Feature: Drones see developing momentum with multiple functions, but risks remain

An exhibition on the advanced electronic and mechatronic devices and components, the Techno- Frontier 2015, is being held in the Makuhari Messe in Japan's Chiba Prefecture from Wednesday to Friday, and for the first time it developed an international expo on drone.

Military-used drones are well-known in the world such the Global Hawk, but more and more civil-used drones are popping up in recent years, while research of such civil drone actually started about decades ago.

Currently, the civil drones could undertake many tasks. For photographers, drones equipped with 4k cameras could be their remote tools by flying over maintains, penetrating into caverns and even following the photographer to take marvelous pictures and selfies from a really different angle.

Being working as a flying camera, the drone is also attractive for media, especially for the TV presses. Some of media now are using drones to record volcano eruption in Iceland by dispatching the aircraft above the floating magma or to cover mass gathering and disasters.

For players, the small aircraft are becoming a new toy for race and such flying game provides them a scenario that only could be found in science fiction films such as the Star War in which airships shuttle back and forth in woods.

But for the more important functions, newly-designed drones could be utilized in disaster relief as they can fly for up to about two hours into some isolated places with payload of 30- kilogram supplies for refugees, or some could both roll and fly to many places that rescuers can not reach immediately to help detect environment in the affected area.

Operators could use a wireless remote controller to manipulate the drones which could simultaneously transmit images or videos to operators'recording devices and could fly about two kilometers away from the controller. Some advanced drones could even fly following routes set before its flight without a human operator and automatically return and recharge when the battery is going to run low.

Although the drones could play an increasingly important role in many areas, safety concerns remain a big problem for the public. Imagining that if a 1-kg drone crashed from more than 10 meters height into a place full of people, the result would be disastrous as casualties would be feared.

A technician with a Japanese drone maker told Xinhua Thursday in the expo that they are developing a technology aims at guaranteeing the drone could maintain its flight even one of its engines -- a general drone has four engines and advanced design could has eight -- suffers failure.

Another staff of a European drone maker said that accidents are happening but the makers are trying to minimize the damage caused by crashes."We are tending to use softer and lighter material to produce the drones so that they would make smaller damage in case of crash."

For now, the civil drone is emerging equipment and has no world- recognized production standard, but most, or even all, drone makers call for safe flying of the aircraft by advising buyers that do not fly such drone in a crowed place, near airport, in the night and in the poor weather conditions.

But danger would also come from operators. A 15-year-old boy was also arrested Thursday on suspicion of planning to interfere with the running of a large festival in Tokyo by flying a drone at the venue. On May 9, the boy flew a drone over Zenkoji Temple in the city of Nagano, central Japan, and it dropped onto crowded ground during a ceremony at the temple, although nobody was injured, according to local report.

A Japanese man, who angers with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nuclear power policy, flied a drone with some contaminated soil on board onto the roof of the Japanese prime minister's official resident recently and was caught by police.

The incident prompted concerns of the Japanese government which is now discussing new legislation on controlling the drone.

Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, goes forward as it has already banned drones in metropolitan parks and gardens following the recent incident. Under an ordinance on the regulation, an individual flying a drone in a municipal park may face up a fine of up to 50,000 yen (about 412 U.S. dollars). Endi