This is a bit too pessimistic, even for me. Technology is only going to get better, and the quadcopters will become quieter, and with less vibration, with longer battery lives.
As quadcopter technology and things like computer vision become more advanced, it really does seem like there's a lot of possibilities for these types of devices.
I've been daydreaming of the day when I have my own personal swarm of quadcopters that continuously circle my house with a wireless camera, and then land to recharge, and another one takes off. Not that I'm particularly worried about security (my barred windows, landmines and laser booby traps are more than enough protection), but it would be fun to see that.
The other thing that would be fun with quadcopters is if you could give it your gear, like your cellphone, wallet, etc, and have it fly above you everywhere, and whenever you needed something, you could just summon it. It's like the old school Dungeons and Dragons concept of having a familiar that you can summon whenever you needed it. You could also video yourself, from a WoW-like view, just for fun.
Except they're insanely loud when they get in close to you.
Which also is a (potential) feature. Consider a burglar alarm at your home, when it goes off you can just launch the quadcopter from wherever you are to investigate (and at the same time make the burglar aware of your presence). A lot of deterrents go out of their way to be visible. It gives you the opportunity to cancel the alarm or call in the police quickly.
And as for video productions and art, there quite a few products targeting this already, where you can preprogram movements etc. that just wasn't possible before.
> Aren't there already unmanned blimps built to solve exactly this problem?
This solution might be less expensive, more flexible, and easier to control on a windy day. Not that a model helicopter would be easy to control in a high wind, but compared to a blimp -- no contest.
Also I think the setup and takedown time for a model helicopter would be much less than for a blimp.
> Except they're insanely loud when they get in close to you.
Not an electric one -- they're surprisingly quiet. I was thinking of a battery-operated helicopter, to make the system easier to use as well as quieter.
Aren't there already unmanned blimps built to solve exactly this problem?
> surveillance
Except they're insanely loud when they get in close to you.
> art, video productions
There are a lot of good videos and pictures taken with multicopters, but you've got to remember a couple of things:
- They're loud. Probably loud enough to annoy whatever you're filming.
- Their engines vibrate a lot.
- They can only fly for a few minutes at a time (meaning LOTS of recharging and LOTS of batteries).
- If they fall out of the sky then it is very likely that you will lose your expensive recording equipment.