Awesome Drones

Japanese police have modified a drone to pluck nefarious UAVs from the sky before they can do harm. Their drone carries a net that traps smaller drones like flies caught in a spider’s web. They plan on deploying a fleet to protect major government buildings in early 2016.

(PG-13) This funny promo video for Japanese fashion retailer BUYMA takes a page from a classic Austin Powers sequence, but uses a swarm of drones instead of fruit to cover up the naughty bits of two butt naked ballet dancers. Fully SFW version here.

Fleye aims to make its eponymous drone much safer and easier to use than its competitors. Its propeller and other moving parts are hidden inside a spherical shell to protect bystanders and itself. It has three autonomous modes but can also be controlled manually.

Jeremy Clarkson helps Amazon show off its new and improved delivery drone, which is much larger than the previously shown prototype but still takes off and lands vertically. This drone has a range of 15 miles, flies at about 60mph and carries up to 5 pound packages.

We got our grubby little mitts on one of the awesome Parrot MiniDrones. We had a tough time choosing between the flying, seafaring or roller drones, but we went with Jett. This fast-moving two-wheeler can spin like crazy and jump in the air, all while recording POV video.

MIT CSAIL PhD student Andrew Berry created an inexpre drone which solves one of the biggest issues with these small aircraft. His drone uses stereo cameras and custom object recognition software to autonomously detect obstacles, and steer clear of them at speeds up to 30 mph.

Like Mystery Guitar Man, Corridor Digital got their hands on a bunch of Parrot’s fun new MiniDrones. But instead of playing music with theirs, they created a thrilling action short, filled with jumping race drones packing capabilities unlikely to be found on the retail models.

YouTube hitmaker Mystery Guitar Man collaborated with Parrot to record sounds from a couple of their mini-drones and turn them into a fun little tune. The Jumping Sumo appears to be the most versatile band member.

Looking for a fun way to scare the neighborhood kids this Halloween? Got a drone lying around? Then you’ll definitely want to check out this amusing flying ghost gimmick. As one YouTube commenter pointed out, it would look even better flying at night with backlights.

Michael Delaney decided to fly his GoPro-equipped drone within striking distance of a pit of rattlesnakes, when the totally predictable happens, and it crashes among the deadly snakes. We’re not sure where the drone sound ends and the rattlers begin. (Thanks Paul!)

While the majority of drones out there are designed to fly in the air, the 16″ x 8″ Trident is designed to go underwater instead. This agile, remote-controlled micro-sub sends data via a tether, and has a built-in HD camera and lights to explore and record sea life.

Snap’s compact drone aims to bring awesome aerial image quality to the masses, with a 4K camera powered by Sony Exmor, 120fps/1080p video, gimbal stabilization, cinematic tracking and orbit, and the ability to collapse the drone to fit it in a backpack.

In a quest to create his own backyard flying machine, one man built a crazy rig which uses a matrix of 54 drone-style rotors to lift him off the ground. As one YouTube commenter put it: “I believe we have something like this already. It’s called a helicopter.”

By duct-taping a Superman action figure to his Phantom 3 drone, photographer Barry Craig turned what would normally be a pretty typical bit of aerial footage into something much more. You’ll believe a man can fly!

A pilot was flying his drone through the skies over Australia when it encountered an unnatural foe – a 2-meter-wide wedge-tailed eagle. Apparently, the real bird didn’t care for the artificial bird in its airspace, and took immediate action.

Drone pilots and videographers of all skill levels will enjoy Yuneec’s newest 4K drone. It features 25 minutes of flight time, a 3-Axis anti-vibration gimbal, Geo-fencing and Follow Me and Watch Me modes. Read our review on Technabob.

While flying his quadcopter, Stephen Coyle spied a group of kids escaping through their school’s rooftops. The runts spotted his UAV and tried to hide from it. But when they ran into Stephen they asked him to post the video on YouTube.

A couple of months ago, YouTuber Harrisen Howes’ friend got his drone stuck on his neighbor’s roof. Since “access to the roof wasn’t possible”, he had to use his new drone and a pair of coat hangers to rescue his old friend.

Awesome footage from an indoor competition between 30 drones as they race through the air for supremacy in an old warehouse in Melbourne, Australia. Looks like a great way to spend an afternoon. BTS footage here.

NASA’s experimental Greased Lightning GL-10 is one of the coolest drone designs we’ve seen. The unmanned vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft is propelled by 10 engines, and has a giant wing that rotates in flight to propel it forward.

Drones seem to be turning up everywhere these days, so it was only a matter of time before the flying motorized giant insects would make their way to wedding photo shoots. Sit back, relax and enjoy this happy couple on their big day.

Truly mesmerizing time-lapse footage captured on foot and via a drone flying through London’s Crossrail project, in which a crew of over 10,000 excavated 26 miles of underground railway tunnels beneath London, England.

“It’s been flying around without batteries!” Jordan Rubin made this silly fake trailer for a horror movie about a sentient drone. It seems to know the genre’s tropes too. How can something that noisy sneak up on you?