Because walking 400m with your kid is -just- too far.
Tech geek & not so devoted father has constructed a remote controlled surveillance device so he doesn't have to walk his son 400m down hill to the bus stop each day.
"On school-day mornings, I walk my grade-school-age son 400 metres down the hill to the bus stop. Last winter, I fantasized about sitting at my computer while a camera-equipped drone followed him overhead," wrote Wallich. "So this year, I set out to build one."http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/11/geek-dad-builds-helicopter-to-follow-his-son-to-the-bus-stop.html
Needless to say I feel that if you are going to go through the effort of having a child, spending some time with them should be a priority. One wonders if his next project will be building an A.I. program that provides a male role model for his son which will free up more of his own time to play WoW.
The guy who built this is an editor at IEEE Spectrum. I think it's safe to say that this has more to do with building something cool (just like there are people who build furniture or build cars) rather than being too lazy to walk his kid down the driveway.
The guy who built this is an editor at IEEE Spectrum. I think it's safe to say that this has more to do with building something cool (just like there are people who build furniture or build cars) rather than being too lazy to walk his kid down the driveway.
This. It's sad that everyone here has overreacted to the extreme because one inclined gentleman did something awesome. I bet his kid is going to get to learn and build a lot of very cool gadgets and toys that most kids only dream about when he's older.
He's the editor of an online technical magazine. He built something and then wrote a piece about what he did, using whatever creative license he felt would make his piece more interesting to readers. That's all there is to it. Beyond that, any allusions to his lazyness or his worth as a human being is nothing but unsubstantiated conjecture from people who may not fully grasp the context for which the comment was made and the publication for which it was first published in.
I think it's safe to say that this has more to do with building something cool ...
Well, this american guy didn't really build it.
He bought the "quadrocopter kit and attached a smartphone with a video chatting app enabled." The open source app already has GPS tracking so all he did was put a GPS beacon on his kid.
Anyone can do this, if you buy the quadrocopter kit. There are some on Amazon for under ~200-250$.
A better question is why the frak is this guy following his kid to the bus stop anyhow? Talk about paranoid overprotection. Wrap the kid in bubblewrap while you're at it. I feel really bad for this kid and all the crap he's going to have to deal with growing up with that kind of parent.
A better question is why the frak is this guy following his kid to the bus stop anyhow? Talk about paranoid overprotection. Wrap the kid in bubblewrap while you're at it. I feel really bad for this kid and all the crap he's going to have to deal with growing up with that kind of parent.
Here is a question for you: Do you consider it paranoid over protection to have the dad walk down to the bus stop?
Personally I don't think it is over protective for the dad to walk to the bus stop any more than it is for him to use this helicopter.
The unfortunate difference is that the father has now elected to just stay home rather than walk.
I'm with you and Robrr on this one. This isn't anything that a technically inclined person couldn't do with $300 laying around. If he's that concerned about the kids safety, do the 0.8KM return trip, it's not that far.
Now, I do like the story of the father and son that bought a giant weather balloon and hooked up their iPhone to it to get to the limits of our horizon, a quick little look into outer space until the balloon popped. Now, that was a good one..simple, but very nice.
Tell me, when have you ever built something so elaborate or - dare I say - so cool?
You mean bought off the shelf parts and assembled as such?
Gone, not trying to bash his technical skill set but hardly something new or original, there are many quad-copters out there and this was more of an assembly project. I would have been impressed if he actually designed it and made it himself, all of it; in short he built a Heath-Kit.
My point, I am just disgusted that he would rather sit at home then spend time with his kid. Hell that project it would have made a good Father-Son project, a teaching experience as well as bonding experience.
In short he should be less of a child himself and be a parent a bit more.
When I was a kid we walked at least 400m to and from the bus stop unsupervised.
And if we missed the bus by the time we got there, we walked another 10km to school because even in -40C weather that was preferable to going home and telling my mom we missed the bus.
I walked about 800m to school unsupervised when I was in elementary school... Following him to the bus stop in the mornings, be it in person or with a drone, is ridiculous.