As of lately, drones, otherwise known as unmanned aerial vehicles, have been a market that has been rapidly growing among tech enthusiasts. On YouTube, there are a wide variety of videos showing drone pilots flying the devices around. Nick Horbaczewski, the CEO of the Drone Racing League, decided to make these displays of skill into a virtual reality event, which has intrigued investors. RSE Ventures, a firm headed by Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross, gave one million dollars to help fund the idea. There are claims that other impressive names from entertainment also back it.
The Drone Racing League is a medium for drone pilots to compete. Horbaczewski cites professional video gaming as his inspiration for the idea:
“There were just some talented people who knew other talented people, and now there’s people where that’s all they do. They’re professionals. They train, and they have teams, and they have coaches, and it gets really competitive. And we have pilots that are either competition-level or almost competition-level video gamers, because their skills translate.”
The drones are specially built by DRL to specifications that vary each race in hopes to keep things interesting. The pilots aren’t risking their own drones in the race, and any crashes or malfunctions are handled by the DRL’s own pit crew. Therefore, pilots are more likely to take risks and provide more entertainment.
Currently, DRL is under an invite only situation, although Horbaczewski hopes that recruitment for DRL will become self-driven in the future:
“So we know a bunch of pilots, and they know a bunch of pilots. Every day, we find somebody new on YouTube posting videos of themselves flying, and they’re an amazing pilot. And I think once we have organized competition, the system will sort of shake itself out in terms of bringing people in.”
One may wonder how they would be able to watch these races. You could watch it normally on a screen, or you could plug in a virtual reality headset and get a first person seat in the drone's cockpit.
DRL plans to launch in 2016, with six events around the United States already planned.
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Source: Wired
Image: The Drone Racing League
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