Phantoms are being used to play Pokemon go!

[J Dot]

Hello ALL,
I took my daughter to the park earlier, and to my suprised, apparently a local trend has started here is Sarasota Florida ( or possibly not so local? )but, locals have started using their drones ( phantoms included ) to play POKEMON GO! They have attached their cell phones to them, then they fly them around our parks to hatch eggs or something? ( I don't know this game or how it works?, but ) there was several ( 8 or so drones ) in my park earlier? So I walked around, and talked to a few ,they were between 12-18 yrs old, the park was FULL of people, from toddlers to adults, and they were flying low, and all over the place, this is not a good idea people! Very unsafe, just wanted to give you guys ( HERE ) a heads up, as I'm sure this trend will spread fast, as there is already YouTube videos about it! JUST PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ( BE CAREFULL ) this is not a good idea flying above crowds, and infants, This is going to cause a negative backlash to our phantom community, and quad communities in general, I assure you!
I'm not trying to bash the game, ( please don't think that ) as if you enjoy playing, than TRUELY have a blast, just PLEASE be SMART! I'd hate to see a phantom, hit a baby or toddler, or anyone at all! I was a bit scary out there, I won't lie! I'm glad to see young pilots, I'm glad to see people out and not in front of the Tv, I'm not happy to see several quads buzzing low over people's heads, and over toddler town, just saying! Be safe people.
KEEP MY 3yr old safe! This is her park too, you know!

( I did express my thoughts to the ones I talked to, on safety mostly )
I did tell all of them NOT TO FLY OVER TODDLER TOWN AT ALL! PERIOD! ( trying not to be a complete jerk, but I was upset, I can't lie , but I kept composure ) It was cool to see all the pilots, but really depressing the situation!

I did not realize this was going on, and really suprised at a park full of people!

Your thoughts are welcome!

J Dot

 

[flpholt]

go ahead and bash the game its stupid

 

[Lewiswatson55]

I agree, this is a stupid idea and could not only cause an impact on the laws of flying drones but could physically harm someone !!

 

[Colorado68]

Great idea!

Flying drones over people aren't any different than a 100 years ago when airplanes came into existence.

Fear mongering and the "what if's" only hinders drone advancement.

The future is to have these devices in our society with accepted ricks.
Not any different than the automobile when they were developed!

Drones are great, hope everyone owns one one at some point in time, and creates new ideas to use them to their full potential.

 

[Soulmetzger]

I hate this Pokemon Go fad. Drones have a hard enough time staying in a positive light that we don't need to be dragged through the mud with all the Pokemon horror stories.

 

[flpholt]

isn't there a island we can just send poke players to oh yeah Alcatraz

 

[Ptr]

isn't there a island we can just send poke players to oh yeah Alcatraz

Guantanamo

 

[Ptr]

Oh sorry history

 

[Ptr]

I'll have to out of F-Mode

 

[KennyJr]

go ahead and bash the game its stupid

The players aren't very bright either. Locally we had a 13 year old girl walk into traffic and get hit and a guy was playing from his car and hit a tree head on. Luckily neither was killed. I myself saw someone on a bike nearly get creamed going through an intersection because he was watching his phone and not where he was going.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Seems ridiculous to me but here's how they do it... LINK --> #3

 

[dirkclod]

... No it's over .

 

[natvtrader]

I am not a fan of pokemon go but I don't think it's my business or place to judge others for what they do. There are a million people who hate quads but we still fly them around and cause trouble. Pokémon go has actually gotten kids and adult off their butts and out from in front of TV's and out moving around and exercising. I know I could use a little more of that.

 

[rdandy5875]

Ok I'll admit I've been catching some of those little F#$%'ers . I don't see how this is very easy to do via drone.

You need 3 phones/devices, and In the video I saw they needed to make a custom app that would mirror one device to the other (maybe it's widely available now). You attach phone1 to the quad in front of the quad camera, then use the phone2 to relay inputs to the phone1 on the quad. Phone3 runs your DJI go.

So you fly around, looking at phone3 which shows phone1 in your way, partially blocking FPV. Then once you find a creature you use phone2 while still flying via phone3, and manning the control sticks, keeping the creature in view. Seems like a 2 person job for each quad. It's confusing enough just explaining it.

I also don't see why someone would need to be close to the ground. Pokemon GO has no idea of your altitude. You could do it all from 200' up and Pokemon GO would be just as happy.

I also do agree with colorado68 about the overhead aspect of flight. People are worried a 3lb drone may drop out of the sky and hit them in the head? That's needle in a haystack territory. People walk on sidewalks right next to 3000lb cars whizzing by one after another, who are piloted by all types of idiots, and don't bat an eye. It's more likely you will be hit by a car than a drone yet here we are....

 

[Corey Tucker]

i tried this with my gf's phone. just hung the phone straight down and pointed the camera down at it using ipad. then used my phone to get on hers. went to a big park where we would have plenty of room. only problem was it was hard to know where i was flying while the camera was pointed at the phone. i just flew it by watching where it was going except for one part where it was behind some trees. end of the day, it wasn't worth the effort, i think it was easier doing it the normal way.