Drone art

A drone launch in Russia to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight to space in 1961

Drone art (also known as drone display or drone light show) is the use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), often quadcopters which fly in a coordinated fashion with light fixtures attached. They are usually equipped with multiple LEDs and the display is held at night. The first drone display was presented in 2012 in Linz, Austria; the Ars Electronica Futurelab introduced SPAXELS (short for "space elements") for the first time. The displays are often for entertainment and the drones may use flocking or swarming behaviour.[1] The drones have the capability to produce images. Using the emerging technology, displays have been employed for advertising purposes.

Intel has produced the Shooting Star, a type of drone used in light shows.[2] The drones were used during the 2018 Winter Olympics, a Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, and a 2018 Fourth of July celebration.[3]

Drone light shows differ from fireworks displays in that drones are reusable; they do not produce air and noise pollution.[3] However, drone displays cannot happen during rain or strong winds.[4] In the 2020s, some cities in the United States replaced Independence Day fireworks displays with drone or laser light shows, to reduce fire risk, air pollution, and the disturbance of dogs and people with PTSD.[5] Concerns about safety have also emerged in response to malfunctioning of public drone light displays, such as prior to a match in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, 350 of the 500 performing drones plunged into the water due to a glitch.[6]

  1. ^ "Swarm of drones illuminates the night sky". 17 September 2018.
  2. ^ "Intel Celebrates LGBTQ Pride 2018 with Drone Light Show - Intel Newsroom".
  3. ^ a b Barrett, Brian. "A Fourth of July Drone Show Helps Military Families With Special Needs". Wired.
  4. ^ "Lighted drone show sparkles and wows crowd at EAA AirVenture".
  5. ^ Fireworks can make bad air quality even worse. For some cities, the answer is drones
  6. ^ Crowe, Ashleigh McMillan, Alex (2023-07-15). "Yarra 1, drones 0: Unmanned aerial vehicles plunge into water during Matildas light display". The Age. Retrieved 2023-08-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)