Hello everyone, My name is Paul. I am a undergraduate at the University of Washington. I am in a user design class where we are looking at design solutions to different problems. My group is concerned with Drones and Privacy. Currently we are looking into public perception of drones and how that perception impacts peoples concerns in regards to privacy. We have been tasked with researching the issue and then coming up with a solution that may alleviate privacy concerns people who use drones commercially and recreationally may have. I would like to query anyone interested in helping me with my reseracyh. We have come up with some general questions for our research but I would encourage any opinions or feelings you may have on the subject even if they are outside the scope of the questions. I will include them at the bottom of the post. To give you some background we are thinking along the lines of developing (in theory only, not actually make it) a application sort of like Waze if you are familiar with it from android phones. Where it would provide real time information on drone activity in someones given area. Providing details of the drones purpose and information of its operator being a business or recreational user. With this in mind would you feel that it would be something that would help with any current negative perception drones may have? Would it be something you think would be useful, and you woudl use? Or do you feel that its something that would have challenges to the drone operators privacy? These type of questions are what we are looking at as well. I'm sorry to leave such a long winded post but I wanted to give as much information as possible! I hope to hear back from you all and look forward to speaking with you. -Paul What do you associate more with drones: military / recreational? What is your experience with drones? Have you seen one in person? How would you feel if you noticed one flying near your house? Are you open to the use of drones in society? Could society benefit from the implementation of drones? What could you see drones being used for in the near future? Who do you think should be able to operate drones?
Welcome! My thinking is that someday - probably before people do this by self-reporting - that all (except toy) quadcopters will have GSM and GPS built in so that they self-report to the network in some way. This will be needed for everything from collision avoidance to some of your concerns....like is that an Amazon drone delivering my 1/2 and 1/2 or it is the military base down the road or law enforcement, etc..... Of course I (and many here) feel that there are almost unlimited benefits to society coming from aerial robotics! I wrote up a little doc on some ideas: https://www.droneflyers.com/2014/06/opportunities-aerial-robotics-2014/ In many ways, the "bad drones" reports we hear now are similar to what I heard about computers in the 1960s'...they were going to take all our jobs away (which turned out true, but the production of other jobs ensued).... It's probably easier to think of aerial robotics as a potential "internet" of sensors as well as delivery mechanisms with almost no limit....somewhat like the internet was in the early 1990's. The potential was there, but it took about 20 years for all the parts to come together. It would be more accurate to ask what they can't do....since they move in 3D space. They are the true culmination of the robotics and AI revolution...or at least could be.
