Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/18/drone-saves-two-distressed-tee.html
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6 Likes
No so much a raft as a floatation device. Still that is pretty awesome.
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Given the ratio of Deaths Caused by Drones/Deaths Prevented by Drones…I’m still gonna keep a sharp eye on those motherfuckers. You can almost at this point read “potential for search and rescue” directly as “perfect for search and destroy” in press releases for tech like this. But hey, chalk one up for humanity in this case
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If this is a standard quad/hexa/octocopter drone not so much on the destroy as it has to get close (read within range of enemy sight and firepower) to drop the payload with any accuracy. Also the hover capability is probably good to have in search and rescue.
The ones used for destroy are more like small airplanes are meant to be not close to the target.
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from obliterating wedding parties to search and rescue: what can drone do for you?
Was that really 700 meters offshore?
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For sure, in this case. By “tech like this” I was including things like personal jetpacks, robotic exoskeletons, bug-sized drones, snake drones, etc… pretty much anything autonomous or mobility-enhancing. My brain just automatically chafes when the releases mention “search and rescue” which will bring in some funds, but won’t admit the the real money will be in the eventual military contracts.
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I think this is pretty awesome, but were they struggling? I dunno…didn’t seem to be to me.
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i used to take objection to using “drone” instead of “UAV” but i guess the shoe fits. They were after all developed primarily as target drones for the air force, and for bombing england remotely, and for doing whatever a kettering bug does. They’re the mobile judge dredds of the sky, judge jury and executioner in a fiberglass shell raining down hellfire on GWOT opponents
Well, they already tried a a swarm of armed drones in syria They got swatted down, but it’s likely not the last we’ll see of these.
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I just want drones that behave like Chappie or Johnny-5. Happy goofy little flying robots that don’t want to make war. 
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Totally. Screw “where’s my jetpack?” what about “where are my little gravityless buddies who comfort the elderly and help protect poor neighborhoods from greedy developers?”
12 Likes
I forgot about that film. I love it so much!
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If the late 80s/early 90s can hear us through a wormhole, I sure hope they’re sending a friendly (if haywire) dinosaur/robot/alien/caveman/lab experiment/mutant animal/group of plucky kids to save us. We are literally and nationally in the grips of a greedy real estate developer.
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The drone did not spot these kids, the lifeguards (or someone else) did, then they flew a raft out to them using the drone as a delivery vehicle. I.e., lifeguards were better able to do their job by using the drone as an aid. Don’t credit machines for human effort; false confidence in machines is damaging to humanity.
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short circuit 3: DC boogaloo
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“Can you spare a noodle?”
“Okay, here you go!”
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I think the the inflatable float should have something that stands up vertically so that it is easier to see when the waves are higher than your head. Something like a traditional man overboard pole. Now that I look at it I suspect that it may have been a Dan Bouy…did they remove the ballast to make it lighter? That might prevent it from getting vertical and therefore more busy.
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