Lucidity
UFO Pilot
This was a mammoth undertaking. Unlike most of our videos, which are produced entirely by Techinstein and myself or – if we're very lucky – ourselves with one other person, this project and this series of videos comes to you thanks to the efforts of many, many people.
Everyone who you see on camera made a major commitment to making this happen, as did countless other folks that you don't see. It was our privilege among all of them to be able serve as judges, hosts and to be able to bring you this six-part series here on our website and our YouTube channel.
Who are they? Well, first and foremost, there is Portland-based drone entrepreneur Jonathan Evans, the founder and CEO of SkyWard . Along with his staff, he provided both the inspiration and the muscle that made this event a reality. We also need to recognize our friends over at Aerial Technology International, who provided major support for the event – thanks, guys!
We also want to salute the third member of our judging panel, Rich Hanson – the Government and Regulatory Affairs Director for the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). Rich was kind enough to fly out all the way from Muncie, Indiana to join us for this event, which also received an AMA sanction with the support of Rich, Executive Director Dave Matthewson and other members of the AMA staff.
And, finally, are supremely indebted to our good friends at MediaFX Video Production, who went way, way above the call of duty in putting together these videos. To be honest, I think the scope and scale of this project caught us all off guard once we were swept up in it – but they never waivered. Thank you for all of your hard work!
We would also like to recognize the Cascade Chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) for their support, as well as SOAR Oregon, whose executive director – Mark Morrison – you met in this video.
The first day of this event, which you see in this video, was actually a hybrid of sorts – which probably bears a little explanation. Central Oregon, where the city of Bend is located, was selected by the Federal Aviation Administration to host one of the national drone test sites.
Drones have the potential to be the industry of the future out here so, of course, there is a lot of interest from business and civic leaders, parents, teachers, and students, and so forth. To help orient them to this new industry, the Intel Corporation stepped up to host Aerial Robotics Innovation Day, to coincide with the first day of our competition.
So, Drone Prize was embedded within this other event on the first day of the competition. The following day, and in all of the upcoming videos, we're on our own to conduct the main focus of this event: a series of practical exercises aimed at demonstrating the potential value of drones to society.
Our plan is to release these videos one a day for the next six days, in the hopes that we can share with you some of the anticipation and excitement that we all felt during this event.