BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) — Drones have become a big part of many industries the last few years and can be used for a variety of applications. At SDSU Thursday, students gathered to learn more about the devices and even had a chance to fly a few.
The atmosphere was buzzing inside the Student union’s ballroom as drones filled the air for “SDSU Drone Day.”
“We bring in a bunch of different people from other places that are willing to talk about ways they might use their drones, because some people might not realize, ‘oh, the police department flies drones,’ and sometimes that raises concerns for them, so they want to ask questions as well about that, so it’s important to spread awareness about what these drones are being used for,” SDSU Drone Club president Donovan Wilson said.
This is the first ever Drone Day at SDSU, and drones have really taken off across a number of departments on campus such as geography and precision agriculture. Other organizations also gave presentations including the South Dakota Department of Transportation and local law enforcement.
“There are over 500 documented commercial applications for drones, so everything from agriculture to zoology to meteorology, I mean, there almost isn’t a major that can’t use drones in some way,” SDSU adjunct faculty member Ric Stephens said.
Students even got some hands-on flying with mini drones in an obstacle course.
“For people that have never flown drones, they’re using the small ones to train people on the remote controls. They’re going to have drone racing later today, so they’ll have people racing down a course. Just a good way to introduce people to drone aviation,” Stephens said.
And whether you are familiar with drones or not, they invite any students to check out the Drone Club.
“If you are a student at SDSU, and you want to fly some drones or learn more about, you’re always welcome to come. We even have things like putting together drones, so you can learn how to engineer drones as well,” Wilson said.
They plan to make SDSU Drone Day an annual event.
