BBC News, Jane
Wakefield, Technology reporter, TEDGlobal, Edinburgh, 12 June 2013
 |
| Military drones need strict rules, thinks sci-fi writer Daniel Suarez |
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Speakers at
the TEDGlobal conference have been debating the positive use of drones in
society.
Delegates
heard how drones, more usually seen as military tools, are increasingly playing
a positive role in civilian life
They are
offering new ways of transportation and carrying out vital conservation work.
But, warned
one speaker, far stricter controls are needed over the use of such machines in
war.
Sci-fi
author Daniel Suarez called for international treaties to limit the use of
autonomous combat drones that are increasingly being developed by nations such
as the US and Israel.
"There
are tonnes of great uses for unmanned drones but we need a framework for
robotic weapons as it puts too much power into too few hands," he said.
"Increasingly
combat drones are making lethal decisions about human beings."
In 2011 US
drones created 300,000 hours of video surveillance, for example.
"This
is outstripping the human ability to review it all so increasingly people will
rely on visual intelligence software," said Mr Suarez.
He also
warned of the threat of anonymous war, where terrorists or criminals could
launch drone attacks which would be difficult to trace back. "Such a war
would tilt the geo-political balance on its head," he said.
Delivering
supplies
 |
| Tests in Haiti showed how drones can be used to deliver supplies |
On a more
positive note, delegates heard how drones can play a vital role in civilian
life.
Andreas
Raptopoulos is currently building a network of drones to provide vital supplies
to hard-to-reach places.
"In
sub-Saharan Africa 85% of the roads are unusable during the rainy season,"
he said.
"Imagine
if you are in Mali with a newborn in urgent need of medication - it may take
days to come."
To overcome
the issue, he is using small flying vehicles known as octocopters, which can
deliver goods such as medicine in a few hours.
The firm he
has created, Matternet, grew out of a challenge set at the Singularity
University in Silicon Valley to find solutions to global poverty.
Prototypes
have been tested in Haiti, delivering supplies to camps set up in the wake of
the 2010 earthquakes and the firm is now planning a wider trial of the
technology.
The method
is cheap. "To deliver 2kg [4.4lb] over 10km [6.2 miles] costs just 24
cents," he said, although currently a vehicle costs about $3,000 (£1,900).
Mr
Raptopoulos hopes to bring costs down to around $750 (£480) per vehicle.
He thinks
that the project has huge potential.
"This
could be the next big network, offering millions of people access to better
medication and other supplies in the same way as the mobile network offered
them access to the internet," he said.
 |
| Drones are helping to count dwindling orangutan populations |
Orangutan
nests
Meanwhile,
Lian Pin Koh showed off how basic model aircraft fitted with video cameras,
autopilot systems and software to programme them can become vital conservation
tools.
"For
the price of a decent laptop we can built a conservation drone with tremendous
potential to monitor the health of wildlife and combat wildlife crimes,"
said Prof Koh.
Traditionally,
orangutan populations have been measured by sending teams into the forests of
Sumatra with binoculars to find them
Now airborne
drones are finding dozens of nests in the trees and, with the help of automated
software, are making the process far more efficient.
Subsequent
systems have been used to map the health of forests, showing where illegal
logging is taking place, where forests are contracting and plantations
expanding.
Meanwhile
at the TEDGlobal "flying lab", quadrirotors developed at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology are being put through their paces all week.
Demos show
the drones performing a variety of tasks, including acrobatics, batting balls
and balancing poles.
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