Drones seem to be all the rage right now, and Sony doesn’t want to be left behind. That’s why it has partnered up with robotics company, ZMP, to create a drone capable of taking off vertically and spying on people below.
The VTOL UAV
Sony and ZMP have created a joint venture called Aerosense in an effort to create a drone that can be leased to businesses so they can perform aerial surveillance, which sounds a lot like Big Brother to me. According to the company, they intend businesses to use the VTOL UAV drone for “measuring, surveying, observing, and inspection.”
The VTOL UAV is bringing Sony’s camera, sensing, and telecommunications network together with ZMP’s robotic technologies expertise to create a drone they believe will be safe for businesses to use on major architectural, civil engineering, and mapping projects.
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Now, all of that can be done by a typical drone to an extent, but what makes Sony’s new drone unique is that it can take off vertically like a traditional quad-copter, but it actually flies around like a jet. In an article, The Guardian compares Sony’s drone to the Lockheed Martin F35 Fighter, shown in Die Hard 4, and they’re pretty spot on with their comparison.
Intentions: Good or Bad?
Here is where things get a bit tricky. No one likes the idea of being under constant surveillance. The term “glassholes” was derived from people being uncomfortable with Google Glass explorers having the ability to constantly record everything; completely ignoring the fact that most people are caught on surveillance footage more than they’d like to know.
Aerospace is looking to provide a product aimed at solving a legitimate issue: why send a person into a dangerous situation that can be done by a machine? But domestic aerial surveillance via automated drones is relatively new turf. So, it’s equally understandable that many people would be eager to cry Big Brother before fully understanding how the final product will be used.
Sony and ZMP are Focusing on Safety
Drones kind of have a bad rap for something they aren’t entirely responsible for. ZMP’s mission statement is “Robot of Everything: To create a safe, fun and comfortable lifestyle with robotics technology.” One of the reasons the companies wanted to go automated was because they believed in providing a safer solution to problems that currently exist.
“By making them automated, drones will be considerably safer because many of accidents created today are caused by human error,” said Hisashi Taniguchi, CEO of Aerosense and ZMP.
So, it’s easy to raise concerns about drones taking on more domestic work, but it’s also great to see companies, like Sony, trying to create socially responsible drone solutions that can benefit everyone.
