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The Drones Take Flight

How unmanned aircraft could revolutionise transport and tech. But is there also a drone menace, from stalking to terrorism? And what is the true potential of the drone revolution?

We take to the air with the latest in unmanned flight technology, visiting a drone rodeo in Nevada, looking at Facebook's latest efforts to provide free wifi to the world's remote regions, and hearing from Dr Mirko Kovac, director of the aero-robotics lab at Imperial College, London. Ultra-manoeuvrable unmanned aircraft could be about to transform our internet provision, our parcel delivery, even global disaster relief. But is there a darker scarier side to this revolution? Jeremy Wagstaff of Reuters thinks so. We also hear from a former US government regulatory advisor, Lisa Ellman, who now chairs the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Group for Hogan Lovells, a global law firm in Washington DC.

(Picture: Drone flying in New York City with One World Trade Center in the background; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Jan 2017 13:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 6 Jan 2017 08:32GMT
  • Fri 6 Jan 2017 13:32GMT

Podcast