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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the spying-at-home dept.

I chair the tech and garden committees at the PTA at my kids' elementary school in Brooklyn, a small, Title 1 (the majority of the families are poor) school with limited resources. A couple months ago the PTA gave money for expensive self-watering planter boxes, flowers, hoses, and other gardening implements to improve the austere, institutional exterior, which resembles a prison. As we discovered this morning, some of the flowers, boxes, and hoses were stolen over Memorial Day weekend.

Since planter boxes must be outside, and the thief must be in the neighborhood to know the boxes are there, it occurred to me that they must be visible from the air and perhaps a camera drone with decent range could be used to recover the stolen property and put a stop to thefts that will surely continue if we merely replace what was lost.

Ideally I imagine flying it from the flat roof of my 4-story apartment building to search in a .5 mile to 1 mile radius, with roughly 30 minutes of flying time and a "go home" feature if it loses contact with the controller or runs too low on battery.

Are there drone aficionados in the SN community who can speak to the feasibility of such a project and/or can recommend models to buy?


[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

 
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  • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Thursday May 28 2015, @05:26PM

    by KGIII (5261) on Thursday May 28 2015, @05:26PM (#189199) Journal

    That is why it is figurative. If I were a star and had people shooting pictures of me I would still be unhappy about it. This does not mean that it is illegal, it means that it is something that would perturb me. Just because it is legal does not mean I have to be happy about it. Just because it is illegal does not mean I have to be happy about it. Legality does not mean it is ethical either. You are free to go about spying on your neighbors, and while their response may be illegal, do not be surprised if your children are shunned or if someone takes offense and does the same to you - also do not be surprised if someone slashes your tires. The tire slashing would be illegal, immoral, and not entirely surprising. In my neighborhood (not nearly as dense as your area) I would not be surprised to have the RC shot down, doing so would be illegal but it would not surprise me to see it happen.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."