Put down the stick, the selfie is dead. Last year was the year of the selfie, but next year might be the year of the dronie. A 'dronie', also known as a 'sky selfie', is selfie-plus – a selfie taken, not by a camera phone or swiveling at the end of a stick, but by a flying drone camera. Dronies have popped up at college graduations and yearbook photos, but this holiday season drone expert, Lisa Ellman predicts some of your favorite year end cards might just be dronies.
Ellman co-chairs the firm's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Group and is a leading public policy lawyer in a Government Regulatory practice group focusing on domestic drones and other emerging technologies. Lisa describes drones as "anything from a toy to a war plane" and she discusses the spectacular scope and possibilities of the crafts to help and hurt.
Lisa draws attention to many of the practical policy issues at play with private drone ownership, including stalking and other safety issues, but also the flying robots capacity to help taking on jobs like assessing cell towers-- which may be too dangerous for humans.
So will you be boxing (or unboxing) a drone this holiday season?
