DT&D&T Newsletter 5:
Drones
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6-7-17
I was planning a focus on drones soon anyway, but I have been prompted to do this now to mark the launch of a new Google+ group Drones in Schools whose broad aims are:
- For students to design, make and test a drone using open source parts.
- To compete against others student engineers.
- To develop expertise in free / open source CAD/CAE e.g. OnShape, my.sketchup.com etc.
- For students to make significant design and engineering decisions in areas such as design for manufacture, iterative design, the circular economy etc.
- To apply mathematical and scientific principles.
Ed Charlwood, the group originator, has described some of the work with his students that led to the formation of the group in Build, Use, Damage, Mend and Adapt – an approach to learning through and about drones on the website I share with David Barlex. I highly recommend this article and I know Ed would value feedback either directly in the article's comments or via the Drones in Schools group.
In what follows, I've assembled a collection of drone uses that I hope might intrigue your students, looked at some current drone design developments and referenced some of the issues that increased drone use is raising (including their military use) along with some solutions that are being discussed.
To finish I've noted an interesting video about the disruption caused by new technologies that I think will be accessible to most students.
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Please note that you should vet all links before sharing them with pupils.
I avoid obviously offensive material, but I can't guarantee the absence of fruity language or ideas that may not be suitable for under-18s.
Caveat Lector
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Drones
The term 'drone' is commonly used to refer to unpiloted aircraft and, increasingly, unpiloted watercraft. But not (so far as I can tell) to 'unpiloted landcraft' - which are generally just called robots. So, it's a bit of a vague term, but one in wide use so I'm going to stick with it here. If you want all the nuances, Wikipedia has a good Unmanned aerial vehicle article that unpicks the various terms used and a less thorough article on Unmanned surface vehicles (i.e. watercraft). (At least 'drone' is gender-inclusive…)
I'm going to separate what follows into uses of drones and issues arising from drone use.
The range of drone applications (and proposed applications) is ever-growing and rather astonishing, the following is just a sample:
Drones that can both fly and swim underwater,
Autonomous drones that can both drive and fly
Using drones to bring global internet access
A defibrillator drone that can beat ambulance times
Drone delivery of medicines in inaccessible areas - Including in the Amazon rainforest
Painting drones
A lake-hopping drone
A delivery drone that can carry 2,000 pounds of cargo
Graffiti drones
A climate data collection drone
A planetary exploration drone
A poop-scooping drone
Volcanic exploration drones
A hoverbike
A flying courier (that can land and drive up to your door)
Carrying blood and other medical supplies between hospitals
A drone to follow you about taking pictures
A drone that lands like a bird
Taxi drones
Edible drones
Drones protecting wildlife in Africa
A Land Rover/drone combo for rescue work
A Morphing drone that takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane
Drones to collect weather data
Drones to take the place of bees
Paper Drones as a cheap, disposable way to deliver medical supplies
A mine-sweeping drone
Racing drones
A VR-Ready drone
Finally, an example of the wide range of work being done on drone swarms
If you've managed to look at even a small number of the links above you'll probably have noticed that drones come in a wide range of designs and sizes. Here is a sample of other designs being explored (note the role of biomimicry in some of these explorations):
Drones with feathers
A hard-to-destroy drone that goes from rigid to flexible when it crashes
A highly manoeuvrable eight-rotor omnicopter
A cyborg dragonfly (does this count as a drone? Discuss.)
Blimps
An acrobatic drone with rotating motors housings
The significant increase in the use of drones for both pleasure and business, suggested by the links above, have brought their own problems along with the beginnings of strategies to manage these problems (a good overview article).
In the US, the FAA Is Working on a Remote Identification System For Consumer Drones and the EU wants clear drone regulations in place by 2019.
Google has been testing an air traffic control system that manages lots of drones.
One of the major drone manufacturers is suggesting that drones should have electronic licence plates. The same manufacturer (DJI) is developing plane avoidance technology for drones.
The University of Washington has been investigating the carbon footprint of drone delivery.
The Trump administration has asked Congress for sweeping powers to surveil, hack, control, and shoot down drones – which doesn't necessarily mean it will happen, but, if it does, where the US leads, Europe may follow.
Bloomberg explores how large companies are hustling to take control of the vast amounts of data produced by drones.
Dezeen argues that Drones will bring "profound change" to architecture and cities. A great example of this is that Amazon is proposing the building of drone skyscrapers for their delivery drones – even though Gartner says that delivery drones are years away.
As drones become increasingly fast and agile, the problems caused during a crash increase and regulators are employing crash-test dummies to understand what happens during human-drone collisions. One common solution is to enclose the rotors of the vehicles, but alternatives are now being suggested by researchers including the idea of in-flight airbags.
It's very hard to talk about drones without mentioning their military applications. Schools may wish to steer clear of these, but bear in mind that they raise important issues about the applications of technology; learning about these is a part of helping students develop a critical technological perspective. Again, what follows is a sample of recent news items.
You've probably heard that ISIS is weaponising consumer drones (see also here), New Scientist explores how this development can be traced back to US military policy. It is possible that 'virtual fence' technology (developed to keep drones away from airports and other sensitive sites) could also be used to restrict terrorist use of drones. Other solutions are possible, but currently not legal. Meanwhile the use of no-fly zones in conflict areas is driving the use of drones leading to the possibility of drone v drone warfare.
Military drone developments include a tiny military spy drone that can be worn on a soldier’s clothing, disposable drones to deliver supplies under enemy fire and robotic wingmen to fly alongside fighter planes. However commercial drone capability is advancing so fast that the military may soon buy the same drones we do. Interestingly, drone operators now outnumber any other type of US Air Force pilot. Perhaps inevitably, but also worryingly, there have been steps in the US to make military drone technology available to the police. Meanwhile in the UK, police are adopting drones for (yet more) surveillance.
There is a great deal of military interest in deploying drone swarms, including the idea of a missile that could shoot a swarm of weaponised drones over a target area. The US military has carried out the largest ever test of an intelligent drone swarm, released from fighter jets in flight. Since drone swarms can work against you as well as for you, the US navy is exploring smart bullets that will help warships fend off drone swarms as well as a new computer chip to help drones automatically identify vehicles such as tanks or anti-aircraft systems. To see where these developments could end up, I highly recommend the novel Kill Decision as a great book to take away for your holiday reading.
Finally, some resources that may be more directly useful for your work with students. Wired has a good explanation of how drones fly (Physics, of course!) and Make Magazine describes how to use your drone as a tool for collecting scientific data. Ed Charlwood has noted Wikipedia's list of drone films which may provide some interesting background for work in schools; David Barlex suggests that putting this list in date order may a useful exercise for pupils to reveal trends or patterns in the way that drones are being depicted.
A myriad of books on drones has been published in the last few years. One I have found useful is Drone by Adam Rothstein. Published in 2015 by Bloomsbury, it is part of a collection of books under the title of Object Lessons. This book provides an excellent, very readable and concise introduction to drones with a historical overview, a brief exploration of the hardware and software that drives drone development and examinations of some of the social implications of the widespread adoption of drones.
Disruption
Kurzgesagt have recently released a new video The Rise of the Machines – Why Automation is Different this Time. This is a very clear overview of many of the issues raised by the new wave of automation. The language is very accessible and, at under twelve minutes, it's a reasonable length. Eminently suitable for use with students – though be warned that the overarching message is rather sombre. Look out for the second part in which, it is promised, possible solutions to the issues raised will be discussed.
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Links and comments from the community
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Internet of Things
Thanks to Ed Charlwood (@mrcharlwood) for pointing out the Guardian's 'Rise of the machines: who is the ‘internet of things’ good for?' available as both an article and a podcast. This is an extract from a new book, Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life by Adam Greenfield. Greenfield's previous book, Everyware, was excellent and this article suggests that 'Rise of the Machines' will also be good; it's on my reading pile.
[I guess the title 'Rise of the Machines' is something of a meme…]
Do you have interesting news items you'd like to share?
If so, send them to me and I'll link to them in this section with appropriate acknowledgements.
And I welcome commentary and discussion on items that have taken your interest (or raised your ire!); again, with permission, I’ll be very happy to include elements of such feedback.
You can send items and comments by simply replying to this email.
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I’ll be back soon,
Cheers, Torben
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