I took a look at my friend. Darius was slender and awkward, still only halfway through the metamorphosis that would spit him out as a man. I no longer got the vibe of him as a little boy who needed my protection. His confidence was evident when he began to talk.
“David told me he wanted drones to help protect his house. They have a few drawbacks that make them impractical unless you want to spend a lot of money,” Dare said and glanced at me hopefully.
I shook my head to tell him that I wasn’t about to let him bankrupt me. Dare continued.
“The first issue was they were too loud; any bad guys would hear them coming. The answer was to make some modifications to help quiet them. The way I had to explain it to David was I basically caused the ‘noise’ to be directed upwards.”
“I think he just called you dumb,” Paul teased.
“Darius just didn’t want to overcomplicate it,” Hunter said to rescue my socially inept friend.
“The next problem was the battery life. We tried adding solar panels to an earlier version, but that didn’t extend it long enough and affected the aerodynamics,” Dare explained.
“That’s when he came up with the solution modeled after the robotic vacuum cleaner. When it needs to recharge, it goes to a docking station and plugs in,” I shared.
Dare showed us a drawing of what looked like a birdhouse on top of a pole to protect the drone from the elements. The diagram showed a charging station inside. Perched on a pole, a drone would work as a regular security camera with the added benefit of being able to periodically make surveillance rounds.
“I’ve modified the programming too, so that it would investigate movement,” Dare explained.
“We used that feature a couple of times when I was in LA. It proved to be pretty good at spotting paparazzi before they ambushed us,” I added.
“David discovered a hole in my design. He suggested that if he threw something to activate the drone’s need to investigate, he could sneak past the security via the gap it left in coverage. That’s when I called Hunter, and he had some ideas,” Dare admitted.
“The Russians?” I asked.
Dare nodded.
“Is this software legal?” I asked.
Dare’s expression told me that hadn’t even considered it might not be, but Hunter smiled at me.
“There currently aren’t any regulations against having the hardware and software we’ve included in these drones. A lot of this is still in the developmental stages, so rules haven’t been put in place yet,” Hunter said.
That didn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
“Did the Russians steal this? Is this poached technology?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t you think it would cost way more than what you paid if it were?” Hunter asked.
On the surface, he had a valid point. Being my mother’s son, I picked up that he hadn’t answered the question. Hunter pressed on again.
“We used the basic framework that the Russian technology provided and tweaked it. I met a Hungarian researcher who was working on learning how animals moved in formations, like fish and birds. To do that, he decided the best way to understand it would be to create flying robots. From that research, he created what he calls ‘flocking algorithms,’” Hunter said and then had Dare demonstrate.
In essence, the algorithms allowed the drone to fly without operator intervention. Dare showed us an example with the five drones he’d linked into what he called a flock. They lifted off as one and created a formation around the central, larger drone.
Dare directed them to fly up his apartment stairwell. Since all five of them clearly wouldn’t fit through the staircase together, some of them hovered in place to wait their turn.
The autonomous flying would prevent the drones from being jammed. They would continue on their last assigned task if the main drone lost its connection to the controller.
“We’re still working out everything the software is capable of. We haven’t had a chance to test it all yet,” Hunter said.
“Like what, exactly?” Fritz asked.
“It’s supposed to have a search configuration,” Dare answered. “For example, if we link it to David’s cell phone to follow him, and later, he’s missing, the drones are designed to do grid searches to locate him.”
“Could we use that for the kids?” I asked.
Fritz had been working on tagging the little ones with tracking devices. Drones could cover a lot more ground than people on foot. He explained that to Hunter and Dare.
“I don’t see why not. We just need to try it and see,” Hunter confirmed.
“What if there isn’t a tracker?” I asked.
“We could do something with thermal-imaging cameras,” Hunter suggested. “And it wouldn’t be all that expensive to add.”
“One last thing we want to try is the threat assessment,” Dare said.
They had Dare link the drones to my cell phone to follow me around. I jogged to the end of the parking lot, and the drones spread out with the control one over my head. Then they told me to turn around and walk back.
