Since I'm probably one of the few people here who knows a bit about experimental drones I thought I'd post a short diary on the subject.
Most people don't know much about drones and don't want to. And then there are us techy types that, if something is new and cool and on the edge, we simply must have one, especially if we can build it ourselves...
Believe it or not, it is PERFECTLY LEGAL in the United States to build and fly your own fully autonomous drone. However, how you can do so is very restricted. You cannot let it out of your sight, you must be able to immediately take manual control, you can't fly it over 400 feet or over developed areas. But technically, yes, it is perfectly legal to own and fly a drone.
What's a drone? A drone can arguably be as simple as an RC plane with a camera in it. But what we usually think of as a "drone" is something that you can send on missions, plot 3D waypoints and have it autonomously execute what you've told it to do and return, all without human help.
Guess what? That's not only possible, it's easy and cheap. Welcome to the brave new world.
These "drones" should not be compared to the full-sized ones used by the military and, apparently, FOX news. They are identical to the planes you see old geezers like me flying around the parks. But make no mistake, their abilities are impressive and getting better all the time. They can do everything the "big boys" do but fire missiles.
Very popular right now are the quadrocopters, which can hover and really be an "eye in the sky". Again, those with a little disposable hobby cash can easily buy one and get it up and running in no time.
It's always interesting to me that you can take a few perfectly benign objects, combine them, and suddenly they're something we have to be worried about. I'm not minimizing how concerned we should be about drones; we SHOULD be concerned. I don't want camera-equipped quadrocopters buzzing around my window, as the police will be doing the MOMENT someone lets them. But hysteria is unnecessary and unhelpful, and to fight technology you must thoroughly understand technology.
So how do you feel about these things? Should they be banned entirely? Should they be more unrestricted? Is it much ado about nothing or a real problem we should be aware of?