5 Surprising Ways Drones Are Being Used Today

Does the idea of someone staring at you through a screen from the behind the eyes of a flying machine freak you out a little bit?
Aside from featuring as the enemy in a number of futuristic movies, Drones have long been considered useful for the government and military, particularly when it comes to security surveillance. The race is now on for drones developed for personal use and business activities.
Robotics are moving at an astounding pace. From mosquito sized and shaped drones to this running robotic cheetah, examples abound of the fact that robotics are not only becoming more flexible and adaptable, they are combining with sophisticated technology that almost appears intelligent. This combination allows them to perform such amazing feats as building houses and rescuing people.
Here’s 5 ways Drones are being used that may surprise you:
1. Delivering Tacos
First drone to make the headlines for unusual use was that developed to home deliver tacos. Tacocopter will bring you a hot, delicious burrito from a flying drone with just a click of the button on your iPhone. In beta mode, their sister company on the East Coast of America claims to deliver Lobsters in the same way. Our guess, is that the race is on for the first Australian business to offer meat pie and tomato sauce delivery by drone…
2. Inspect joint sealants on a 20-floor building
How do you get up to the top of a new building to make sure the sealants are working okay? Draganfly innovations saved their client thousands of dollars by deploying a drone to the top of a 20-floor building to gather footage of the joint sealants. A single drone working alone at the hands of a human is one thing. The Institute For Dynamic Systems and Control recently coordinated a number of drones to work together to build a 6-metre tall tower. It took 4 helicopters 4 days. One South Korean company is suggesting a very futuristic method of constructing buildings, using drones similar to the way bees build their hives.
3. Avoiding traffic jams
Georgia Tech, School of Building Construction has recently announced a project to look into the possibility of using drones to monitor traffic and inspect accidents. The first person to the scene of a car accident could be on the other side of a drone camera…
4. Patrols to Enforce Marine Protected Areas
Within six days of drones being employed in the Dry Tortugas area recently, two fines were handed out, one for diving without a permit and the other for fishing illegally. Protecting areas from illegal activity is made easier with unmanned surveillance systems.
5. Search and Rescue Teams
The first man to be saved by a drone was found curled at the base of a tree and unconscious. The drone used infrared and night vision to locate him. It’s been proposed that larger drones could be used to rescue people in the middle of the ocean, utilising heat seeking and voice activation sensors to provide flotation devices and GPS coordinates.