The RC Geeks Guide to Commercial and Hobby Uses of Quadcopters

You may have thought quadcopters were just used for aerial photography and fun, but we have seen several new and practical uses over the last few years. With the introduction of ready-to-fly quadcopters such as the DJI Phantom more and more people have found new jobs and tasks to turn their quadcopter to. From surveying buildings to training birds I'm sure we will see more and more uses over the coming years. Quadcopters can take be turned to several dangerous jobs, that involve height or crime fighting, which take away the danger to humans for certain jobs. I have compiled a list of uses we have heard of so far, feel free to add your own in the comments and we will update the list. Complete list of quadcopter uses: Aerial Photography - see feature 1 below Surveying Roofing Building Surveying Property Photo's (Estate Agents) Bird Training (Falcons etc) Fishing Search & Rescue Fire Safety (Building Inspection by the Fire Brigade) Land Surveying (Flooding etc) Lifeguard Power Line Surveying Delivery - see feature 2 below Security (Mobile CCTV) Education (Building, robotics etc) (added thanks to Tony) - see feature 3 below Pipeline Inspection (added thanks to Mark Daniels) Space Shuttle Launches - see feature 4 below Television - see feature 5 below Military Police Fun! - see feature 6 below Herding Cattle

Feature 1

Marc De Groot has used his Phantom 2 to create some unique photos and videos such as this one in Ibiza. With credit to Marc de Groot Photography. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bga2_siRX3A[/embed]

Feature 2

You may have already seen Amazon's "Prime Air" delivery video. Altough we believe this is more of a marketing stunt, it does open up your minds as to the potential delivery uses of quadcopters. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU[/embed]

Feature 3

There is no better video to show the educational and potential uses of quadcopters than this video by Raffaello D'Andrea. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2itwFJCgFQ[/embed]

Feature 4

OK well we could include this under aerial photography, but we just had to share this video. It shows the SpaceX shuttle test flight which demonstrates its abililty to launch and return to its landing platform in its vertical position. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGimzB5QM1M[/embed]

Feature 5

You may have spotted the use of quadcopters/hexacopters at the Sochi winder olympics. Here is a video of some footage of snowboarding recorded from the air. This type of application could also be used for live coverage of events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqend4mYzX0

Feature 6

A great halloween prank is to convert your quadcopter in to a ghost! https://youtu.be/oblT-wbJexs