Drones for food and ancient ruins

Drones are most often associated with assassinations in remote regions of Pakistan and Yemen but in Peru, unmanned aircraft are being used to monitor crops and study ancient ruins. Forget Reapers and Predators – the drones used in Peru are hand-held contraptions that look like they were assembled in a garage with gear from a hardware store. They are equipped with a microcomputer, a GPS tracker, a compass, cameras and an altimeter, and can be easily programmed by using Google Maps to fly autonomously and return to base with vital data. Andres Flores, an electrical engineer in charge of the UAV program at Peru’s Catholic University, says they have managed to use drones for agricultural purposes, where they gather information on the health of the plants, and in archeology.

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