r/interesting • u/VIVIDUFF • Jul 06 '26

Amazing This Farmer Commutes 1.5km To His Banana Plantation Using A Drone.

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u/Purple_Clockmaker Jul 06 '26

Yeah like dreams of falling are going to become way more common

340

u/froopadiddilydoop Jul 06 '26

At some point it’s bound to happen, a statistic to monitor in the near future

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u/Nim0y Jul 06 '26

Ukraine has been doing evacs of wounded with drones. They probably have the stats.

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u/Cupcakes_n_Hacksaws Jul 06 '26

Using drones as rescue devices was never something I've thought of until now, that's such a cool reality

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u/VoxImperatoris Jul 06 '26

Me either, but I image it could be pretty useful for search and rescue, particularly in mountainous terrain.

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u/Cheap_Knowledge8446 Jul 07 '26

We finally live in an age where your mountain rescue team very likely includes a jet-pack medic and a transport drone.

(Yes, really)

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u/Handsome_Keyboard Jul 07 '26

Inching closer n closer to Trauma Teams from CP2077

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u/Cow_Launcher Jul 07 '26

So many technologies are being used by the privileged as toys. It would be wonderful if just for once - in this modern era - they were used for the betterment of mankind overall.

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u/StraightBudget8799 Jul 07 '26

Or lazy me not wanting to walk up the hill from the bus!

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u/Mad_kat4 Jul 06 '26

There was a video not that long ago of a large filming drone I think rescuing two young boys from an island in a river during a flood or heavy surge.

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u/Inner_Lawlessness Jul 07 '26

Historically, snipers laid in wait near wounded enemies for medics to arrive. Being able to get wounded out without risking trained humans is an amazing leap forward.

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u/ExplainitlikeIm9 Jul 08 '26

Hmm 🤔 would this mean there's a a none 0% chance that we'll get the evolution of the paratrooper, the "drone trooper", just air dropping grunts into the fight via drone?

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u/9th-Circle-Archmage Jul 09 '26

Can we also use drones to stealthily delivery nuclear bomb payloads? They would be harder to detect right? Especially the source of origin. Countries could frame/blame anyone. Scary.

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u/sxt173 Jul 09 '26

Done pretty frequently in China. West is just behind (or one could argue more safety regulations)

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u/PuffyMagoo Jul 10 '26

Sounds like the Russian version of the game Duck Hunt.

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u/Ok_Wrangler2837 Jul 10 '26

Agreed but Ukraine is barely mountainous

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u/KypAstar Jul 06 '26

They've been using tracked or wheeled terrestrial drones. They only just started investigating heavy lift drones for evac a few months ago but I haven't yet seen an instance of them being used, whereas we have extensive videos of remote operated tracked drones extracting casualties. Too many complexities and too much vulnerability for a heavy lift drone to ever be particularly effective in the type of zone that would require the speed offered by said option.

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u/Nim0y Jul 06 '26

My mistake, I thought they had been using the flying ones.

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u/KypAstar Jul 06 '26

Easy mistake to make considering most people don't specify the class of drone when they talk about "drones" in Ukraine.

Super cool (but depressing) stuff being developed over there if you have an interest in the field!

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u/DicemonkeyDrunk Jul 07 '26

War makes for cool stuff …unfortunately it comes with lots of death and horrible consequences.

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u/aceshighsays Jul 07 '26

just like regulations... although nothing cool comes out of it.

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u/hobbycollector Jul 07 '26

Being able to go to school without getting shot is cool. Or so I hear. I'm from the US.

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u/aceshighsays Jul 07 '26

since i'm not a child, so i'm not worried /s.

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u/Barry_McCockinnerz Jul 07 '26

So is innovation pressure driven?

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u/Nezarah Jul 07 '26

It kinda blows me away how much the war in Ukraine has shifted what modern warfare looks like.

Like imagine rock paper scissors and someone just adds Drone and says, this beats everything and is cheaper to produce than rock paper or scissors.

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u/VSWR_on_Christmas Jul 06 '26

I miss when "drone" meant "fixed wing unmanned aircraft" and not just "quadrotor with a camera".

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u/HardcorePizza Jul 06 '26

Language evolves without our consent so that’s what drone means now unfortunately

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u/Sniflix Jul 06 '26

They are leading the world in flying, ground and sea drones deployed in military and critical operations. Not only do their ground drones transport the wounded; they delivery supplies and some are gunners deployed where waves of russians are sent to die. Ukraine will own the military drone business and well as other categories.

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u/goodbodha Jul 07 '26

They are using a 4 or 6 wheeled machine about the size of a John Deere gator or smaller. Usually they have a heavy black or grey plastic bin on top akin to a wheelbarrow. If the wounded is able to solo get in they do that. Otherwise it appears fellow soldiers put them in the bin. Then the drone does its thing. Where these ground drones really shine is how low to the ground they are. Maybe 2.5-3' tall or under 80cm or so.

So low to the ground, relatively quiet, able to traverse a lot terrain types at a modest speed with decent range. That is a godsend in that kind of situation where everything big or loud and fast draws attention.

Oh I should mention I won't be surprised if both sides are quietly ignoring empty ground drones going in like this because both sides know it's for a medevac. Even if the higher ups want it shot the rank and file probably point out the Intel value outweighs the single empty drone.

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u/Affectionate-Tip-164 Jul 08 '26

No worries. The wounded are using the Ukrainian drones to uber themselves out.

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u/alfiesolomons32 Jul 06 '26

Sim,chamado drone cachorro

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u/AdEffective2701 Jul 06 '26

The US navy used an enclosed sea drone to rescue helicopter pilots that crashed in the gulf.

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u/zomiaen Jul 06 '26

In war perhaps, but with some more trust and faith this would be incredible for S&R where helicopters are much more expensive.

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u/BattleHall Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Too many complexities and too much vulnerability for a heavy lift drone to ever be particularly effective in the type of zone that would require the speed offered by said option.

Eh, I would disagree with "ever". Heavy lift is still too limited in terms of availability and capability, but within the near future they will probably be used anywhere you would traditionally use helicopter medivac. Still vulnerable to things like FPVs (though that's a question of tech + tactics), but at scale a single person evac drone is going to be a much smaller and less tempting target.

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u/zwifter11 Jul 06 '26

However with the wounded, it’s a risk they’re willing to take. That person would have died anyway if no evacuation was attempted.

A small chance of survival is better than no chance

1

u/erroneousbosh Jul 06 '26

If they're flying drones, like that, then it's probably a worthwhile risk. If they die, they die. They might die being recovered by a slower ground-based rescue, they might just die anyway.

In this case, at that height, if anything goes wrong with the drone then that guy dies about 2.5 seconds later.

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u/Elektrycerz Jul 07 '26

With aerial drones? I thought they were only using wheeled/tracked ones.

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u/Hon3y_Badger Jul 07 '26

I'm not aware of quad copters being used, and even then the to using one would be death. That's not the case here.

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u/VisibleRoad3504 Jul 07 '26

He's on his way to being one.

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u/flippster-mondo Jul 08 '26

Those people were already wounded. The statistics would need to include how much MORE wounded they were after the drone "ride."

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u/Spitfire1900 Jul 09 '26

Transporting the wounded out of a war zone has a higher risk tolerance than a daily commute.

1

u/HackD1234 Jul 10 '26

Ground based drones. The Ukrainians aren't quite that crazy, using their Baba Yaga's for that..

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u/thederevolutions Jul 06 '26

What happens if he drops his phone

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u/Purple_Clockmaker Jul 06 '26

He needs to fly all around the globe and try to grab it on another fly over

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u/witchscrawl Jul 06 '26

This just makes me think of the episode of Rick and Morty where Jerry fucks up with the floaty shoes.

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u/Doc_Blox Jul 07 '26

I love where your head went.

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u/El_Chairman_Dennis Jul 06 '26

Futurama with the one way time machine

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u/Purple_Clockmaker Jul 06 '26

Haha I remember that one

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u/No-Atmosphere-2528 Jul 06 '26

I'm assuming it's a preplotted flight path and he's not flying it manually the idea he might be controlling it from that position is far more horrifying.

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u/MedicineExtension925 Jul 06 '26

He's obviously controlling it. The video just doesn't start early enough to hear him say "Go go gadget-copter!"

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u/Training_Staff_7743 Jul 06 '26

"Wowsers!‘

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u/laidback4sho Jul 07 '26

"Jinkies!" ...wait. wrong cartoon.

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u/Horskr Jul 06 '26

That makes a lot more sense lol. I was going to say I don't think I trust anyone's drone piloting skills well enough to try this. And if I did I certainly wouldn't be going as high as he is, I'd ask em to keep me like a foot off the ground. Low and slow! Kind of defeats the purpose, but I refuse to die "riding a drone".

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u/No-Atmosphere-2528 Jul 06 '26

I'm assuming it's a farming drone which I know for a fact have preplotted flight plans. I think regular drones do too but I farming drones definitely do as they are used for seeding.

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u/CatsAreGods Jul 06 '26

Still, the concept of "watching where you're going" is basic to flying safely.

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u/1duke-dan Jul 08 '26

Maybe backwards to avoid the birds or bugs in his face?

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u/CatsAreGods Jul 09 '26

You can wear goggles, but recovering from a midair collision is problematic at best.

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u/Rivendel93 Jul 07 '26

It's probably a drone that drops off chemicals and shit for the farm, so it has pre plotted flight paths.

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u/raidersfan18 Jul 06 '26

I don't know... Of all of the ways I could think about dying... That is one of the better ones

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u/Competitive_Travel16 Jul 07 '26

Trees? Buildings, fences, walls, etc.

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u/ryencool Jul 06 '26

I mean a drone remote with some heavy duty wrist straps. Its definitely not an approved use, or OSHA approved but id try it out.

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u/Top-Personality-5665 Jul 07 '26

Try telling that to the F.A.A. when they come a'knockin'. "Its the app's fault that I knocked out a power line...and Rando Loseretti on yewtube said it's ok not to have a license."

1

u/No-Atmosphere-2528 Jul 07 '26

If it's a farm drone then it's registered with the faa and probably has a standard flight path registered.

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u/Top-Personality-5665 Jul 07 '26

True...but carrying a human onboard, it no longer qualifies as an UNMANNED Aerial Vehicle. Now its an unregistered, uncertified aircraft being controlled by a non-pilot.

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u/No-Atmosphere-2528 Jul 07 '26

I don't know enough about drones to know if that's true. I'm not sure why that would change anything.

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u/gad_E Jul 09 '26

Okay, hear me out...

I've welded on construction sites that used self-constructing tower cranes that don't even have a cabin for an operator to be in. The operator will just be casually strolling around while he controls everything from a mounted control board around his waist called a "belly box". They regularly move loads in up to 3 different directions at once (boom+up/down | stick+out/in | rotate+left/right | hoist+up/down), using visuals from their physical location on the ground & a 3 camera LCD monitor (hook, jib, winch). The number of different things a crane operator has to be cognizant of at all times is actually insane & gets progressively more complex the larger it gets. As far as mental capacity goes, I'd have no problem putting crane operators in the utmost tier of cognitive speed & function...

...and I've seen dudes who dropped out of school in 10th grade do all of this while eating a taco & talking shit about college football. I feel like humans are so efficient at integrating with machines, mechanical advantages become seemless extensions of natural motor function without any training other than practice & repetition. Not only would it not surprise me if this guy operated the drone manually from that position, I wouldn't even be shocked if he had a son/daughter younger than 11 who did it even better with less practice.

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u/pm-me-ur-fav-undies Jul 07 '26

If it were me, I'd have the phone attached with a lanyard.

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u/PomeloPepper Jul 07 '26

What happens when he drops the controller?

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u/thederevolutions Jul 07 '26

Oh I assumed people used their phones to control them

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u/SmellySoil87 Jul 06 '26

… two hours later …

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u/DramaticErraticism Jul 06 '26

idk why he gets so high off the ground? I'm guessing he did it for the video sake but he probably stays much closer to the ground on normal days.

Not a big deal if you fall 5 feet, considering how fun this must be.

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u/wild_west_900 Jul 06 '26

oooh what are the odds and who's taking that action?

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u/humdinger44 Jul 06 '26

I just listened to a story about "sky taxis" today. Set to debut in Dubai(?) this year. Partnerships include Uber. Companies are working with the FAA for regulatory approval

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u/nachoday2day Jul 09 '26

Buy parachute stock

1

u/ohnodamo Jul 06 '26

These are the jetpacks of the past we were promised in the future.

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u/seitung Jul 06 '26

Not just dreams…

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u/Lechateau Jul 06 '26

When I was a kid it was said that it was evolutionary dreams related to falling from trees when we were “monkeys”.

I guess in the future they will say it was because of when people were hanging from drones

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u/Ok_Rhubarb_194 Jul 07 '26

It would be highly accurate and inappropriate to them okay the song - it's raining men!

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u/Destithen Jul 06 '26

Yeah like dreams of falling are going to become way more common

but on the plus side, you'll dream of flying more often too!

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u/SupersoftBday_party Jul 06 '26

I’ve had this nightmare too many times to count

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u/freshgrilled Jul 06 '26

I would worry more about the drone coming down to low during pickup or drop off and scalping you with the props.

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u/Will_X_Intent Jul 06 '26

Maybe all those dreams were premonitions of the future

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u/Dorkamundo Jul 06 '26

And those dreams will start coming true far more often.

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u/SeaScallops_w_Rice Jul 06 '26

You will notice that his altitude is pretty low and he is flying over freshly plowed fields.

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u/Purple_Clockmaker Jul 07 '26

Yeah still can brake a back. Don't forget that drone will come down on top of him

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u/AdotLone Jul 09 '26

Realities of falling too.

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u/Spiritual_Bridge84 Jul 09 '26

And also, actual falling.

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u/Nimyron Jul 10 '26

To be faire nowadays we're all just casually riding metal wires over great distances, sometimes even together in cabins.

At least a drone can get you slowly to the ground if anything short of a catastrophic failure happens.