Ultra-light UAVs employed to take aerial photos of the protest rally in Moscow(thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)
thelede.blogs.nytimes.com
Ultra-light UAVs employed to take aerial photos of the protest rally in Moscow
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/updates-on-protests-in-russia/#drone-journalism-comes-to-moscow-protests
6 comments
Probably not a good idea to fly a UAV in lower Manhattan...
What makes lower Manhattan different from downtown Moscow? They're both high density urban areas with population in the millions.
Moscow is older and the architecture may be a bit more forgiving for flying UAV's. Also the aerial photography taken in Moscow seems to be around a river and a park. However, there are plenty of Occupy and other protests plus other events where aerial photography may be interesting going in lots of different places, some more UAV friendly than others.
Also remember that modern gyro stabilized, computer controlled quadrocopter UAVs operate with a centimeter precision indoors, so they ought to be pretty precise outdoors too.
Moscow is older and the architecture may be a bit more forgiving for flying UAV's. Also the aerial photography taken in Moscow seems to be around a river and a park. However, there are plenty of Occupy and other protests plus other events where aerial photography may be interesting going in lots of different places, some more UAV friendly than others.
Also remember that modern gyro stabilized, computer controlled quadrocopter UAVs operate with a centimeter precision indoors, so they ought to be pretty precise outdoors too.
Like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cSxEqKQ78
???
(Note: that video caused a _lot_ of controversy in the FPV (first person video) and RC community.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cSxEqKQ78
???
(Note: that video caused a _lot_ of controversy in the FPV (first person video) and RC community.)
Here's a non-Facebook picture, if you don't want to send them the traffic and the data: http://englishrussia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/18.jpg
Original source even better, also includes 360° fullscreen viewer for all images: http://www.airpano.ru/360Degree-VirtualTour-inactive.php?3D=...
6-rotor helicopter used by Ridus/AirPano team: http://www.airpano.ru/files/bolotnaya_1.jpg
Aerial video: http://rccam.livejournal.com/50143.html (jump to 3m00s to see how the flare rocket fired from the crowd below just barely missed the helicopter)
+ flare rocket shot in the general direction of the helicopter, view from the ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxFjds55U0&t=2m47s
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Also, regarding the second helicopter. The Ria Novosti video linked in the article seems was later removed and another one uploaded instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dryUQ_192cc (mirror http://ria.ru/tv_society/20111210/512347323.html)
This new video is slightly longer, but the part about Ria Novosti staff operating their (quadrotor) helicopter is no longer there.
6-rotor helicopter used by Ridus/AirPano team: http://www.airpano.ru/files/bolotnaya_1.jpg
Aerial video: http://rccam.livejournal.com/50143.html (jump to 3m00s to see how the flare rocket fired from the crowd below just barely missed the helicopter)
+ flare rocket shot in the general direction of the helicopter, view from the ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxFjds55U0&t=2m47s
---
Also, regarding the second helicopter. The Ria Novosti video linked in the article seems was later removed and another one uploaded instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dryUQ_192cc (mirror http://ria.ru/tv_society/20111210/512347323.html)
This new video is slightly longer, but the part about Ria Novosti staff operating their (quadrotor) helicopter is no longer there.
It's amazing how technology keeps shrinking the world.
Another great resource for this is Chris Anderson's http://diydrones.com/
Great resource for UAVs, FPV flying and aerial photography.
Great resource for UAVs, FPV flying and aerial photography.
Yeah, just found that one few days back. Me and my friends were discussing all the useful appliances for RC Drones. (E.g. aerial recon during a zombie hollocaust) Maybe I'll have some time in the future to start my own project. Diydrones shows some real supercool stuff that is actually affordable!
Not related to Moscow protests, but I saw a segment on the news last night that the local fisheries patrol will be using UAVs to patrol for illegal fishing. The UAVs will operate 24 hours a day and continually sweep the restricted zones for fishing operations.
Here's the actual picture. Stunning.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2492349945119&se...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2492349945119&se...
The fish-eye is nice, and their use of ultra-light UAV is very interesting. The crowd though is a bit on a thin side :)
Re. the crowd: it might be thin indeed—the most trustworthy estimates for the attendance were around 50k people—but for Moscow, this is extraordinary, as almost all protest demonstrations in the last fifteen years or so were of a narrowly partisan nature and had an attendance of several hundred, rarely two or three thousand, up to 6k just once.
This is actually a pretty popular hobby: attaching cameras to a Model RC plane and take pictures/videos. See forums such as http://www.rcgroups.com/aerial-photography-128/?s=1aecd50171...; for some great examples.
Maybe the US press could do the same, they could cover events like Occupy Wall Street using remotely controlled quadrocopters since real choppers or journalists on foot were not allowed in the area.