Why are drones important?

Why are drones important?

We all know that drones in a wide variety of industries are proving to be useful devices. But so, along with any number of inventions that have arisen over the years, are calculators and hard hats. 

The question is, what makes it so unique for drones? What sets this technology apart from what has happened before, and why should the drone industry be involved in continuing to innovate?

There are plenty of other factors, apart from drones servicing leading industries, that mainly boil down to three things: saving lives, saving the world, and inspiring the next generation of scientists and technologists.

Saving Lives

Let's start with the most significant reason why drone technology is important, arguably: it saves lives. 

Whether they carry medical supplies in rural Africa or lead the way during a mountain rescue for first responders, it is clear that drones have the potential to bring significant items from A to B and provide an eye in the sky when it is most needed.

Manufacturer DJI published a report back in March saying that "drones have rescued at least 59 people from life-threatening conditions in 18 separate incidents around the globe." in the previous year. 

These figures can only grow as the technology is embraced by more emergency services and more cases of medical delivery usage develop.

But their use during hazardous activities is a frequently overlooked way that drones save lives. It can be a dangerous business to inspect infrastructure, such as bridges and cell towers. As part of the work, engineers have historically been placed in harm's way, purely because there is no other way to achieve a point of view that is sufficiently useful, but this risk can be significantly reduced with the use of drones for engineering.

However, unless absolutely necessary, risky missions can be avoided by using drones to stream video back to teams on the ground. There is no way of predicting how many lives the technology will save in the years to come or how many accidents it could help to avoid.

This notion of using drones for hazardous tasks goes well beyond inspection of infrastructure. There have been applications that use drones to test radioactivity in nuclear disaster zones, conduct aerial reconnaissance in war zones, and even gather biological samples from hazardous animals. 

We couldn't count the number of lives that don't have to be put at risk anymore because of drone technology.

Climate change

In addition to saving lives, drones help save and improve our natural world and environment.

There have been several examples of drones being used for conservation and environmental initiatives. This includes monitoring power plant pollution, mapping forests from above to measure deforestation, and using drones to detect and prevent illegal poaching of animals.

The work of Ocean Alliance is one of our favorite uses of drones in the field of conservation. Drones have been used by the marine conservation group to collect biological samples from whales (aka whale snot), as well as to build a second flying robot capable of landing on the water and capturing underwater messages from whales.

With many environmental programs tight on budget and low on manpower, the way forward might be to bring in drones for research projects.

Photography

The most enticing draw to photography using a drone is that it enables you to film from a higher viewpoint. This can turn plain old images into something truly amazing instantly.

Most drones have built-in cameras that can rotate and swivel, particularly those designed for more advanced users, to allow the operator to shoot photos and videos from all kinds of angles. For photographers, this is particularly useful, as it can allow them more flexibility to produce the perfect picture. Actually the team at Visionlapse have been using drone footage in a variety of their construction time lapse projects. By incorporating this into their projects it really gives them a distinct edge of their competitors.

Imagine having the freedom to take pictures from all positions and viewpoints of your subjects without ever having to move an inch from where you are!

Conclusion

Drones can used for a array of different things. Not only for photography but are used around the world in various professions to aid workers. The technology will only improve so keep your eye out for my drones in 2021.