Looking for that perfect last-minute gift for that special factory owner in your life? What can be a better gift than business security?
A Japanese company has developed the next evolution in guard dogs – a $6,000 commercial-security drone that has more bells and whistles than Santa’s sleigh.
Secom’s security drone, released on Dec. 11, is not yet available for home use but the latest model is equipped to roam factories and commercial buildings and will investigate suspicious activity, sending a stream of live-video to its human counterparts.
Using motion detectors, the drone shines the light of justice on would-be intruders with an impressive LED display and can also send laser beams across a perimeter to establish a secure zone. The drone will follow the intruder until it leaves the premises, returning to its charging station after a job well done.
“It won’t leave the premises but will record imagery of intruders [and their license plates] leaving it,” said Secom spokesman Akihiko Takeuchi in a recent PC World report.
Like many such drones, the Secom model is hampered by low-battery capability – about 10 minutes of full flight. The Secom drone has been in development since 2012, a company official told the Japan Times.
“The firm will start offering the service following approval based on the revised aviation law that took effect [Dec. 9]. Using the drone is more efficient than installing many fixed security cameras because it can acquire clear images of license plate numbers and types of vehicles, as well as people’s faces and clothing by approaching targets from above, according to company officials.”
In Japan, drone security has become a hot-button issue. As reported recently in DRONELIFE: “the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has established a drone squad, designed to locate and – if necessary – capture nuisance drones flown by members of the public, is to be launched by police in Tokyo.”
As drones become more ubiquitous in both the home and office, security drones are more and more seen as a viable supplement to human guards.
Last month, drone firm Galileo launched the Alpha drone as an Indiegogo project and bills the UAV as “the next revolution in security.” The 1.5-pound quadcopter employs low-illumination IR cameras, HD 1080p cams, LIDAR, GPS to set up a geo-fence around a tract of property that couples with “Sensor Nodes” placed around the property, allowing Alpha to patrol within a perimeter without bumping into objects or trespassing in to neighboring tracts.
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
Beginning his career as a journalist in 1996, Jason has since written and edited thousands of engaging news articles, blog posts, press releases and online content.
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Security cameras don’t dissuade drug addicts looking for quick cash to feed their PCP habit. Sometimes a more active and robust defense is required.
Just as the MQ-1 Predator transformed from an ISR vehicle to being outfitted with Hellfire missiles prior to 9/11/2001 and the rise of the MQ-9 Reaper as a tool for predominantly killing Muslims, so too will hobby copters be weaponized: chem, bio, thermo, and explosive.
Plausible deniability suggests when the suspects checks into the hospital, blind with third degree burns across 40% of their body, you can reasonably assure LEOs and insurance investigators it was a LiPo battery in-air failure that dripped Lithium oxide in their pathetic faces and nobody will have a second thought about it.
Don’t post videos of dropping thermite magnesium on the neighbor’s momma cat suckling her kittens and you’ll be fine having a hangar full of lethal SECOM UASs protecting your property, … so long as you don’t gas yourself, blow yourself up or burn your house down in the process.
Maybe they should go for some other power source, like replaceable Zinc-Air batteries.
I like this concept, but how many would you need? What if there were more than one intruder like say 10, one would distract the drone, while the other 9 would do their evil deeds. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just use CCTV cameras that most business already use? I could see this working though if you own large tracts of land that you have to monitor and protect, but i think drone airships would be more useful for that as you can pretty much loiter around 24 hrs with an airship.