InPark Magazine: 1,218 Intel® Shooting Star™ drones made history for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 Opening Ceremony with the Winter Olympics’ first-ever drone light show that also set a Guinness World Records* title for the “most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously.” The world record flight was prerecorded for the event.
6 comments:
I have never heard of drones being used for light shows before and since I didn’t get a chance to watch the opening ceremony for the winter olympics this year, I am not surprised to hear that Intel hit a world record of flying over 1,200 drones. After watching the video, I am mesmerized by how much information they had send to each drone and how long programming all of them must have taken. I can just imagine the frustration of one being slightly out of place, and in the video they talk about the weather impacting the flight patterns that the drones are able to take and I cannot believe that it ended up going so so well, but it is the olympics after all, everything is tested over and over and over again. I wonder how long it took them to come up with his idea and end up implementing it.
This equipment is so cool! I remember seeing these at a super bowl or something like that a couple of years ago, but then it was just an American flag. This was way more than that and way more complicated too! This tech has progressed at a really fast rate, and it is really impressive what all they have figured out to do with it already. These drones could get insanely sophisticated, creating giant tvs basically in the sky or having entire shows performed by drones in the air. I think working on a project like this would be such a cool opportunity. This tech also scares me a little bit though. I know drones are already being used as weapons by our and other nations, but the idea of having the ability to fly thousands of them at the same time is a lot. They could be used to create a lot of damage really easily.
I got pulled away from the opening ceremony and missed the drone show and haven't gotten a chance to go finish it yet, but when I heard there was a drone light show I was really sad that I had missed it and now it’s really hard to find a full video. But just looking at the clips I have found, the sheer processing power of those drones is amazing. They have to all be synced together to know if they are going to hit each other and they have to make it to the right positions when there is no constraint on movement. They have a position up and down and in the x and y axis. It’s not like they are just moving around in a square of space, they can fly for a while and regroup somewhere else. Also I imagine you can’t just program them to go in straight lines from one spot to the other because they could collide - they have to move in curves each with their own speed and acceleration. It’s not unlike coordinating the movement for a marching band except in 3D so much more complicated.
Wow this was such an amazing thing to watch at the opening ceremony this year. Drone technology has gone a long way in the past couple of years and the new developments have made the technology exciting for all types of creators. I really love though what they are being used for in terms of performance these days. Their ability to be choreographed and create things from the imagination is really unlike any resource before. I can't image the coordination and the programming that had to go into 1,218 to make them all work as a cohesive unit to create such beautiful imagery. I do wonder however how they are able to control each unit. It has to be all preprogrammed yes but how are they able to do that with so many unknown circumstances created by putting them up to the elements quiet literally. And also where is the technology going to go next in the live entertainment industry what other uses can we have for them and is there a field of drones that we simply haven't conceived yet.
Of all the stunning effects during the opening ceremonies this year, I think the drones were the most arresting and impressive of all. The sense of drama and excitement really skyrocketed when they came out, and I think it goes to show how modern technology can keep making more amazing effects in the entertainment business possible. Drones as a technology are very new, but are already having a big impact in the entertainment and film world. For example, the amazing "planet earth two" series significantly upgraded on the previous series by using drones to capture impossibly close up shots of wild animals in their natural environments. I wonder how drones could be used in theater... the applications are not as immediately obvious, but the potential is still there to be sure. Perhaps at least for the recording of shows in new ways or within the world of media, drones could present new and exciting opportunities.
Drones are taking over the world, or at least letting us be able to make it more beautiful at night. This use of drones is a total revolution in the process that is moving at breakneck speeds. I have heard it said among some in the pyrotechnics world that this is going to be the thing that replaces them. The most significant limiting factors it how restricted they can me in windy weather. Flying that close together can cause disastrous problems if any of the drones are blown off course even a little. The other limiting factor is that the intensity compared to that to traditional fireworks are still lacking. Thus requiring a closer viewing distance. One thing that they did very well was that during the televised opening they had to switch to a pre-recorded version that they filmed last year due to weather issues. Oh, the magic of television. I am excited to see how this continues to grow in the future and see how it affects us in the things we do.
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