Chatbots for Drones

To stimulate imagination about the possible use case for chatbots, we wanted to brainstorm on some futuristic concepts in this blog. The first idea in this series is chatbots for drones.

Soon we will have drone assistants. Yes, I’m talking about the flying kind of drones.

It’s easy to imagine that mini drones will be something that we use on a regular basis. Perhaps they will be attached to watches or be perched on our shoulders.

‍

How will chatbots be used with drones?

The main feature of the drone will be the camera. Likely multiple cameras around the drone and on the bottom.

These drones will also be voice-controlled.

You might be wondering why a mini voice-controlled drone with a camera might be useful, but there are several potential applications.

‍

Photography and video

The first is photography and video. The drone could be instructed to take a selfie or take a picture of a group. Just like bigger drones today it could film from conventional and unconventional angles. And it would be launched and controlled with voice commands.

For example:

“Drone, take a selfie of me”

“From a higher angle”

“A bit to the left”

“Countdown 3 seconds”

‍

Security

A second major application is security. A drone perched on the shoulder could stream video to the cloud if someone is walking in an unsafe area for example. Even better, it could be instructed to fly above the person and monitor from above.

For example:

“Turn on streaming video”

“Monitor me from above”

“Call the police”

Gaming

Another application of drone technology could be for games. There are unlimited games that could be played with drones. For example one game could be hide and seek, where the drone tries to find a child or helps a child find others.

For example:

“Look in that room”

“Find Sarah in the house”

“Count to 10 and then find me”

Communication

This example could also be applied to in house communication.

For example:

“Tell Tom it’s time for dinner”

“Ask April if she has finished her homework”

“Tell Mom that I’m coming in 10 minutes”

‍

Law enforcement

The games and monitoring applications could also be applied to law enforcement or military activities. It is easy to imagine that drones could be used to scout an area before humans go in.

For example:

“Scan the area for hostiles”

“Scan the room for hostiles”

“Are there hostiles in this house?”

‍

Getting directions

Another use case for chatbots for drones is directions. It is easier to follow a drone than to follow a map.

For example:

“Take me to the Prado Museum”

“Take me to the nearest Starbucks in this mall”

‍

Video Projector

Another potential feature of a drone could be a mini projector. This way the drone could respond with images as well as with voice. This would mean that the user of the drone would not have to connect the drone to a device with a screen to see the input.

For example:

“Record a message and give it to Mom”

“Create a map of this house and show me”

“Show me where my uber is right now”

If the drones are good enough, it may even be the case that we have many drones that could work together. One drone could scout while the other drone streams. Multiple drones could scan a house much faster than one.

Of course, there is always the possibility with technology that it is used for evil purposes. Minority report imagined this scenario where a fascist government uses drones and facial recognition to track down opponents. And in that case, the drones were spider-like. It is by the way likely that drones may also have legs/hands to do things at some point, like press a button.

While there are dystopian possibilities, there are many beneficial ways that this technology can be used.

‍

We hope this stimulates your imagination. It should be easy to see how the combination of voice control and a mini drone will become incredibly useful.

It seems a matter of time before drone assistants are available.

‍