TED had a large conference which included many talks discussing Drones and the ideas of remotely controlled flying vehicles. Taking inspiration from the talks of Daniel Suarez, Greg Asner and Andreas Raptopoulos I managed to build a balanced argument and display a wide spectrum of information both in favour and against the ideas of Drones.
The Militarised Drone is an idea that I am personally wary of and I am firmly against most Military Actions in regards to my personal ethic beliefs. So I was much happier to research the positive uses of drones that exist at the moment. However I needed to know more about their uses in deadly combat so I paid a lot of attention to Daniel Suarez's talk about weaponised drones.
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| Click for Suarez's TEDTalk |
The first talk that i really connected with was Greg Asner's: Ecology from the air talk. Asner describes how technology from the air is a really useful and quick way of taking detailed ecological surveys, especially in the Amazon rainforest. Asner's team not only reaped loads of ecological and scientific data from the aerial scans, learning about the types, numbers and health of trees - not only from the immediate surface, but their technology allowed them to "strip" away the canopy and survey smaller trees and plants that were growing below. The technology also allowed for an inadvertent crime-fighting operation. The lasers that scan down to the surface showed large caverns where illegal gold-mining was taking place as well as notifying the scientists where deforestation was taking place in protected areas. Asner informs us that the authorities were duly notified of the team's findings.
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| Click for Asner's TEDTalk |
The final talk that I referenced in my presentation was Andreas Raptopoulos' talk about the Matternet network system of delivery drones currently being deployed throughout Africa. The Matternet network is currently deployed to deliver medical supplies to remote villages where road access is either difficult or non-existent. It is a totally automated network, the drones fly on GPS determined routes automatically, land on charging and loading stations and change battery packs all without human interference. This allows the Drones to work cheaply and effectively 24/7. Raptopoulos' vision is focused on spreading the network in developing countries but also, from a more corporate aspect, as a delivery network - akin to the Amazon drone - in the developed world.
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