If you are into bizarre drone-related stuff, then perhaps this news article will make your day. You see, just a couple of days ago, a brand new (extremely dangerous) drone has been unveiled to the public. I’m talking about TIKAD, a huge hexacopter that sports a unique trait that I’m sure none of you expected to see… a fully-fledged machine gun that shoots 69k democracies per second. It’s EPIC! Its manufacturer, Duke Robotics, is a successful military contractor which just recently released a video showing off TIKAD in the best of lights.
How much will it cost?
Unfortunately for all my gun-loving readers, TIKAD is not going to sell commercially, at least not anytime soon. As a matter of fact, this is a marketing setup and not a finished product. At the moment, Duke Robotics are testing their device with the Israeli army. As they say, the current stage is not near completion, but it’s already viable and usable in various terrorist operations.
So, in other words, there’s no point in asking for the price as it will most likely never get released to the public. Especially considering Duke Robotics is a military contractor meaning they have no intentions of selling their design to civilians.
With that out of our way, let’s see how does this masterpiece of technology and firepower actually work!
How does TIKAD work?
In terms of specifications, we can only guess the exact numbers so I’d rather skip that. Presumably, TIKAD will most likely have much higher flight time than mainstream drones, probably accompanied by more than a couple of miles range. What we do know is that it will not only support machine rifles but other types of weapons. So far, it seems as though TIKAD will support grenade launchers and sniper rifles as well. But, how will the accuracy work? Over RC? Does this technology exist?
Of course it exists. It’s basically a close cousin to camera gimbals from standard aerial photography drones such as DJI Phantom 4 or Yuneec Typhoon H. This rifle mount is attached to a dedicated platform which features RC controlled system for aiming down the sights. Furthermore, the top portion is adjustable as well, giving drone the ability to recover after a shot and prepare the setup for another one… if necessary, of course.
Obviously, there is going to be some sort of a video connection coming from the onboard camera (that will supposedly come with facial recognition software for target recognition). It’s still not known whether it will be WiFi or 5.8G, but the latter seems much more likely as we’re talking about pinpoint accuracy which requires a lag-free environment. In the video (you can check it out below), you can see, what seems to be a 10-inch, FPV display that’s looking straight through the rifle’s crosshair. It’s basically like Call of Duty… only it’s not a video game, it’s real life and you’re aiming to kill a freakin terrorist…. EPIC!!!
Final words on TIKAD by Duke Robotics
To be honest, TIKAD is nothing special in terms of technology. In fact, I’m pretty sure any other drone manufacturer could make this thing… perhaps even better, who knows. But the difference is that they have no profit in making something like this. On the other hand, a successful military contractor can “force feed” this new technology to further reduce human casualties in terrorist missions. With the ability to close in on targets, annihilate a quick and lethal strike and then return to its takeoff location, these drones could very well shape the entire military tactics for years to come.
If you’re still sceptical over this whole armed drone deal, take a look at the official Duke Robotics video below. That’s bound to change your mind!
His work was featured in a variety of publications including BBC, TechCrunch, DJI Blog, HBR.org, VICE and many more.
Zoran is a hard-worker who never takes "no" for an answer, and thinks it's blasphemy when someone says something negative about Autel Robotics.
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