Article source: Ackerman, Evan. “Parrot Announces A Bug-Inspired 4G Drone.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, IEEE, 30 June 2021, 15:11 GMT, spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/parrot-announces-anafi-ai-a-buginspired-4g-drone.
Article title: Parrot Announces A Bug-Inspired 4G Drone
The ANAFI Ai is designed for professionals and has (almost) unlimited communications range
Photo: Parrot
My summary of the article:
The Anafi drone, released by Parrot four years ago, overall, is a very satisfactory drone with many elegant features: design inspired by insects, great camera, and convenient flight control. However, with the abrupt development of the drone market for the next four years following its release, the standard of drones has advanced such that the Anafi drone is being considered as not necessarily a 'clever' drone.
Parrot, somewhat as a response to the dissatisfactory review of their Anafi drone, has announced "Anafi AI", a redesign of the previous Anafi drone that adds multiple high standard 'clever' features and abilities such as obstacle avoidance, a better camera, and 4G connectivity that allows users to control the drone from basically anywhere in the world (of course, anywhere confined to where reliable 4G signal is available).
Although the drone's camera received a massive upgrade – including features such as a three axis gimbal with mechanical and electronic stabilization, a 48 megapixel sensor, and a 4K, 60 FPS camera, what is more impressive about the 'eye' of the new drone is that it also has obstacle avoidance cameras on each side, providing the drone with obstacle avoiding ability in the direction that it is traveling in.
Anafi AI's 4G connectivity, provided by its own SIM card, is its greatest feature that sets it apart from many other drones of the same generation. Although US law, provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, may have problems with a private individual being able to control drones beyond the distance of the person's own vision, being able to control drones from anywhere in the world is a phenomenal feature which, even though may be unable for use to civilians, may have potential uses in the military or the lifesaving department.
My response to the article:
The concept of a 4G drone is very interesting. This would potentially mean that I could control a drone in, for example, New York from here in my home in Seoul. Maybe I could take live photos of Manhattan island and print those photos in my home. Although there would obviously be, as stated in the article, legal problems with conducting private drone flights from another continent let alone another country, the possibility itself that such would be possible is mind-blowing.
Moreover, this technology would be very effective for tactical purposes in the military or the lifesaving, firefighting department. Such drones would be able to provide intelligence to these departments without having to risk lives of soldiers and firefighters, allowing them to risk human lives only when necessary. And although drones are already being used for these purposes, the relatively short connection distance capabilities of the drones meant that human lives still had to be deployed near to potentially dangerous areas. With 4G drone control, this will not be necessary, at least for general surveillance purposes that does not require precise control.
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