Lightweight video cameras and small flying platforms can be mixed in a variety of ways. You can put a camera on a RC airplane, fly it around, and watch the video later. A more advanced flavor is called first person video - you put a camera in the aircraft, stream the video back and use it to control the flight - often watching the view with video goggles. And you can let the aircraft fly autonomously to a pre-planned flight path and either store or transmit the video.
Lots of fun, but there are any number of social implications. It is still very difficult to fly autonomously in the US and commercial use of these flying cameras is still largely barred by the FAA (although they are working towards allowing it). There is a big space for hobbyists with certain weight and distance regulations and thousands participate.
Some videos have become popular (from his YouTube channel)
One has to wonder what the moose is thinking - perhaps some lines from the Bullwinkle show are appropriate. (some notes on the video from its author)
Eirik Solheim -the Norwegian guy who created the video - has a site that is rich in content for advanced hobbyists. While there are very small toy class platforms, most of the experimenting is taking place using kits that require something in the neighborhood $1,000 to build and fly. Stability and control can be very impressive and the police who were involved in the Occupy Wallstreet demonstrations became very nervous when one of these appeared.
There are a number of small autonomous commercial class drones used for police, military, construction, scientific and other work ... the people who make the toy class AR.Drones (still very impressive technology) are involved in an autonomous UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) product called the senseFly. Starting at about $9,000, but currently illegal in the US, you get an autonomous mapper. These would have been very useful in the wake of the recent Sandy superstorm.
UAVs bristle with society and technology issues, but can be a great platform for engineering students. I suspect hundreds of organizations in the US probably have someone playing with them on salary or as a hobbyist and suspect a lot of activity if the FAA announces regulations with few restrictions (which is expected). Think about any task that uses a helicopter for observation and lower the operating cost by a factor of 100. And that is just a starting point.
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