Injured Man Is First Person Saved By a Police Drone In Canada 187
AchilleTalon writes "As the US continues to grapple with the idea of letting drones fly through the country's airspace, our neighbors to the north have reported a new milestone for unmanned aerial technology: the first life saved using a drone. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the province of Saskatchewan announced yesterday that they successfully used the small Draganflyer X4-ES helicopter drone to locate and treat an injured man whose car had flipped over in a remote, wooded area in near-freezing temperatures. Zenon Dragan, president and founder of the Draganfly company that makes the drone, said in a statement: 'to our knowledge, this is the first time that a life may have been saved with the use of a sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial System) helicopter.'"
Drones (Score:5, Insightful)
They are a powerful technology, for good, or evil.
Thats great.. (Score:2, Insightful)
When they are used for search and rescue. The problem is that our police force has been lobbying to get them for law enforcement, to be used to further spy on and exert control over the populace. If law enforcement wants to have drones for the sole and limited purpose of search and rescue thats fine by me. Id prefer if I didnt need to worry about some agency watching my every physical move.
Re:Drones (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:But the honor of the first life TAKEN by a dron (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting point, but I have to disagree. The V1 was a missile, not a drone. The V1 itself constituted the attacking weapon. I think the distinction with a drone attack would be that the drone itself isn't the attacking weapon, but rather it carries weapons to attack. Example: The Predator drone which carries Hellfire missiles.
Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
The man's life was saved by a policeman using an infrared camera which happened to be mounted on a drone.
It's important to get the gist of the story right here, because the decision to use drones domestically is a matter of trade offs. So it makes a difference whether you draw the spurious lesson "drones save lives", or the correct lesson, "infrared cameras save lives, drones save money in deploying such cameras in comparison to conventional helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft." One might reasonably choose to risk civil liberties because of certain life-or-death situation, but not choose to do so if its a matter of another ten or twenty bucks a year on your state or provincial taxes.
Re:But the honor of the first life TAKEN by a dron (Score:5, Insightful)
The V1 had a rudimentary guidance system consisting of an anemometer in the nose that track distance and tipped the missile into a dive at the proper range.
So yes it was the first guided drone.
Re:We could save more people with 24/7 surveillanc (Score:5, Insightful)
There are commercial satellites with the resolution to read your license plate
Satellites are not comparable to drones. To achieve good resolution, satellites need to be in near earth orbit, which means they are moving overhead at thousands of km/hr. They can take a snapshot, but they cannot loiter and observe continuously, and they cannot zoom in real time. They are an expensive and limited asset, which means they are not available to the local cop who has a grudge against you because you are dating his ex-girlfriend.
Re:weight of the word (Score:4, Insightful)
but when the police department does it, it's evil?
The government has the power to ruin people's lives, so the implications are far different. Furthermore, the information would be available to the entire government, not just a single person.
And unmanned drones are different from helicopters (and I don't think helicopters should be spying on anyone, either) in that they can be used en masse far more easily.
but realistically you're not that important or interesting to begin with.
Nothing to hide, nothing to fear. As long as the government doesn't abuse me, all is well!
Re:Thats great.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Everything depends on the voltage :) If their battery is, say, 48V, you'd need a good armful of android tablets to beat that.
Re:Thats great.. (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate to break it to you, but we have so much wilderness here in Canada that once you get a dozen two miles outside of a main highway, or out past any major city especially outside of southern BC or the Windsor to Southern Quebec corridor, you can go for days without seeing anyone, or even a sign of civilization. Realistically, we have enough problems even here in Southern Ontario, you know part of the most densely packed part of the country finding people when we get smacked with a blizzard and have to go out an rescue them. Usually on snow mobiles, with volunteers. It's even worse in the rest of the country, where poor roads with very poor driving conditions lead people to get stranded.
This is a very good use of technology, especially here in Canada. Where helicopters are cost prohibitive and the nearest airport can be 600-800km away from the search area.