Drone Notes: Emergence of drone insurance, and drone wars from Italy

In this edition of Drone Notes, we look at a smorgasbord of different topics including insurance, drone competition, 3D printed drones, Planet Earth, Artificial Intelligence and Italy.

DRONE INSURANCE
What do you do if your drone crashes or suffers some unfortunate accident? This may be the thoughts of several drone owners across the country. However, if you own a DJI Drone you can purchase DJI Care.

The DJI Care only covers the Inspire 1 C2.o and the Phantom Series.

According to an article on The Verge, “DJI will cover damage to the aircraft, gimbal, and camera due to ‘dropping, squeezing, or crashing caused by operator error or other accidents.’ Accessories aren’t included in the deal, but it does cover shipping costs.”

‘AIRMAGEDDON’ IS ON ITS WAY
Forget fighting robots. In the UK, they have fighting drones and it recently debuted on CBBC which is the BBC for kids. The events include kids ages 9-14 and they engage in a series of obstacle courses and aerial challenges. The event is also supposed to feature direct combat, but in reality, the show is a little more low key.

3D PRINTED DRONES
The U.S. Army is looking to test 3D Printed Drones in the future. The crux of the future project is about being on-demand, but it also has other benefits such as being flexible, lower case and a potential for being more available. In addition, maintenance can be easier. The idea of 3D Drones means that parts are more easily replaced or the drone can be disposed of.

Link here for more info.

PLANET EARTH RETURNS WITH DRONE HELP
Planet Earth, the ground breaking documentary that debuted 10 years ago on the BBC, will return with its second edition using 4K resolution with the help of drones.

Sir David Attenborough returns to narrate the documentary while the entire program, six episodes, was shot in UHD. With the help of the drones, the filmmakers were able to get closer to the “wild” than has ever been possible. No release date has been announced.

FACEBOOK CONNECTING USING DRONES AND AI
Facebook is looking to bring Internet access to all peoples. Facebook launched its Connectivity Lab in 2014 building satellites, drones and lasers to help bring the internet to those who don’t have internet.

The biggest challenge so far is finding the population areas that don’t have internet. While using the drones to bring the internet, they still need to know where to deploy the drones. Therefore, Facebook has turned to Artificial Intelligence to identify those areas.

Learn more about the process at Wired.

DRONE WARS FROM ITALY
The United States has used drones to target Isis locations for some time. Italy has agreed to let the U.S. fly drones from an American airbase in Sicily to attack Isis.

In spite of the approval, the U.S. will have to be granted permission from Italy for each mission, limited to protecting special forces who are fighting Isis members. In addition, Libya seems to be a “hot potato” for the drone strikes.