Drone manufactures are battling “negative connotations” of the devices, reports ProPublica. “I have some d-word difficulty,” said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a trade group for makers and enthusiasts of robots of air, land and sea. The d-word is drones. Toscano made his comment at the Drones and Aerial Robotics Conference in New York, which was one part industry showcase, one part academic gathering, and one part workshop, reflecting the various camps of drone defenders and disparagers.
Far beyond their military uses, drones could pollinate crops, help firefighters – even accompany “a family on vacation in Hawaii,” said Colin Guinn, CEO of a company that makes drones for photography. The tech geeks, though, were almost outnumbered by those of another stripe: philosophers, lawyers, and critics who generally oppose drones. But Patrick Egan, president of the Silicon Valley chapter of Toscano's group and editor at an industry blog, said, “The hyperbole is out of control. It is transformative technology, but not in the way people think.”