Drones And Robots For Size Up

[x635 4,066]

I think it's coming shortly down the road, but want to see what everyone else thinks.....do you think technology such as drones.....no, not the military likes ones, I'm talking about small R/C units with Go-Pro cameras for instance....for size up? Maybe even pre-plan file footage?

Would this be helpful in large scale industrial and commercial structures with areas of limited visibility to the IC?

Is there a department out there yet officially using this technology?

And yes, I am aware that some firefighters will be replaced with robots in the future that will also help with sizeup! (Before you call me an unrealistic idiot lol, I'm joking here, but the technology is already being worked on)

[v85 212]

I think technology like this will start being used, but it should have very limited applications (i.e. HAZMAT, extremely large buildings etc).

The reason why is two fold:

1. On a typical residential structure, it would probably take less time to do a 360 walk around then it would to deploy the drone and pilot it around the building, trying to avoid smoke, power lines, making sure the camera is facing the right direction etc.

2. Technology fails. Look at Murphy's law for more

[Dinosaur 844]

NYS just hosted a seminar on this very topic up in Albany a few months ago and there's a lot of legal issues before anyone can start doing anything like this. Guys from OFPC said that they had two of them and had to put them on the shelf because of federal regulations.

There were tons of agencies up there including a bunch from Westchester and the Hudson Valley. Maybe one of them can post more details.