The Dawn of the Shout Drone

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the world, and drone users have spent the past two months trying to figure out their technology can help battle the virus. There’s lots of talk of using drones to deliver medical supplies and to sanitize streets, but not much of this is happening in the wild. Mostly, we’re using speaker-carrying drones to yell at people. The pandemic shout drone first hit the internet in early February, when Chinese authorities used some to startle grandmothers. Police would speak through the drone and tell people to wear masks or to go home. Soon after, Italian, Spanish, and French authorities all fielded their own shout drones for quarantine enforcement, and the rest of the world followed suit. In the United States, authorities have used them in Daytona Beach, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Honolulu. In Wyckoff, New Jersey, police used one to sing “Happy Birthday” to socially distanced children. Read Full Article »