Intel’s 300 Super Bowl Drones: What The Buzz Is Really About

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a drone! At a history-making Super bowl Sunday we got to see some spectacular feats, but one in particular was that incredible drone display during Lady Gaga’s halftime show. Intel showed off 300 Super Bowl Drones at the event, but can this be telling us more than we think? What else are these drones truly capable of?

 

Make sure to click on the video below to view the halftime show and the glorious drone display!

What Is The Shooting Star?

The Shooting Star quadcopters are each about a foot long, weighs just over eight ounces, and has a foam body for protection against any possible impacts. These drones aren’t as fancy as many others but who can tell when all you probably notice are hundreds of drones using any number of four billion possible color combinations. But the colorful display wasn’t even the best part.

 

Each individual drone is in constant communication with a central communication and can automatically fix any faulty drones within seconds!

 

Despite the capabilities, Intel to go to a lot of trouble to make their Superbowl show happen. Special permission was granted by the FAA (that’s no easy feat) for Intel’s Shooting Star quadcopter drones to fly a record-breaking 700 feet in the sky!

 

The drones were only flying before and after Lady Gaga’s show and yet everyone is talking about it. Nowadays publicity stunts are never simply publicity stunts, so Intel must be trying to tell us something, especially considering this is Intel’s third public outing using their Shooting Stars (though this was certainly their biggest audience with around 160 million viewers).

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Super Bowl Drones – Flying in Multiple Directions

It takes just one pilot to manage 300 drones! The drones are operated with an algorithm, as opposed to individual controls that users are more accustomed to, in order to handle a large amount of individual drones in whatever pattern is desired.

 

The Shooting Stars were created initially for entertainment purposes but as told to Wired by Intel’s drone chief himself, Anil Naduri, there is a potential future use of these drones for search and rescue missions. These drones certainly would make search and rescue missions significantly easier and possibly save countless lives. This entertainment is also a life saver. That’s what we call innovative thinking.

 

Taking Things A Step Further

More companies need to take a lesson here. Instead of always focusing on new products, it might be more efficient to focus on what’s already there. These “Shooting Stars” were created to entertain, but why not serve more than one purpose? A product that is multifunctional can save money (and in this case, even lives), and serve the users interest and needs much more efficiently.

 

After seeing that spectacular show, I might start thinking about how those capabilities can best serve me as well. Intel certainly has everyone’s attention, now let us see how other drone makers respond.

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Omri is the Head of Demand Generation, as well as the Lead Author & Editor of the SaaSAddict Blog. Omri established the SaaSAddict blog to create a source for news and discussion about some of the issues, challenges, news, and ideas relating to SaaS and cloud migration.