Imperial College London has invested £1.25m for the development of a drone testing lab. The lab’s construction will start in 2016 and it will be a testing place for unmanned robotic drones, The Guardian reported. The source quoted Dr Mirko Kovac, the director of Imperial’s aerial robotics lab, who said that the lab will open new horizons of research and development in the drones industry. He thinks that the usage purpose of drones is now shifting towards civil domain. Companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are also investing heavily on drones. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s drone delivery program is also the talk of the town. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon are now giving a lot of focus to wearable, robots and drones.
The lab will have a special roof for taking off and landing of drones. It will also have 16 high-speed 3D cameras to monitor the movements of drones during flights. Kovac said that drones will help developing new engines that will be vital in the coming projects.
In UK, Civil Aviation Authority’s legislative rules are putting a hurdle of commercialization of drones. Companies like Amazon and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have been trying to get permits about drone deliveries and testing but so far, there has been no success. The article said that most of the organizations which are getting permits for drones are TV production firms. UK law prohibits drone flying over a gathering of people and near buildings. A source recently reported about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) drones which will be used for delivering items in the future. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s drone will be able to take a 5kg package with itself. It can reach 40 mpg speed and has a 10,000-mAh, 22-volt lithium ion polymer battery.
Delivery drones might be cheaper than the most expensive helicopters of the world, but their usage will be definitely much useful and peaceful than the military drones.
Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management hold around 2.5 million Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares. David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management hold around 600,000 Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares.
Suggested Articles:
