Drones are a modern invention that has completely changed the way that we see the world. From exploring your own neighborhood to flying over unsafe areas, drones are being used for a myriad of purposes as they continue to get more technologically advanced. These technological tools are no longer toys that children get for Christmas and play around with until they crash them into a tree. Read below to find out how drones are revolutionizing operations across industries.
Inspections
In several different industries, inspections are needed to determine the safety of certain areas. For example, sometimes sewer systems in big cities have issues that cannot be determined from the surface. Sewer workers can send a drone into the large sewer systems and navigate through the pipes until they find the problem. This prevents them from having to wade through miles of wastewater, potentially causing illness and injury.
Other inspections include those of big infrastructure projects like bridges, powerlines, and railways. These are places where it is dangerous to send a person up high to check on damage or just to have regular inspections. To prevent unnecessary risk, many companies are now investing in drones with cameras instead of flying up to the top of powerlines or under tall bridges to get a close look at things.
Rescue Missions
In emergency situations, drones have become very handy when it comes to finding missing people or retrieving people from disaster situations. For example, if a car flies off of the side of a cliff and the emergency response team is called to find it, they can send a drone ahead of time to survey the area and find the missing car. This saves precious minutes and allows the rescue team to get to the potential survivors quickly whether it’s by helicopter or any other emergency vehicle.
In the case of natural disasters like hurricanes or tornadoes, surveillance drones can be used to scan areas and look for people holding up signs or standing on roofs. This is a much more efficient and economical approach than sending a bunch of helicopters to look around the areas. In the end, this reduces fuel use, as a normal American-made drone is battery-operated, and it saves time so that more people can be rescued in a certain amount of time. Once a drone finds a survivor, then the helicopter team can be alerted and they can beeline to the people in need.
Data Collection
This is an important task in many industries including development, agriculture, and even sports. Developers use drones to scope out potential plots of land because it takes seconds for a drone to fly over several acres compared to hours on foot. In agriculture, farmers who are in charge of large crop areas are enlisting drones to fly over their fields and look for areas affected by bugs, check in on crop health, look for areas that are in need of irrigation, and many other tasks that would take forever to do in a tractor.
Professional sports teams are now using drones on the playing fields to capture close-up shots of players stepping out of line, causing injuries, and making goals. This has added a new level of entertainment to a lot of sports as fans can now get an up close and personal look at the field of play.
Delivery Services
When you think of a futuristic lifestyle, you may picture drones delivering mail and packages to people in hoards like flocks of birds flying through the sky, and you wouldn’t be too far off. New drone technologies allow delivery companies to assign tasks to drones in the hopes that they will deliver packages safely to the right addresses. This is still a work in progress, and there are not hundreds of drones flying through neighborhoods carrying brown cardboard boxes, but it could be in the not-so-distant future as drone technology continues to improve.
Mapping
For cartographers who are trying to map areas that are hard to reach on foot, video recording drones come in handy because they can fly low and high over dense forests and rough terrains to gather information about different landscapes and deliver it to map makers. This function makes it much safer for people trying to trek through thick foliage to map out remote areas around the world.
Filming
Film studios have fully embraced drones as a tool in the filmmaking process. Because they can fly so high up, they are able to capture stunning aerial shots that used to have to be done in helicopters or airplanes which would cost thousands of dollars. Drones are also known for being very stable when airborne, making them great for getting still shots and eliminating the need for cranes and camera arms. They are also becoming more and more quiet, making them useful for filming scenes and not taking the actors out of the moment.
Resource Exploration
In places all over the world where it can be dangerous for humans to explore, drones are now taking their place. With their small size and precision steering, drones can make their way through narrow cave systems in search of precious gems and minerals. They can also explore already-established mines that are at collapse risk and too dangerous for workers to enter.
They can also be an inspection guide to check out certain caves or mines to determine whether or not they are safe enough for people to enter. This saves miners time and keeps them safe from potential unseen threats before they go in. In the near future, drones may also be able to do gem and mineral extracting using robot arms or laser technology.
The drone is no longer just a hobby for people who like to spy on their neighbors but is actually expanding its reach to many industries around the world. As drone technology gets more advanced, it may become one of the most useful tools in the modern world. From rescue missions to capturing the close-up of a touchdown goal, drones are changing the way we operate and they are here to stay.