Relax everybody, unlike its antonymous quadrocopter cousins, this six-rotor drone isn’t here to kill, only to count plants. Researchers from Oregon State University are hanging cameras from reasonably-priced RC aircraft to assist nurseries track inventory — a role often performed by workers wandering the orchards and keeping tally by hand. Image analysis software automates the method and, with the addition of different sensors (comparable to infrared), it could actually in the future be used to identify irrigation problems, identify diseased trees, and estimate crop yield. The machines themselves can climb to over 80 feet and stay aloft for as much as 40 minutes while hauling 5-pounds of photo gear. At around $10,000 it is a safe bet that nobody shall be shooting bottle rockets at balloons with this thing, but it surely has to be well in the reach of farmers who spend that much in money and manpower to trace their trees anyway. Two more photos after the break.
Samsung Zipel oven takes instructions out of your Android phone
White House gets behind online ‘bill of rights,’ companies to adopt ‘do not track’
