Or more precisely FPV Drone
Racing (FPV – First Person View) also known as rotocross is a
pretty young sport which
allows players take control of flying quadcopter drones and race each
other throughout various tracks. Each racing drone is equipped with a
camera that fulfills the role of the pilot's eyes which
can see what the drone sees thanks
to the head-mounted displays showing a live stream video taken
directly from the camera.
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As mentioned,
it's a pretty fresh sport. It originates from amateur races that
began in late 2014 in Australia, but it gains popularity pretty
quickly and many call it “the sport of the future”. Since the
sport is still developing,
it is hard to find funding, but
there are leagues of competitive players which
organize bigger events and set
rules:
what kind of drones are allowed and what kind of tracks to expect.
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From what I have seen, tracks
range from parking lots, warehouses
(video)
to courts, parks and forest. Open fields are filled with props like
gates and flags marking the route. While those are still present in
warehouses and malls, any closed space creates a more difficult route
where reflexes are tested and pilots are forced to make sharp turns
to avoid crashing into something which usually
ends fun.There are venues created especially
for drone racing, like this one in Dubai:
Here's a video with commentary
of the final race from The World Drone Prix that took place on this
track not so long ago.
And the prize for the winner was 250,000 dollars. Not so bad, but
this is something unique. There are a few concerns about
the future of this sport and one of them is a question how fans will watch the races. Will they also have FPV goggles? Will radio waves interfere with
the connection between pilots and their drones? And of course there
is one big, if not obvious, problem that is a pretty new sport and
still not that popular,
which also means not well funded. And investing in it seems pretty
expensive. The current pilots often rely on their normal day jobs to
save money for drones, batteries and spare parts.
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What do you think about it?
Personally, I was pretty impressed when I saw a footage from a drone
race for the first time. For me it felt like Wipeout games but in
real life. Then I started looking more into it and was surprised to
discover that this thing really exists and it's more organized than I
initially thought. Do you think it has a chance to survive and evolve
into something bigger?
Sources:
Comments
The only concern about drones is that there was an idea to prohibit them after the incident at the airport. I hope that legal issues will not destroy this idea.
This probably requires a good equipment that cost a lot. Even the cheapest versions cost around 500zł, and they can fly only for 6-9 minutes and have to be recharged for 60 minutes.
Or maybe, they could make a more 'stylised' competitions - for example, make a racetrack resembling Star Wars I race. It would be so cool!
I think this sport has a huge potential and not only as a sport. Those drones are very mobile. They could easily be used in military (though they're probably already in use there) and difficult rescue cases. Drone racing actually probably hints a lot at what the future might look like.
Creating a track resembling a Star Wars one would be a treat for the fans. I'd like to watch it myself.
I've never tried to control them but I'd like to someday. At the moment, I perceive them only from the perspective of a good thing to record awesome videos.
Probably It might be very exciting, but this word...
Does camera always give black and white view? I think about view which pilot sees. It could be great visual experience when the view would colourful, because track's lights look very impressively.
Wow, the prize was also impressive.
Although I'm not sure about this sport's future.
All the same, nteresting thing. Thanks.
As for the word "sport", I believe drone racing deserves to be called that way, even though it's a bit different. The pilot may not be running or performing any other obvious physical activity, but they need to train and hone their skills and remain focused when piloting.
Finnaly they are reality. I would love to try it one day, speaking of drones I've heard that goverment made drone licence harder to get, is that true?
In couple years not only we will fly the drones but I believe we will also create drone fights (similar to “Real Steel” world fighting robots). The winning price is also motivating, for doing something what you like, love or enjoy doing as your hobby is quite a reward.
However, I think the usage of drones has an enormous potential regarding military and emergency healthcare solutions, moreover in the fields of tourism and traveling. They could be used in productive, effective and cost-saving ways to actually improve our lives.
Do any of you remember an old tv program where people used to drive home made "killer cars" and fight with each other? I think I might have found it here
The youtube video is really great. I like that kind of new expirence and race are also fun to watch so it could be a nice combination.
I am not a great fan of competitive sports that don't actually include any physical excercises. Undoubtedly racing a drone requires perfect reflexes and many other abilities, but it is as much of sport as playing chess or DOTA. In my opinion it shouldn't be called sport, because sport is something that gets you tired physically.
In my opinion competitions based on VR or devices controlled from the distance are likely to get more and more popular. People are fascinated by new technologies and want to explore them to their fullest. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years there will be real-life gigantic robots (like the ones in Pacific Rim) fight competitions?
As for a little less obvious look at the whole thing I wonder how many people would get sick from flying a drone in first person view? I guess this might be a problem for both racers and spectators.