[ehnto]

I had a similar epiphany except it has driven me to consider a new industry, as I can't possibly hope to solve the state of my current one and frankly don't want to, they made their own bed. The capabilities present when you own the whole stack and make a point of offering safety and robustness really makes the behavior present in other industries almost embarassing.

Drones are science fiction dreams come true. But more than that, they offer a really tangible way to work through software and hardware to as you say, interface with the world.

It's a really exciting space and I was initially really skeptical, but as their practcal uses outside of just a camera in the sky become more achievable it became clear to me that I want to get involved.

[ur-whale]

> outside of just a camera in the sky

This sounds a little dismissive ... a camera in the sky is a tremendously useful tool.

There are of course the art application, the "make memories" application that can be perceived as nice but not that important.

But how about: search and rescue, automated land surveying, 3D reconstruction of buildings and landscape, understanding the impact of new architectural projects on the environment, etc ... ?

Combine the "just a camera in the sky" with ML and that's a lot of new applications (and therefore business opportunities).

[ehnto]

Oh I didn't mean to be dismissive, I am extremely impressed with the possibilities said eye in the sky can provide, I guess I meant that it's more useful than a hobby photography tool. I of course think that is really rad too since it's what I do with my drone now. But the commercial side of the industry is getting really exciting with exactly the kind of tools you're talking about, some of which are just new ways of applying the camera like you're pointing out.

Ag spraying, high definition cinematography, industrial inspections, affordable localized LIDAR scanning, even underground mine surveys are all super interesting to me.