Mmmmm, some excellent footage, but surely, surely formations are going to get broken with drones flying about in caves??

have very mixed feelings about this 

https://vimeo.com/71877359

We did discuss this not so very long ago:

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=17004.0

Back then, I was worried about how the "pilot" knew he wasn't going to crash the thing into something.

As you say, excellent footage in that video, but my heart was in my mouth as it flew past some of those incredibly fragile-looking formations...

Would be interesting to use in Lamb Lair.  No stalactites, but plenty of potential to discover high level passages.  Pity the cave is closed.

Mind you the footpaths, steps and lighting seems to have already caused some damage 

Roger W said:

We did discuss this not so very long ago:

Click to expand...

Sorry Roger, I've only about 10 years to catch up on! 

and yes it is heart in your mouth stuff as that drone flies about, shudder....

Having visited this cave I can vouch for the fact that the funicular access railway, lighting and concrete paths, terraces and steps have inflicted far more damage than this drone is likely to do. i would have thought that the owners would have been reasonably confident that the pilot knew what he was doing as this is a private cave, without free access, so they must have had permission. However, there are many caves where unrestricted use of drones by less competent pilots could do a serious amount of damage so, yes, quite worrying.

Clearly there are only a few caves in the UK where such a thing is possible. Getting the machine to the chamber is an obvious difficulty unless one has an open shaft. A good and experienced pilot can have remarkably good control as our test engineer and drone pilot has proved. The machine was flown down inside an open tower in Ireland and halted to look out of the windows.If this sort of thing is done for reasons other than a stunt then such a thing is worthwhile. Its no secret that we are still considering this in Reservoir Hole to look at high level balconies at the upper end of The Frozen Deep. Such a project is feasible now that awkward areas on the way in have been modified to get the drone pelicase through. We certainly would not contemplate such a thing if there were risks associated with the thing crashing into formations. I think the expressions of horror here are overstated. Mind you knowing my luck the drone will crash land on my head.

Hi OR, it wasn't horror, just concern 

I'm a big fan of photos and videos underground and can see the advantage drones can offer.

I also see the possibility of checking out possible leads by drone - there's no stopping it, technology marches forward.....

Now going to watch that video again, armchair caving, you can't beat it 

Has it crashed-landed on your head, yet?

PS The video provides a nice insight in what's do-able and we are surely going to see a lot more stuff of similar wow factor in the years to come. Fully on message re: conservation, though, natch.

I am still not well Captain Chris. I need to get better before I can get worse again.
Overflying surface features also comes to mind. I think the good Captain has something in mind as have we.

Love it, great to see a "new" technique being used so successfully underground.

Been working with Multirotors for a couple of years now and done a few underground shots.  Biggest problem is distance perception, i.e. how far away from things you are and obviously lighting is also an issue.  Biff built me some custom built lightweight LED modules for my copters.  Everyone has a 'drone' these days but most people are playing with them outside and using the GPS loc modes which basically means if you take you hands off the controls it will sit where it is and not drift around. That makes flying very easy but doesn't help underground where you don't have the benefit of GPS.  The clip from the showcave would have been relatively easy flying as the cave is obviously well lit and large with plenty of walkway vantage points to fly from. I wouldn't get overly worried about those stals they look pretty solid to me and are certainly more robust than the copter. they might get a few scratches but the copter would totally be totally trashed on contact 
So if you want to play in caves I would suggest first playing around in trees at night to get an idea of depth and distance issues.  Flying using the video camera image is also not as easy as you think as most lenses of the popular cameras (GoPro etc) are very wide and give a false sense of how far away from things you are...  the classic 'objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear' !    I nearly decapitated Mr Eavis in Mulu flying FPV at several hundred metres away in Deer Cave.
Final thought is if you have to modify a cave to get your copter in then you're using the wrong copter...   
G.

gavinnewman said:

... using the GPS loc modes which basically means if you take you hands off the controls it will sit where it is and not drift around. That makes flying very easy but doesn't help underground where you don't have the benefit of GPS.  ...

Click to expand...

Might it be possible to use some sort of portable beacon underground in lieu of GPS?

Unless you happen to have a few spare GPS satellites lying around thats not really gonna work 
However some of the latest copters have proximity sensors based on sonar technology to give positional capabilities and collision avoidance without a GPS signal which could prove very useful for cave use.
If you have complete control of the environment, some highly accurate proximity sensing equipment and fast computing power its pretty impressive what can be done...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzuL60V9ng
and then give the tech to some creative types and you get this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cseTX_rW3uM

Enjoy...

That is really cool, thanks Gavin. 

Loved the first video especially, technology is indeed marching on......thanks so much for posting, Gavin 

Excellent, get ready for the biblical swarm of quad copters coming to a bible near you 

Drones Over Mendip.

This one is hand built and can be folded up for use in a cave. Nigel demonstrates perfect control which is just as well for your injury prone photographer. For this flight it is lacking its multi lamp  illumination bar.



Drone in folded position.



Camera position.



Filming closed karst basins.




Perfect landing. Drone will automatically return to pilot if lost out of sight.



Photoshopped image to show live video from camera.



Much smaller off the shelf drone in flight.




More anon one day we hope --

Somehow I don't think my GoPro film of Heron Pot (when I get round to putting it together) is going to look as good as this....

http://www.cnet.com/news/take-an-incredible-drone-flight-through-the-worlds-biggest-cave/

On the lightweight expo/exploration side, last summer I took a mini drone to Migovec, Slovenia.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarvist/sets/72157646586787547/

It's a Hubsan X4 HD Camera drone, with a high power li-ion bike light for extra illumination. The whole kit with spares + extra batteries fit in a half-height Daren drum, and was duly carried to the bottom of the cave (-800 m) for flying up Avens. Due to poor organisation, I only had one micro-sd card with me - so was very careful not to risk loosing all my footage!

https://youtu.be/bOqMyRxyssw?list=PLXLkC01650KfBeV-4t7G5VtG4E1aByhRo

Practically speaking, it wasn't much use as an exploration tool - as the camera is not sensitive enough to see anywhere that the bike light isn't directly illuminating. Spending the time having a proper look and a consider, firing of a few laser disto shots, and a look with a powerful head beam definitely was useful though!

One thing I thought was interesting was that just in piloting the thing, you realise which way the cave wind is blowing - I'm fairly certain I identified a passage leading off the top of a 30 m aven by this. Spurned on by this data, the expedition bolt climbed to 2/3 of the way up.