The 3 most useless applications of drones

Among the thousands of drone applications, some are incredibly useful and beneficial to the environment, to humanity and to the world of work. We have talked about them a lot in the past and will continue to do so.
However, there are also some rather controversial fields of application, in some cases absolutely useless, that oscillate between game and joke, just as there are contexts in which the incredible innovation that drone technology has brought to every field of knowledge is simply not enough to carry out a beneficial mission.

Let's look together at three questionable examples of the use of UAS or model aircraft...

When a drone just isn't enough

The idea of Eng. Lauren Fletcher, a former NASA official, is undoubtedly commendable: his sensitivity to the issue of global deforestation led him to create a start-up (Biocarbon Engineering) that promises industrial-scale reforestation to counter deforestation.
Using UAVs, his company offers ground surveying to identify the best areas to host new trees. Planting done with drones (1 billion new plantings in one year) is not, however, synonymous with effectiveness, but is only cheaper than manual planting. Given the 11 billion trees lost every year and the fact that not all planted trees manage to survive after the depletion of the soil, the experiment appears feeble, not to mention that it would become an alibi for companies that deforest wildly.

There's no end to the... selfie

It is even hard to call the Chinese ELF a drone. It is a 3D-printed prototype funded on Indiegogo, invented to take aerial selfies (nicknamed drones by some).
The six-motor mini aircraft is tiny and is remote-controlled through a dedicated iOS and Android app and a Bluetooth 4.0 connection. Images are transferred from the drone to the smartphone via Wi-Fi.
ELF has a flight time of just seven minutes, so it is practically impossible to shoot large-scale footage or take pictures of quality much higher than a selfie.

The wearable drone

Something between a tiny aircraft, a watch or bracelet and a camera. Winner of the Intel "Make it wearable" prize, the Nixie prototype is a smart idea, closer to the world of fashion than of drones, but it must be said that for lovers of design and wearable technology it is really cute. Technical data on the product is still scarce even on the official website flynixie.com, but it's a safe bet that as soon as the product leaves the prototype stage it will be quite a success precisely because of its ability to appeal to cross-sector audiences and users... regardless of its objective usefulness.

Here is a short video that gives you a preview:
https://youtu.be/_VFsdPAoI1g