.
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House Leaders Call for Declassification of DJI Drone Threat Data
Credit: DJI
Despite calls to ban DJI, and a law passed by the House that may actually do it (the law is awaiting a vote from the Senate), the truth is that we’ve never seen proof that DJI is using its drones to spy on the American people. Spying concerns are at the heart of the push to ban DJI, with proponents claiming the company is illicitly sending data its drones collect to the Chinese government. Now, House lawmakers have written an open letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Energy (DOE) asking them to declassify information “relating to potential national security risks posed by” drones from China. DJI has obtained several third party security certifications and paid for several third party security audits, none of which have found proof of its drones sending data to China or anywhere else. It will be interesting to see whether this letter results in the release of actual proof backing up the allegations that have been made against DJI for years—but we’ll be honest, we’re not holding our breath.
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