Drone Does Double Duty as Dad

December 4, 2012 By News Staff

Call it a robotic dad double. IEEE Spectrum contributing editor Paul Wallich decided to build a do-it-yourself quadcopter drone to supervise his son's 400-meter jaunt to catch the school bus, according to Mashable. Wallich bought the necessary parts a la carte, including a drone control board, a GPS unit and a compass. Equipping his son's backpack with a GPS beacon, Wallich tested his drone's surveillance prowess by adding a video chat-enabled smartphone to the device.

While the idea has potential, the tree-lined route to the bus stop limits the drone's visibility. Windy conditions have also proven challenging. Perhaps the largest obstacle to Wallich's idea, though, is the limited battery life of the drone. If the bus runs late, the drone loses power, forcing him to retrieve it in person.

"Until the batteries improve by another order of magnitude or so," Wallich explained to Mashable, "I'll have to do most of my watching the old-fashioned way, in person."

Photo from Mashable

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Comments

Kaye | Commented December 6, 2012

Hey Dad, go spend a few more years walking your kid to the bus stop, at least give him a sense that your not paranoid. Then again maybe you are. Cheers

Silent-Hunter | Commented March 31, 2013

@Kaye: Really? He just thought it would be a neat hobby project, it doesn't mean he's paranoid. I do hobby projects like this all the time, it doesn't mean I'm paranoid.

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