Quadrotors
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Interactive drone app lets you capture aerial shots like a pro
Quadcoptors have introduced a new visual language in filmmaking. These four-rotor UAVs, when equipped with a high definition camera, fly out and capture shots of sweeping landscapes, football matches and even active volcanoes. But drone cinematography of this kind, for the most part, has been a manual and challenging process. It takes an expert, sometimes two, to fly a drone and steer the camera to capture artistic shots at the same time. A team of computer graphics PhD students at Stanford University recognized this camera control problem. They spent the last two years building an app that allows even a novice to design and execute aerial shots like a pro.
Modern dance with drones is confusingly beautiful
Dancers with weird costumes? Check. Trippy sci-fi music? Check. Drones with pyramids on top... wait, what? The Eleven Play dance troupe in Japan has integrated quadrotors into its performances, starting with synchronized moves choreographed to the dancers. The flying 'bots soon take over the show, though, chasing the humans off the stage. Then it's all drones, flying in coordination to a Tron-like geometric light show. It's all quite wonderful (see the video below), even if we don't know exactly what it all means -- something something dehumanization of modern technology?
Mini quadrotors play Bond, James Bond (video)
This week's TED2012 conference isn't all talk -- sometimes the videos features speak for themselves. Check out this phenomenal one from the University of Pennsylvania starring a number of nano quadrotors playing the James Bond theme by banging percussion, hitting the piano and strumming a guitar. The room in the video has infrared lights and cameras and the 'copters are outfitted with reflectors, making it possible to plot their position. The result is technical wizardry worthy of Q himself. Check it out after the break.
Quadrocopters: blooper reel edition
We have a gut feeling this is the video that'll be playing when 'the hive' takes over -- a sentimental, 'look how far we've come' victory reel for the Quadrotor nation. But for now, let's just keep the focus on the softer side of our future nemesis' training-room foibles. Playing like an über-geek version of America's Funniest Home Videos, we admit we cracked a smile watching these insect-like bots from the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab take a few hard knocks in the humility ring. Fear of the swarm aside, it's a humorous twist on an otherwise droning research project. The take away? Schadenfreude -- it's not just for humans. [Thanks, Daniel]
