Image: Image: Sami Sarkis/Getty Images
The U.S. government uses them to bomb alleged terrorists in far-away places. Tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook are all toying with the idea of using them, and now they're a photographer's secret weapon. Drones are a big part of our lives, whether we see them or not. Drone Beat collects the best and most important stories every week.
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Drone Beat's coverage areas this week Last update: September 5, 12:13 p.m. ET Man arrested for flying drone near U.S. Open venue
The New York Police Department arrested a man for flying a small drone over the empty facilities of the U.S. Open on Wednesday night, just as Serena Williams and Flavia Pennetta were playing nearby.
A man form Yonkers named Daniel Feighery was piloting the drone. The police charged him with reckless endangerment, violation of a local law, and failure to comply with a sign (though it's unknown what the sign said), according to '>CNN.
This is the second New York State resident who was arrested in recent weeks for flying an unmanned aerial vehicle. In July, another amateur pilot was arrested for flying too close to an NYPD chopper - though it was later reported that the situation might have been the other way around.
NASA is working on an air traffic control system for drones
Ever since Congress tasked the Federal Aviation Agency to integrate drones in the American airspace, the main concern - more than privacy - has been safety. The big question has been: How will drones that fly autonomously avoid crashing into each other and into other airplanes?
NASA is now working on a solution, an air traffic control system exclusively for drones that fly around 400 or 500 feet (lower than conventional airplanes), as first reported by The New York Times. The idea is to create a system that will help drones avoid each other, small buildings and be aware of surrounding weather conditions.
The NASA principal researcher managing the program, Parimal H. Kopardekar, said they will test the system outside of densely populated areas 'in agriculture' starting next year.
Angry ram knocks down drone and its owner
Drones are an exciting technology with an ever increasing number of fans. But there are some people who are not too keen on having flying robots all over our cities and public (and not so public) spaces. Looks like we can add rams to the list of drone detractors now.
An angry ram managed to head butt and knock down a drone when its owner flew it a little too close to the animal, as the video below shows. The man then went to retrieve his quadcopter and had to flee from the ram, who ended up chasing him down and knocking him over as well. Luckily, it appears that neither the drone nor its owner suffered any injuries.
'I got a bit close,' YouTube user Buddhanz1, who uploaded the video, wrote. 'Luckily no harm done.'
FAA grounds university's plans to lend drones to students
You might remember a plan by the University of Florida to lend drones to students, allowing them to check them out like books from the library. Well, the FAA is not too keen on this idea.
The agency denied the University a certificate of authorization to use the drones, effectively shutting down the project before it ever started. The university's dean of libraries, William Garrison, however, is not giving up, and said university authorities will continue working with the FAA to make it happen.
Google has secretly been developing a drone delivery system
For two years, Google has secretly worked on a delivery system that uses drones.
It's called Project Wing and it's another brainchild of the company's crazy idea lab codenamed Google X. The company says they are just starting to test it, but it's already 'a reliable system that can do autonomous delivery.' Amazon, you've got competition.
Police detain pilot who flew drone over NFL game
Drones are starting to be spotted at more and more sporting events.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police detained an amateur drone pilot for flying his drone over the Panthers-Chiefs exhibition game on Aug. 17, as reported by the Charlotte Observer.
The man was not arrested nor charged but the matter is now in FAA officials' hands. NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy, however, said that the league has 'league wide policies that prohibit any type of drone in parking lots or in stadiums.'
Bonus: The Military Drones - and Detractors - of New York State Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. Entities 0 Name: FAA Count: 4 1 Name: Google Count: 4 2 Name: NASA Count: 3 3 Name: Amazon Count: 2 4 Name: NFL Count: 2 5 Name: Sami Count: 1 6 Name: Parimal H. Kopardekar Count: 1 7 Name: Yonkers Count: 1 8 Name: University of Florida Count: 1 9 Name: Federal Aviation Agency Count: 1 10 Name: Daniel Feighery Count: 1 11 Name: Congress Count: 1 12 Name: Flavia Pennetta Count: 1 13 Name: New York Police Department Count: 1 14 Name: U.S. Count: 1 15 Name: New York State Count: 1 16 Name: Charlotte Observer Count: 1 17 Name: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Count: 1 18 Name: University Count: 1 19 Name: Brian McCarthy Count: 1 20 Name: Military Drones Count: 1 21 Name: American Count: 1 22 Name: CNN Count: 1 23 Name: Serena Williams Count: 1 24 Name: The New York Times Count: 1 25 Name: Panthers-Chiefs Count: 1 26 Name: New York State Have Count: 1 27 Name: Project Wing Count: 1 28 Name: William Garrison Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1CESpdu Title: An Akron startup, Event 38, is bringing drone technology down on the farm Description: AKRON, Ohio--Drinking in the scene as you drive through Ohio farm country these days, you might guess that the corn is about as high as an elephant's eye, as the song goes. Farmers, it turns out, need a surer assessment of the height and the health of their crops.
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