Neglect ballrooms and unhealthy espresso. PS Drone Fest (formally Palm Springs Drone Fest) was one thing else completely. Held in sunny Palm Springs, California, PS Drone Fest felt extra just like the Comedian-Con of drones than your typical drone trade convention. Certain, it was comparatively small this 12 months—however the vitality was electrical, and the potential for progress is huge.
“For me, it was the power to deliver the leisure a part of drone taking part in, the enjoyable a part of drone flying,” stated Skip Fredricks, the Emmy-nominated director and drone cinematography pioneer who orchestrated a lot of the occasion. “That’s what made it so particular.”
Watch my vlog of the occasion beneath:
And skim on for much more inside this fun-filled weekend…
A playground for drone followers
Palm Springs Drone Fest was not your typical drone convention. There have been no cavernous ballrooms, no infinite keynotes. As a substitute, attendees wandered from inflatable drone soccer arenas to a fitness center with an drone mild present setup and outdoors to the stadium for a drone air present. It felt much less like a commerce present and extra like a pageant — a convergence of artwork, sport and expertise that introduced collectively pilots, performers, children, engineers and educators.
It was the last word playground for drone followers. Whether or not you had been an expert pilot, a complete beginner or a wide-eyed child clutching a controller for the primary time, there was one thing to mild your spark.
Drone Soccer: a sport and a gateway
That sense of enjoyable was palpable all through the weekend, however nowhere extra so than through the drone soccer match — a STEM-first sport the place quadcopters encased in plastic spheres smash into one another whereas racing to attain targets. Although the game has been rising in recognition in Europe and Asia, this was the primary time many within the crowd had seen it in particular person — together with myself.
Amongst those that stood out within the drone soccer space was Makayla Galler, captain of the U.S. Nationwide Drone Soccer Crew. Dominated primarily by younger racers, drone soccer — largely youth-led —wasn’t simply leisure; it was outreach. This was how we get the subsequent technology stoked about drones.
A hands-on haven
In contrast to a few of the extra conventional, buttoned-up drone conferences — the place you’re parked in a ballroom for hours and your solely motion is throughout a espresso break — Palm Springs Drone Fest was kinetic in each sense of the phrase. You may contact the tech. Fly the drones. Discuss to the individuals who constructed them. It felt alive.
I largely felt this within the rocket drone demos, the place a bunch of children (and hey, me!) might fly tiny drones. For a lot of of them, it was their first time flying a drone. I’m at all times all the way down to fly drones anytime!
Children (and myself) acquired the possibility to even placed on an indoor drone mild present.
The placement in Palm Springs: a drone pilot’s dream
The placement didn’t harm, both. Palm Springs introduced blue skies, excellent temperatures and a vibrant off-hours scene. On Thursday night time earlier than Palm Springs Drone Fest started, I wandered by Palm Springs VillageFest, a buzzing road honest with meals distributors, artwork and native attraction. Friday morning was for mini hikes to take a look at the Desert X artwork installations. Desert X is an open-air artwork exhibit that dotted the close by panorama with surreal, large-scale works — amongst them, a mirrored fuel station that blurred the strains between setting and phantasm, not in contrast to the drones themselves.
The VIP resort was an Airstream glampground, which may be essentially the most on-brand drone pilot lodging I’ve ever seen.
The principle occasion of PS Drone Fest: a drone air present like no different
However the pièce de résistance at PS Drone Fest? The idea of a drone air present.
As somebody who has attended EAA AirVenture earlier than — and attends San Francisco’s Fleet Week in my very own metropolis religiously — this was a revelation. Sure, there was the out of doors nighttime drone present from SkyWorx, which dazzled as anticipated. However the air present format introduced it to the subsequent degree.
We’re speaking orb racing that felt like Star Wars pod racing reimagined, FPV freestyle, a Promo Drone demo with reside graphics, a DJ efficiency paired with an electrical violin, and sure, even a Jedi lightsaver stunt routine.
Fredricks, the maestro behind this spectacle, orchestrated a symphony of drone tradition that fused sport, artwork, training and pure showmanship.
PS Drone Fest: what’s subsequent?
Palm Springs Drone Fest was in contrast to any drone occasion I’ve attended — and I’ve been to loads of drone occasions. It was playful, modern and deeply community-driven.
Large names within the drone trade got here out to be part of it. That included Vic Moss, some of the revered names in aerial pictures and co-founder of the Drone Service Suppliers Alliance. There was Sharon Rossmark, founding father of Ladies and Drones. Desiree Ekstein, identified within the trade as Drone Diva Desi, was there too. The listing goes on. For hobbyists and professionals alike, it was a uncommon alternative to rub shoulders with a few of the trade’s most influential figures — not in a lecture corridor, however out within the solar, distant in hand.
This could possibly be the start of one thing large. Suppose: the Comedian-Con of drones, a fan-driven, high-energy celebration of all issues unmanned and superior. PS Drone Fest showcased a brand new means to consider how drones are launched, celebrated and shared with the general public. Because the expertise matures and curiosity broadens, this type of format — immersive, inclusive and visually spectacular — might properly turn into the brand new normal for drone occasions.
Within the days forward, TheDroneGirl.com will publish unique interviews and video options from different key figures in attendance at PS Drone Fest, together with Fiona Lake, the Australian agricultural drone advocate, and Tony Reid, a drone pilot and educator who’s serving to outline what drone training seems like for the subsequent technology.
I’m already counting all the way down to subsequent 12 months.
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