Prelude

A guard: “They are all around us we are circled. There is no way we will escape.”

As I was running toward the main entrance of Zeika’s fortress, I could not stop telling myself that this was just too easy. It could not be it, the End. I have thought about this day in fear for the past few weeks, trying to find a way to end this conflict and even though I felt betrayed.

Asgardians were everywhere, attacking our cities and burning our lands. The druid was right, he once told me: “the day will come when from the sky, fire will be sent to end humanity”.

Captain of the seal: “My lord, we should summon the great dragon. It is our only hope to survive.”

My ancestors were masters of the wind and were put on earth to protect it from any invaders coming from outer space. So was their duty and it became mine when I was tall enough to run. I was the only able to summon it and control its powers. But would it be enough against Asgardians and their quadrocopters.

These flying machines were the symbol of Asgard’s supremacy and over the past decades we heard about the devastation they brought to other earths. Today we are trapped here at the centre of the fortress. In the sky, thousands of quadrocopters above our heads are scanning the area, heavily armed and ready to kill.

I needed to act fast!

Drones

During the past decade, the U.S. army has used drones to engage into reconnaissance missions or offensive strikes in hostile areas.

The recent conflict Libya has once again proven to the world that drones technology is mature enough to be use widely. In order to track pro-gadaffi forces’ positions, the Libyan National Transition Council used a tiny drone from Ayeron Labs a company based in Waterloo, Canada. The drone used weighed 3 pounds and was controlled via a touchscreen interface, compared to the US Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (U.A.V), these drones did not require any knowledge of flying, they did do not carry weapons as well.

They are good examples of how military needs are spawning innovation. Drones bring several plus to military campaigns. One of the first benefits is without doubt the reduction of casualties on the pilots side, UAV are controlled remotely and do not require a physical presence on the field of action.

Because they are smaller, they can fly at low altitude, many defence specialists believe they are more precise during offensive missions; which should reduce collateral damages and civilian casualties. They also bring speed and efficiency; they are smaller than real planes and some of them like the RQ-4 Global Hawk can fly more than 30 hours without interruption.

Telekinetic control

Recently I have came across a video from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and they were demonstrating a particular type of drone called a quadrotor. A flying machine with 4 rotors, light, fast and controlled remotely by gesture. The gesture interface is an xbox kinect set; while using a kinect gives the impression that the devices are controlled trough telekinesis. It projects us in a near feature. Do you recall U.F.O.?

According to human imagination these vehicles would be carrying aliens coming from outer space! With UAV, humans are building their own U.F.O; most of them do not exhibit any characteristics of the flying machines we are accustomed too.

Drones are not only informers and killers

While UAV may seem like engines of destruction, they can actually used as engines of growth. UAV can be used to perform several duties from rescue to counting trees in the rain forest. They are versatile and they can be equipped according to their purposed usage.

Oregon State University has been working on a specific application of drones in agriculture. They built a 6-rotors flying machine that is capable of counting plants and identifying crops disease, water irrigation issues and several others.

Transfer of drones’ technology from the military to the civilian world, will foster a wave of innovations in several areas especially first response during emergency situations. For example, drones could be used to fly over regions devastated by an earth quake or tsunami; they could scan the areas to detect any signs of life using infra-red thermal cameras.

Quadrocopter, a US based company, has started to commercialize drones. For less than 5000 $USD, you can acquire one, this is less expensive than the 120 000 $USD charged to the Libyan rebels by Aeyron Labs using its military drone.

Parallel world

Breaking News: Today is a new day. We are celebrating new times. Nasa’s controlled Quadrotors have helped to save humanity once again. Early in the morning they created a protective shield around the health, preventing solar flares to reach earth. Their adamantium surface was key to the succes of the mission.

Originally published on Innovation Tales