Prototype Quadrotor with Machine Gun!

[JimC]

I can envisage a hundred of them being operated by terrorists, and descending on an unsuspecting crowd, doing a lot of damage. Also, as has been mentioned a short while ago, the model merely constitutes "proof of concept" and the bloke in the Youtube clip suggests that a sufficiently mature version may be ten or 15 years away.

But what if the crowd was composed of fully armed Seths?

[Blind groper]

It is bullshit.
I have a friend here in little ol' Noo Zealan' who has such a device already, and well before that video appeared. It is a battery operated remote control model helicopter. He uses it for commercial video at a much lower price than hiring a helicopter.

Want to make a weapon of war? Buy one of these models, which are readily available (can buy via the internet) and mount a gun. no problem.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I can envisage a hundred of them being operated by terrorists, and descending on an unsuspecting crowd, doing a lot of damage. Also, as has been mentioned a short while ago, the model merely constitutes "proof of concept" and the bloke in the Youtube clip suggests that a sufficiently mature version may be ten or 15 years away.

Very much a proof of concept. For this drone I see the specs as "fit through a standard door way or window." Tracked bots are much slower and can't patrol rooftops easily.

But we've already been over this:

"I told Orville, I told Wilbur and now I'm a-tellin' YOU, that thing will never get off the ground!"

[mistermack]

I can envisage a hundred of them being operated by terrorists, and descending on an unsuspecting crowd, doing a lot of damage. Also, as has been mentioned a short while ago, the model merely constitutes "proof of concept" and the bloke in the Youtube clip suggests that a sufficiently mature version may be ten or 15 years away.

Maybe, but I doubt it. The tiny versions can already do amazing things :


And this :


If I was a terrorist, I could build a much better one today.
You don't need a heavy machine gun. I would use the lightest machine pistol on the market. So you wouldn't need a great big noisy quadrotor. You could use a smaller one, with slower rotors, and hardly any noise.
Or you could have a team of them, with machine pistols, a bit like these :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmWD76jw ... re=related[/youtube]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Fly one of those into a building with a grenade.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Completely useless without first-person sighting/navigation.

You mean drones will never work?

No. I mean if someone has to be in line of sight of a target to use such a device then it might as well be engaged directly with more conventional weapons.
I'm suggesting that it's best use is as a drone. I know military drones have recently been fitted with Hellfire missiles and used effectively on targets but the quadrotor in the op has no chance of carrying any sort of stand-off weapon. - Like I said previously, it would probably be best employed as a spotter for mortars/artillery or even fitted with means for laser designation of targets (although I suspect that it is too small to carry the equipment/batteries needed for this).

[Clinton Huxley]

They need one that delivers pizza

[FBM]

As a species, we do really need to figure out how to kill a lot more of each other faster and more conveniently, don't we?

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I imagine there could be many uses for drones etc. other than destructive ones.
Fit one with thermal imaging cameras or whatever and use it for mountain rescue etc.
One like the one in the op might be useful for getting much needed medical supplies to people stuck in inaccessible places...stuff like that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

A fleet of drones equipped with FLIR would be an asset to S.A.R. efforts.

[JimC]

Give the contract to build to members of the Drones Club!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Give the contract to build to members of the Drones Club!

Is that what they're calling the House of Lords now?