DIY Drones on PBS Tonight

Chris Anderson
The Long Tail

October 24, 2007

My geeky hobby of making low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs--see my DIYDrones [ http://diydrones.com/ ] link at left) will be featured in our new PBS show, Wired Science, tonight (8:00pm in most markets, but check your local listings).

The segment starts with an amateur UAV fly-in [ http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A3088 ] we ran at the Alameda Naval Air Station of a few months ago, and then goes to see the pros at NASA Ames. Along with a few shots of my Lego UAV [ http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A728 ] and a cellphone plane, there are some great scenes from NASA, including one where, totally by chance, I walk into a huge hanger interviewing a NASA researcher while a freakin' robot Blackhawk helicopter lands right behind us!

I think I'm going to turn those seconds into an animated GIF and make it my web sig or something. It's that cool.

Check out the preview and web extras here [ http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/story/53-diy_uavs.html ]. And tune in/DVR tonight!