drones

"You can't protect what you can't map," says Patrick Meier. He pioneered the field of crisis mapping during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and now focuses on the use of robotics for humanitarian purposes.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs, otherwise known as drones, are aircraft piloted by remote control or programmed to follow a flight path using GPS as a guide. They can be as small as a book or as large as a commercial airliner. From toys to weapons, they are filling a range of niches, including research and conservation efforts.

We spoke with Max Messinger, Founder of Linn Aerospace and Research Fellow with Wake Forest University Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. He has spent the past several years developing, building, and flying a variety of drones to monitor the health of the Peruvian Amazon rainforests.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the drone has become America's go-to weapon when it comes to tracking and killing extremists. But drones have raised many legal, moral and ethical issues.

The University of Nebraska is developing a fire-starting drone, adapting a flaming ping pong ball technique already used in wildfire management. They hope to help teams conduct safer prescribed burns.