Drones loom large over NAB

Taken over Bali Barat National Park in Indonesia

As well as drone shots being seemingly obligatory in every recently commissioned documentary nowadays, their ascendency has been underlined by the confirmation of a special Aerial Robotics and Drone Pavilion at this year’s NAB.

The new exhibit area, located in the South Upper Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, will feature dozens of aerial robotics companies, a flying cage, a demonstration area with seating (hopefully with some decent netting surrounding it), and daily sponsored sessions.

DJI Innovations is sponsoring the whole thing so expect to see the company’s Inspire 1 featuring prominently throughout.

“Unmanned aerial systems are increasingly being used to cover live events and breaking news, and in industries such as real estate, law enforcement, search and rescue, and more,” said Mannie Frances from Drone Media Group that’s mounting the Pavilion.

Exhibitors currently participating include DJI, Canon, Amimon, DSLR Pros, XFly Systems, TeraLogics, Go Professional Cases, ArrowData, Sky High Media, ZM Interactive and Unmanned Vehicle University, while some of the topics to be covered include laws and regulations surrounding drones, the use of drones for news gathering, drones in space (a NASA project case study), capturing aerial video and employing range extenders.

And for those who have yet to stumble across it, the Dronestagram site is proving to be a rather essential destination for seeing some of the latest and best work with UAVs worldwide. The pic at the top of the article won a National Geographic-sponsored competition on the site last year.