An unusual little business idea recently highlighted how blinkered governments have been in their deployment of drones in recent years. Invented by three young developers, the Burrito Bomber is a mini drone that tracks customers' locations via their smartphones and drops a burrito into onto their doorsteps. Mini aircraft flying around dropping takeaways out of the sky may seem bizarre and unnecessary but the prospect of using the same technology to deliver food and supplies to remote or war-torn areas is promising.
The founders are ready to launch their idea as a fully fledged business but have been blocked by the Federal Aviation Administration because commercial drones are not allowed. At the same time the use of government-operated armed drones is increasing. As these mini weapons cruise the skies the world over, and the number of drone-related casualties mount up, any focus on the potential good unmanned aircraft can have seems to have fallen by the wayside.
In the UK over £2bn has been spent on military drones and in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, where covert US drone strikes are taking place, the number of civilian deaths by drone currently stands at 1,123 according to The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. By preferring to focus on the drone as weapon rather than as a humanitarian tool governments have presented this innovative and versatile technology as an object of fear. While glibly presented, the Burrito Bomber presents an alternative reality for drone use. Whether or not governments choose to adopt a similarly positive approach remains to be seen.