Security firm to rent private drone

How fantastic. As if Japan didn't have enough surveillance cameras already, here is yet another way to be able to peep, something this country seems to be strangely fascinated with.

The machine with four sets of rotors is based on a model provided by SKYNET and equipped with SEEK AND DESTROY software, camera and other devices, Saito said.

Fixed.

Maybe one should learn how to shoot them down - maybe we live in the world of terminator very soon...

It's not about "Terminator", or even "1984". These things will probably be used for no good by private corporations and non-government entities pursuing their own goals of peaking in your bedroom windows.

These things will probably be used for no good by private corporations and non-government entities pursuing their own goals of peaking in your bedroom windows.

Skynet porn?

I think it's a good idea, and would save unnecessary police call-outs. An alarm goes off, the company calls and no-one is home, so they send a drone to have a quick look to see if its just wind knocking branches against a window, or if its actually a burglar. However...

They would need to have a lot of these drones sitting around on standby. The standard battery life is 20 minutes, with a maximum speed of 50km/hr, which comes out a maximum bingo fuel/battery distance of 5km. That means that this security company would need to have one of these drones waiting within 5km of your house, and all that would achieve would be to get to your house, maybe buzz once around the house and then head home before its battery was exhausted and it crashed.

Full marks for creativity, zero marks for common sense.

Sorry, I made a mistake, 8.3lkms, not 5kms.

Private security today and the abusive police tomorrow.

Here is an article from The Guardian on drones "Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)" around the world. At the time, Japan was not even listed. This is a security company that is renting out small drones for surveillance at larger facilities. Not uncommon. They are used in large farms even in the US which has 678 according to this article for various purposes and sizes. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/aug/03/drone-stocks-by-country Cnn posted this: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/25/us/drones-privacy/index.html sign of the times.

A directional EMP is the next level of self-defense.

FrungyDec. 31, 2012 - 02:20PM JST

They would need to have a lot of these drones sitting around on standby. The standard battery life is 20 minutes, with a maximum speed of 50km/hr, which comes out a maximum bingo fuel/battery distance of 5km

You've clearly never bothered to research the specific system here, or even about drones. This system is not just a drone, but a mobile charging system (autonomous, wheel based robot) that looks like something out of a 1960s b class movie. Both parts are always on premise and have no need to fly significant distances.

As for your calculations, absolutely bogus there. Flight at maximum speed usually is well above the power requirements for hover or light mobility, sometimes 4x as much (depending on weight to power ratio). And this toy won't be getting up anywhere near 50kph, you would be lucky to see it hit 20kph due to instability, but that's fine for tracking a person. http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc_e.htm Use this calculator to estimate the actual fly time (you can cheat and use 80%+ motor load for hover, since that's fine in this application), and you'll likely get less than 10 minutes flight time regardless of your choices (as long as the thing can actually at least hover)

Also, Japan currently has banned the use of autonomous drones outdoors, so the use of this device is limited to indoor areas only, and the size of the thing prevents it from being useful in corridors and stairwells. Additionally, the system is horribly designed, being naturally unstable (or at least near unstable) with that ridiculous tower above the props. I've seen the video from it, and it's quite pathetic compared to much more advanced solutions for aerial video like the Cinema 8 quadrocopter, which can literally carry this quadrocopter as payload, or hold proper high sensitivity, high resolution video surveillance equipment and attached recording and transmitting equipment. Hell, home built solutions can be better made, especially if you use stabilization and subject tracking to follow and record the subject's image.

If you like it or not, you r watched even right now.

Apart from the advanced electronics, it looks and sounds similar to one that is on sale in toy shops in the UK. Can be flown outside. Four rotors, carries a camera and can be controlled by your iPhone, with the video feed appearing on your smart phone screen.