life is and always has been a fight for
space from our crowded city streets to
our passionate passionate political
protest to our daily battles for social
inclusiveness our lives are a constant
war for space today each of us feels it
is our natural ray to own a portion of
our collective social political and
physical spheres but imagine we live in
our world where right to those things is
controlled regulated even forbidden
imagine we board a ship bound for the
new world seeking to overcome our
oppression we’re afraid uncertain are
the challenges that lie ahead
but certain that we have hope for our
new land that could bring us a newfound
freedom as our journey ends and the
shoreline comes into view for the first
time we behold or horizon so vast so
pristine that we can already taste
newfound freedom well my friends today a
new horizon is coming into view one that
has the same potential to free us from a
space as a new continent does most
likely you’ve been there before the next
time you’re outside look at the sky
through a different lens that that is
our new world that is our unexplored
continent that is our bountiful horizon
and our vehicles of exploration drones
quad copters UAVs but I drone by any
other name with buzzes loudly am i right
that’s a Shakespeare pun by the way for
all you Millennials Shakespeare was a
writer
but whatever name you know them by has
your curiosity intrigue remained intact
or have your feeling become skepticism
and disbelief when you hear the word
drone what do you think of do you think
a vehicles of exploration the ship’s
Columbo Columbus sailed to the New World
the spacecraft that carried Apollo
astronauts to the moon
probably not you probably recall a local
news story about a neighbor saying a
drone was spying on him or a video clip
you saw of a prior drone air striking a
war zone overseas in fact like many of
us my first introduction to drones was
in the context of the military in 2011 I
was a plebe or freshman at the United
States Naval Academy sitting in my
leadership and ethics class the
professor a retired Navy captain played
a recording that looked like a video
game to me that is until I realized that
the targets were in fact real people
being attacked by a remotely piloted UAV
well it’s been six years since then and
during that time Nick and I have
followed the adaptation of drone
technology to the consumer market two
years ago I was one of those consumers
it was a summer going into my high
school year and I wanted to buy a drone
coming from a background of aviation
having flown airplanes since I was 12 I
thought hey it would be a natural
transition right well was I ever wrong
I found that operating a drone required
extensive technical knowledge and deeper
than your knowledge had to be your
wallet so I thought maybe there’s a safe
space I can go to fly once again who was
I ever wrong there was no safe space to
fly in fact there was hardly any space
at all one year later Marjorie and I are
very proud to have co-founded startup
that brings that space to us a safe
legal space for people to fly drones our
company has grown up with the fledgling
drone in this
it’s just two years old and we’ve
watched it change from a grassroots
hobby to a mainstream pastime but above
all we’ve witnessed the evolution of
drone technology itself from weapons of
war to harmless items of entertainment
to today tools to make our lives better
and the world around us improved it is
the ability of drones to change the way
we use space that empowers each of us to
effect positive change more quickly
cheaply and effectively there are
countless examples of human being beings
adapting drones to change our lives in
the world around us for instance last
year and Uganda Rwanda a drone startup
out of Silicon Valley use drones to
deliver medicine blood and other
critical time-sensitive emergency metal
equip equipment in less than 30 minutes
to any hospital within the area this
system has already saved several lives
and is being deployed in countries all
over the world including the United
States drones are even being used to
save the lives of critically endangered
Sumatran orangutans in 2014 a pair of
biologists built a drone in order to
observe these orangutans nest they not
only returned with high-resolution video
of these nests but also of illegal
logging activities contributing to
habitat loss this not only save the
biologist a quarter of a million dollars
but also three months of hacking through
the dense Indonesian rainforests since
then they found it a start-up dedicated
to empowering others around the world to
adapt emerging technology for
conservation efforts these are just two
of thousands of examples that proved by
embracing our new modern vehicles of
exploration we tap into new space that
frees us of the constraints of our
limited terrestrial earth but if drones
have already been used to affect such
positive change
why are we still so widely afraid of
them partially because as with any tool
when put in the wrong hands
drones can and will be a threatening
weapon but more inherently we are afraid
of drones because they change the
dynamic of the space that we know this
powerful tool has crept into our lives
and every single day becomes
increasingly implanted in our society
when consumer drones first hit the
global market in 2013 it is estimated
that around 300,000 units were sold just
two years later that number increased by
600 percent to over two million drone
sales around the world and as of 2016
over 2.5 million drones were sold in
United States alone this may sound like
a lot but the Federal Aviation
Administration estimates that within
just three years there will be over
seven million drones flying in American
airspace alone the prevalence of drones
in Our Lives unmistakable and while
we’ve all probably come into contact
with drones in a different way we’ve all
similarly recognized their ability to
change the space that we feel entitled
to drones change our social space a
refugee founded nonprofit is using
drones to facilitate the safe arrival of
Turkish refugees to Greece drones change
our political space police departments
in the UK are using drones to search for
missing people and even to explore crime
scenes and drones change our physical
space sorry a Welsh company is using
drone imagery to identify the specific
location of weeds to reduce the
unnecessary use of harmful pesticides
drones have permanently changed the way
to use space but if you take nothing
else away from this talk to there no
that has changed
and will it be positive Nick and I are
asked so frequently how we think drones
can change the future of humanity
well having been immersed in this
industry since its inception and having
witnessed the power of using new space
this is our response drone technology
will launch a revolution and the
transportation of human beings and cargo
this real revolution will in turn will
leave our primal fight for space making
our lives happier and healthier let’s
just take a look at the resources
required to maintain our current system
of transportation and the United States
alone there are over 4 million miles of
roads enough to wrap around our earth’s
equator 163 times and last year it cost
the American taxpayer that’s right you
guys forty two point four billion
dollars to build and maintain our public
highways and bridges and parking lots
there are over five hundred million in
the United States alone consuming enough
area to eat that of the state of
Delaware and Rhode Island and even our
beloved hometown city of Houston is
estimated to consist of 25 percent
parking space but only 2.6 percent green
space something has to change
the physical health of our environment
is intrinsic to the mental health of our
society an MIT architecture professor
argues that if just 50 percent of our
green space of our parking lots could be
turned into green space this area could
handle 2 billion cubic meters of water
every year could produce 822 thousand
tons of oxygen for us all every year and
could absorb 1.2 million pounds of
carbon dioxide every single year now
imagine when not if when drones carry
humans instead of driving on the ground
we’re flying in the sky
instead of parking and driveways we’re
parking excuse me we’re landing on
building rooftops
and instead of spending billions of
dollars maintaining and building our
public infrastructure we’re spending
just a fraction on the cost of the cost
on air traffic control imagine the fresh
air that would be breathed into our
society the freedom that will relieve
our crushing terrestrial lifestyles
drones have the potential to lead
humankind into a new era of freedom by
using the space above us in new ways we
can use a space below us for life to
thrive for life to grow and for life to
just live by embracing drone technology
we are unlocking the power of using new
space and gaining the freedom to heal
our world and each other and that that
is our idea we’re spreading thank you
guys
[Applause]
you
space from our crowded city streets to
our passionate passionate political
protest to our daily battles for social
inclusiveness our lives are a constant
war for space today each of us feels it
is our natural ray to own a portion of
our collective social political and
physical spheres but imagine we live in
our world where right to those things is
controlled regulated even forbidden
imagine we board a ship bound for the
new world seeking to overcome our
oppression we’re afraid uncertain are
the challenges that lie ahead
but certain that we have hope for our
new land that could bring us a newfound
freedom as our journey ends and the
shoreline comes into view for the first
time we behold or horizon so vast so
pristine that we can already taste
newfound freedom well my friends today a
new horizon is coming into view one that
has the same potential to free us from a
space as a new continent does most
likely you’ve been there before the next
time you’re outside look at the sky
through a different lens that that is
our new world that is our unexplored
continent that is our bountiful horizon
and our vehicles of exploration drones
quad copters UAVs but I drone by any
other name with buzzes loudly am i right
that’s a Shakespeare pun by the way for
all you Millennials Shakespeare was a
writer
but whatever name you know them by has
your curiosity intrigue remained intact
or have your feeling become skepticism
and disbelief when you hear the word
drone what do you think of do you think
a vehicles of exploration the ship’s
Columbo Columbus sailed to the New World
the spacecraft that carried Apollo
astronauts to the moon
probably not you probably recall a local
news story about a neighbor saying a
drone was spying on him or a video clip
you saw of a prior drone air striking a
war zone overseas in fact like many of
us my first introduction to drones was
in the context of the military in 2011 I
was a plebe or freshman at the United
States Naval Academy sitting in my
leadership and ethics class the
professor a retired Navy captain played
a recording that looked like a video
game to me that is until I realized that
the targets were in fact real people
being attacked by a remotely piloted UAV
well it’s been six years since then and
during that time Nick and I have
followed the adaptation of drone
technology to the consumer market two
years ago I was one of those consumers
it was a summer going into my high
school year and I wanted to buy a drone
coming from a background of aviation
having flown airplanes since I was 12 I
thought hey it would be a natural
transition right well was I ever wrong
I found that operating a drone required
extensive technical knowledge and deeper
than your knowledge had to be your
wallet so I thought maybe there’s a safe
space I can go to fly once again who was
I ever wrong there was no safe space to
fly in fact there was hardly any space
at all one year later Marjorie and I are
very proud to have co-founded startup
that brings that space to us a safe
legal space for people to fly drones our
company has grown up with the fledgling
drone in this
it’s just two years old and we’ve
watched it change from a grassroots
hobby to a mainstream pastime but above
all we’ve witnessed the evolution of
drone technology itself from weapons of
war to harmless items of entertainment
to today tools to make our lives better
and the world around us improved it is
the ability of drones to change the way
we use space that empowers each of us to
effect positive change more quickly
cheaply and effectively there are
countless examples of human being beings
adapting drones to change our lives in
the world around us for instance last
year and Uganda Rwanda a drone startup
out of Silicon Valley use drones to
deliver medicine blood and other
critical time-sensitive emergency metal
equip equipment in less than 30 minutes
to any hospital within the area this
system has already saved several lives
and is being deployed in countries all
over the world including the United
States drones are even being used to
save the lives of critically endangered
Sumatran orangutans in 2014 a pair of
biologists built a drone in order to
observe these orangutans nest they not
only returned with high-resolution video
of these nests but also of illegal
logging activities contributing to
habitat loss this not only save the
biologist a quarter of a million dollars
but also three months of hacking through
the dense Indonesian rainforests since
then they found it a start-up dedicated
to empowering others around the world to
adapt emerging technology for
conservation efforts these are just two
of thousands of examples that proved by
embracing our new modern vehicles of
exploration we tap into new space that
frees us of the constraints of our
limited terrestrial earth but if drones
have already been used to affect such
positive change
why are we still so widely afraid of
them partially because as with any tool
when put in the wrong hands
drones can and will be a threatening
weapon but more inherently we are afraid
of drones because they change the
dynamic of the space that we know this
powerful tool has crept into our lives
and every single day becomes
increasingly implanted in our society
when consumer drones first hit the
global market in 2013 it is estimated
that around 300,000 units were sold just
two years later that number increased by
600 percent to over two million drone
sales around the world and as of 2016
over 2.5 million drones were sold in
United States alone this may sound like
a lot but the Federal Aviation
Administration estimates that within
just three years there will be over
seven million drones flying in American
airspace alone the prevalence of drones
in Our Lives unmistakable and while
we’ve all probably come into contact
with drones in a different way we’ve all
similarly recognized their ability to
change the space that we feel entitled
to drones change our social space a
refugee founded nonprofit is using
drones to facilitate the safe arrival of
Turkish refugees to Greece drones change
our political space police departments
in the UK are using drones to search for
missing people and even to explore crime
scenes and drones change our physical
space sorry a Welsh company is using
drone imagery to identify the specific
location of weeds to reduce the
unnecessary use of harmful pesticides
drones have permanently changed the way
to use space but if you take nothing
else away from this talk to there no
that has changed
and will it be positive Nick and I are
asked so frequently how we think drones
can change the future of humanity
well having been immersed in this
industry since its inception and having
witnessed the power of using new space
this is our response drone technology
will launch a revolution and the
transportation of human beings and cargo
this real revolution will in turn will
leave our primal fight for space making
our lives happier and healthier let’s
just take a look at the resources
required to maintain our current system
of transportation and the United States
alone there are over 4 million miles of
roads enough to wrap around our earth’s
equator 163 times and last year it cost
the American taxpayer that’s right you
guys forty two point four billion
dollars to build and maintain our public
highways and bridges and parking lots
there are over five hundred million in
the United States alone consuming enough
area to eat that of the state of
Delaware and Rhode Island and even our
beloved hometown city of Houston is
estimated to consist of 25 percent
parking space but only 2.6 percent green
space something has to change
the physical health of our environment
is intrinsic to the mental health of our
society an MIT architecture professor
argues that if just 50 percent of our
green space of our parking lots could be
turned into green space this area could
handle 2 billion cubic meters of water
every year could produce 822 thousand
tons of oxygen for us all every year and
could absorb 1.2 million pounds of
carbon dioxide every single year now
imagine when not if when drones carry
humans instead of driving on the ground
we’re flying in the sky
instead of parking and driveways we’re
parking excuse me we’re landing on
building rooftops
and instead of spending billions of
dollars maintaining and building our
public infrastructure we’re spending
just a fraction on the cost of the cost
on air traffic control imagine the fresh
air that would be breathed into our
society the freedom that will relieve
our crushing terrestrial lifestyles
drones have the potential to lead
humankind into a new era of freedom by
using the space above us in new ways we
can use a space below us for life to
thrive for life to grow and for life to
just live by embracing drone technology
we are unlocking the power of using new
space and gaining the freedom to heal
our world and each other and that that
is our idea we’re spreading thank you
guys
[Applause]
you
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