“Drones
get a lot of bad publicity related to surveillance and military operations. But
at the end of the day, they're only a tool of technology. Our message is that
we can use it for the good of people all over the world. We've already seen a
lot of potential for humanitarian uses”
Project Manager for
Drones for Good Award, Saif Al Aleeli, commenting on Drones and their
non-military uses
The
UAE (United Arab Emirates) apparently loves their Document Delivery Drones a
little too much. So much so that they’ve planned an International Competition
for Designers and Engineers to develop the next generation of Drones with the
launch of the Drones for Good Award back
in June 2014 as reported in “Your
'good drone' idea could be worth $1m”, published July 15, 2014 By Daisy
Carrington, CNN.
The
competition comprises of two (2) halves:
1.
Local Competition in the UAE with a
prize of US$270,000
2.
International Competition with a prize
of US$1,000,000
The
rules are fairly simple:
1.
Developers and Designers need to
develope Drones for non-military usage i.e. First, do no Evil
2.
Drone Designed have to be original and
not already in production and on the market
3.
Drones need to solve problems for the
UAE Government e.g. Traffic Monitoring, First Aid Response in the Desert
4.
No limitations for International
entries; can be a private individual, team or a company
Project
Manager for Drones for Good Award, Saif Al Aleeli Global view isn't surprising
as it relates to including International entries, quote: “Innovation doesn't
have an address. It comes from different geographical areas, from R&D
centers and from the poor guy in Africa trying to provide a service or feed a
certain need with technology. We want to give a chance to everyone in this
world to be part of this innovation exercise”
UAE and Drones –
Government Drones are so Good; UAE want more of them
This
is a surprise development as it was just earlier in February 2014 that the UAE
Government started using Drones to deliver Government Documents as stated in “Drone
deliveries get off the ground in Dubai”, published February 10, 2014 8:38
PM PST by Dara Kerr, CNET News. Quite
reasonable; the country’s rather large and its Government Ministries are rather
far-flung, as far as the Camel rides or the crow flies….or in this case, the
Drone flies!
Thus,
seeing the potential usefulness, the UAE’s trying to address the negative
stigma associated with Drones and their Military usages via stirring up the
creative minds of the World with a Drones
for Good Award.
This
isn't new. Aside from their current civilian usage, the UAE's been interested
in Drones since last year, their love for these flying puppies clearly on
display. This was evident during the 2013 Dubai Airshow featured Aircraft
Developer Abu Dhabi-based Adcom Systems that put its Drones on display as
stated in “Mideast
Companies Seek Foothold in Drone Market”, published Nov 20, 2013 By
MARIETTA CAUCHI, The Wall Street Journal.
This
might give Americans some degree of envy, as their FAA (Federal Aviation
Authority) has put the kibosh on further Civilian Drone usage dependent on the
outcome of several Studies to create Regulations and Standards for their usage
within American Airspace as stated in my blog article
entitled “FAA
ok’s Drones for Hobbyist – Study to determine Commercial Drone Risk as Amazon,
UPS and FedEx Drones get the Kibosh until 2015”.
UAE’s Drones for Good -
UAE Lazy route to the Google of Drone Design and Application
Current
Civilian usages include Personal Drones mainly aimed at filming on Contract or
even personal filming of Daredevil Antics for Extreme Sports enthusiasts. The
AirDog Drone and the Hexo+ Drone as detailed in my blog article entitled
“AirDog
Personal Drone – Action Selfie-Drone with an attachment for a GoPro Camera”
and “Hexo+
Semi-Autonomous Drone Controlled by Apple iOS and Android – Despite no AirLeash
Six Propellers better than Four as it won’t run away” come immediately to mind
as examples
The
Civilian use of Drones is an issue that's currently being challenged within the
United States of American. A recent legal victory with a ruling handed down by
National Transportation Safety Board Judge Patrick Geraghty with regards to Team
BlackSheep founder Raphael Pirker challenge of the FAA rights to regulate
Drones as explained in my blog article entitled
“NTSB
Judge Patrick Geraghty rules Drones for commercial purposes are now free -
Forward thinking Black Sheep founder Raphael Pirker leading America towards an
Almost Human Future” paves the way for Civilian contracts but not scheduled
Commercial Flights of fleets of Drones.
This
is what Amazon is currently awaiting and when it comes to pass, it'll mean the
skies will be filled with what would basically be the first forms of flying
Robots to deliver Packages as described in my blog article
entitled “Fast
Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not
Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015”. USA and the Caribbean
need to do some catching up quickly, otherwise we'll find ourselves left behind
in the race to utilize Drones to their full advantage.
UAE Lazy route to Drone
Dominance – How Jamaica can jumpstart Drone Designs
By
making the competition global, the UAE is basically canvassing the ideas of the
Worlds Designers and Engineers and may end being used by the UAE to further
their ambitions to become a world Leader in Drones, according to the UAE's
minister of cabinet affairs, Mohammed Al Gergawi, quote: “I think it is a new
stage of development, not only for the UAE, but for the world. Either you
embrace this technology, or you resist it. If you resist it, then the gap
between you and your competitor wouldn't be a year or two, it's going to be 500
years”.
The
UAE’s already way ahead, something smaller countries like Jamaica should
emulate by throwing out the design for the Drones needed by the Ministry of
Agriculture as described in my blog article
entitled “Min.
of Agriculture proposes DNA Database for Cattle and Livestock – How RFID
Biometric Markers can curtail Praedial Larceny and Develope Agro Processing for
Export” to local Civilians Contractors.
After
all, we may have local talent within the island that can produce the same level
of results as our international Counterparts, as Aviation isn’t a secret,
merely involving a lot of Trial-and-error design to see what works.
This could blossom into a yearly Drone Competition that could see sponsored competitors fly around the island in a dexterity test of endurance for their designs as suggested in my blog article entitled “Suggested low cost high impact Launch of Digicel WiMax 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Broadband Network and DigiTV”.
This could blossom into a yearly Drone Competition that could see sponsored competitors fly around the island in a dexterity test of endurance for their designs as suggested in my blog article entitled “Suggested low cost high impact Launch of Digicel WiMax 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Broadband Network and DigiTV”.
Let's
hope that their intentions are exactly as pristine as the Desert Wilderness
they live in and not a means to develope a private Robot Army to wage was in
the Middle East.
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