Many people know drones as sophisticated weapons to
be used only in war zones. But this is not the case anymore. The use of drones
from military purposes has expanded. Drones are now extensively used for
commercial as well as personal purposes. Some drone users have taken it to the
next level. These fun loving drone users use their drones to race each other.
They have made it a matter of pride and a way to check who owns the better
drone. This has resulted in the arrangement of dedicated tournaments related to
drones with high prize money. Usually drones are equipped with 4 motors and
usually of the configuration of “X” or “+”, but in this particular case, the configuration which is being implemented
is of the form of alphabet “H” so as to accomplish forward movement not the
upward thrust as in the case of delivery or photography drones.
The main aim of this type of racing is to provide
high speed to the drone and use the speed and maneuvering skills to outpace the
other drones. In future, it is predicted that drone racing would very much be
as popular as formula racing. Big companies will be vying to sponsor such
events. In general, FPV or first person
view is preferred that means the participant whose drone is racing will be able
to see only what the drone’s front camera can see. To achieve this, the camera
is placed on the nose of the drone or on its front and is used to transmit high
radio wave signals to the participant and hence further commands are being
supplied by the user. This way drone racing becomes a very exciting race
including the mental co-ordination of participant along with high end skills
used in making the drone.
The first person view (FPV) lets the viewer
experience flying with great speed and maneuverability, passing the hurdles in
between. It increases the level of difficulty to a much higher level as
compared to the normally used third person view.
Although this racing was first invented in Australia
now it is getting popular in other countries too where people are getting
familiar with this prestigious technology. The selection of drone material and
the motor is as such to meet the requirement of high speed and to overcome
crashes which are quite inevitable during the race. There are many
organizations which organize these kinds of events such as DRL (Drone Racing
League), U.S. National Drone
Racing Championship and many others. These organizations provide their own
drone materials in order to level the playing field and verify the skills of pilots
across a large number of participants. Drone racing provides excitement not
only through pure speed and agility, but also though the robustness in the
design of these drones. Nowadays it is quite common to use the materials having
high strength to weight ratio for making drones lightweight. This technology
can be very expensive. Even though this kind of racing has thrilled many,
connectivity and data transfer rates for FPV video provides a hindrance behind
the success of this sport.
The main motive
of participants, aside from the love of the sport is the high amount of cash prizes
at some of these events. Following is further insight in the world of drone racing
and prize money.
World Drone Prix:
Just last week,
a 15 year old was able to take $250,000 home after winning the World Drone Prix
in Dubai. This was first of a kind tournament in Dubai. The total prize money
of the tournament was 1 million dollars with the winner getting 25% of the
total prize money. The participants raced by wearing goggles. Those goggles
were connected to the camera which was mounted on the drone of each racer. The
kid beat one hundred and fifty amateurs and professionals to win the title.
About two thousand spectators converged to watch the spectacular tournament on
Sunday afternoon. The race was organized by the crown prince of Dubai. He is
also the head of the city’s Sports Council. This was the first ever race and
Dubai plans to make it an annual event just like the Formula 1 race.
Drone Nationals:
In the US,
about a year ago, the Drone Nationals were held, which was the first ever
national drone racing event in the US. The winner in that tournament was able
to bag $25,000. The organizer of this event is planning to hold a world
competition in Hawaii this October.
Drone Racing League:
Even startups
have understood the potential of drone racing. A venture backed startup known
as Drone Racing League held its first league tournament in the football stadium
of Miami dolphins. The next one will most probably be held in Los Angeles. The top ten racers in DRL are as follows:
●
Zoomas:
Zoomas hails from New York and got interested in drone
flying in 2012 after watching Youtube videos. He has 15 points.
● Moke:
Moke, a freestyle pilot, has been racing for the past 1
year or so. He is second with 10 points.
● Flying
Bear:
Flying Bear, with 6 points, is third ranked. He is a
Mechanical Product Design Engineer.
● Rekrek:
Rekrek is ranked fourth and has experience of flying
drones all over the globe. He hails from Australia.
● Furadi:
Furadi’s interested initially started from radio
controlled helicopters. He transitioned to drones in 2014 and has not looked
back since.
● Hazak:
He comes from Boise, Idaho. He is a mobile tech specialist
as far as his job is concerned. And his passion is drones.
● FPVProvo:
He is known to be a fierce competitor.
● Rafa:
He is the only Brazilian among the top ten. He has been
flying drones for the past three years.
● Bapu:
Bapu is from the state of California and he also
transitioned to drones after starting with fixed wing airplane flying.
● Nine:
Nine also hails
from the state of California and is currently ranked tenth.
So, we can see
from the above three examples that drone racing is about to become the next big
thing among racing sports. World Drone Prix is initiated by the cash rich UAE
so it would have no problem of making it big. Seeing the possible success will
cause many businesses and companies to sponsor events such as Drone Nationals
and Drone Racing League. This will lead to the initialization of more drone
tournaments and one day drone tournaments may become as popular as NFL or the
English Premier League.
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