- Title: USA-DRONE EXPO First ever Drone expo kicks off in Los Angeles
- Date: 14th December 2014
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 13, 2014) (REUTERS) PEOPLE LOOKING AT DRONE VIEW OF BOOTHS AT DRONE EXPO PEOPLE AT DRONE EXPO PEOPLE LOOKING AT DRONE CAMERA ON DRONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LISA ELLMAN ATTORNEY, MCKENNA LONG & ALDRIDGE LLP SAYING: "By 2025, we're looking at 82 billion dollars just here in the United States, a hundred-thousand new jobs. The drone industry is just ready to explode but the policy making hasn't kept up yet. The technology has just moved ahead so that's just some of the issues that we are seeing," DRONE WITH SIGN READING "DRONE DUDES" ABOVE IT BANNER READING "CINEDRONES" (SOUNDBITE) (English) LISA ELLMAN ATTORNEY, MCKENNA LONG & ALDRIDGE LLP SAYING: "So there's both safety and privacy issues and the American public has been very vocal in their concern about privacy and drones. Given the unique mobility of drones. People are very concerned that someone's going to spy on me in my own backyard or a company is concerned that their competitors are going to spy on them and their projects so there's a broad concern kind of across the country that we've heard from the American public about drones and that they may impede our own personal privacy." MAN LIFTING DRONE ONTO DISPLAY TABLE DRONE DRONE CONTROLS ( SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR RAJA SENGUPTA, PROFESSOR OF ROBOTIC INTELLIGENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY SAYING: "What we can expect in the advancement of drones is more intelligence and a smaller form factor so this is essentially what's going on. Drones for a long time were essentially remote controlled aircraft that you hobby flew right? Then they became wave point navigatable so you could give them a GPS position and they would go there. But the next thing is we are going to climb higher up the intelligence chain right? At the top of the intelligence chain, you would like to be able to tell a drone 'Go find my kid. My kid is lost in the woods" and it will not find just any kid, it will find your kid." YELLOW DRONE WHITE DRONE WITH CAMERA INSIDE CLOSEUP OF DRONE CAMERA
- Embargoed: 29th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5Q6X5ISVK55NN7RQGH9VE5B0N
- Story Text: If Amazon has its way, your order might one day be delivered to your doorstep by a drone.
This was just one of the possible uses for the unmanned aerial vehicles being discussed as thousands gathered for the first ever commercial Drone expo in Los Angles on Saturday (December 13).
Long used by the military for surveillance and to carry out attacks, USAVSA (Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle Systems Association) said their objective in staging the event was to stoke interest in different uses for drones among the industry and enthusiasts.
Possible uses include delivering medicine to remote locations and the musician "deadmau5" offered fans a tour of home using a drone.
The mobility of these flying vehicles have introduced a host of safety and privacy issues says attorney Lisa Ellman of McKenna, Long & Aldridge said.
"People are very concerned that someone's going to spy on me in my own backyard or a company is concerned that their competitors are going to spy on them and their projects so there's a broad concern kind of across the country," Ellman, the former White House counsel on commercial drones said.
Ellman says policy says has not kept pace with technology and lawmakers and leaders will have to consider a wide array of scenarios as manufacturers produce drones with more and more features.
Drones --- hundreds of them were on display at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports. Some featured rotating cameras and multiple rotors while others looked like model airplanes.
Expect new models to be smarter and smaller says Professor Raja Sengupta, a Professor of Robotic Intelligence at the University Of California Berkeley.
"You would like to be able to tell a drone 'Go find my kid. My kid is lost in the woods" and it will not find just any kid, it will find your kid," Sengupta said.
The commercial drone industry is expected to be an 82 billion dollar industry by the year 2025 says Ellman. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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