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When filmmaker George Lucas popularized droids -- worker robots made to have a tendency to humanity's every have to have -- in the 1977 film "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," he seemed like a sci-fi visionary. But quickly-forward nearly 40 years, and the concept of flying surveillance cameras, robotic companions and even unmanned aircraft carrying supplies around the planet is swiftly becoming mainstream.

The initial drone delivery in the United States took place this previous summer, marking an essential milestone in the development of the new technology. But even although Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos created headlines in 2013 when he unveiled the company's vision for employing delivery drones, the on-line retail giant was not the a single to carry out the 1st-ever delivery flight.

Rather, Australian startup Flirtey, in partnership with Virginia Tech and NASA, employed a drone to carry ten pounds (4.five kilograms) of medical supplies from an airfield in Virginia to a remote clinic about a mile away more than three 3-minute flights. When the demonstration was a landmark moment for drone technologies and policy, it was a far cry from Amazon's vision of a fleet of drones delivering on-line purchases to customers' doorsteps inside 30 minutes. [Ideal Drones for You, from our sister web-site Tom's Guide]

Nonetheless, Amazon is committed to making its drone delivery program, dubbed Prime Air, a reality. In April, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted the enterprise permission to begin testing its drones. But Amazon is not the only tech giant doubling down on drone technology.

In July, Facebook revealed that it had completed a full-size version of its solar-powered Aquila drone, which is now ready for testing in the United Kingdom. The large robotic flier, which has the same wingspan as a Boeing 737 jetliner, is designed to circle about in the stratosphere (the layer of Earth's atmosphere located amongst six and 30 miles, or ten to 48 kilometers, above the planet's surface) and use lasers to beam Internet access to the most remote corners of the globe.

A related drone developed by Google crashed for the duration of a test run in New Mexico in May possibly, but the company is also establishing a delivery service, known as Project Wing, to compete with Amazon's Prime Air.

When these developments grab headlines, they tend to overshadow the true progress being created in the drone market, specialists say. Lots of firms are leveraging drones' capability to capture higher-resolution imagery working with tech ranging from frequent cameras to laser scanners, leading the FAA to predict that drones will spawn a $90 billion industry inside a decade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoMxdbGHVYQ