Drones battle it out in the centre of Sydney
Ariel Bogle
Visitors to Martin Place in Sydney’s central business district have been competing for drone supremacy.
The world-first “Game of Drones” installation has been built by Intel as part of the autumn design and technology festival, Vivid. Six members of the public at a time have been able to fly drones within a purpose-built cylinder enclosure, furiously competing to enter an overhead obstacle and win the game.
Fliers simply tapped Microsoft Surface tablets to control the drone. On a test-flight, Mashable Australia found the drone’s range of motion — simply up or down — a little underwhelming. But strict public safety rules governing the set-up put the kibosh on any of the wilder flight paths or sky-high skirmishes certain members of the public may have had planned.
To abide by Aussie flight regulations, Intel had to set up an area of “approved airspace” in the highly-trafficked public square. Any drone weighing more than 100 grams is classified as an aircraft by the Australian Civil Aviation Authority, Robert Marson of LiveWorks told Mashable Australia.
LiveWorks, along with Droneheadz and Robotics Systems, helped Intel set up the “Game of Drones” installation.
“It is about as hard to drive a Cessna through the middle of Martin Place, as it is to get it approved,” he said.
It took the team about three months to design the game, Marson said, while the build itself took five days. “Most people won’t have any idea of the complexity that goes in behind it,” Marson said.
Although the drones have been programmed not to smash into each other and get damaged, Marson said his team had a lot of spare parts on hand, just in case. Each drone is identified by different coloured lights, making the installation look like a jar of fireflies, Marson added.
Intel has also been operating an art installation in Martin Place called Transcendence, designed by new media artist, Joseph Crossley. Using Intel RealSense technology — the company’s new depth perception camera — passersby could see themselves projected via computer-code onto colourful, illuminated canvases.
