As reported on TechCrunch.
by John Biggs
Robotics isn’t all stomping metal men and robotic dogs – it’s also about beauty. The folks from Team BlackSheep proved this by flying a powerful, long-range drone over the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. And when I say over I mean over.
The average drone can hit about 165 feet before panicking and coming back to earth. TBS uses the TBS Discovery, a drone with a range of up to three kilometers. The team travelled to the UAE with their drones and set them up so they could take some stunning footage of the cities. In a wonderful pièce de résistance, the drone took to the skies and reached the very tip of the Burj’s 830 meter tall spire. It also took a tour of other famous Dubai landmarks including the Palm Islands, the palm-shaped man-made islands that look like something out of Halo.
As a fan of drones, high-def video, and striking cities, this video hits the sweet spot on multiple fronts for me. Given that an average set of dudes, intent on flying a robot over a building, can now hit the spire for a few thousand in airfare and parts, is also quite amazing.