You know that dystopian vision of deserted streets with drones blaring out messages warning you to stay in your home? DJI’s new Zenmuse V1 speaker accessory for drones has made it a purchasable-at-retail possibility.
Not that you’re likely to buy one of these, unless you’ve got a DJI Matrice 350 RTK and Matrice 300 RTK drone lying around. The speaker is aimed at enterprise customers — the sorts of people who use investor or taxpayer money to fly buzzing aircraft around for various purposes.
No tranquillity from Zenmuse V1
Combine the Zenmuse V1 with DJI’s new vehicle-launching system, and you’ve got a recipe for an authoritarian crackdown notification system. Relax; the Dock 3 works with a completely different set of Matrice drones. It’s also possible that the drone maker’s flying speaker could be used to aid disaster recovery, crowd control, or to encourage fans to cheer louder at sporting events. See? Not everything has to be depressing.
The Zenmuse V1’s airborne speaker can be heard up to 500 metres away. If you’re standing next to it, it’ll reach an output of 127dB — about the same level as your average jackhammer in operation. Thankfully, it’ll be in the air when it does this, so it should be more than a metre away.
Messages are broadcast in several ways. The DJI Pilot 2 allows for recorded messages that will be broadcast in flight. Picture a drone picking on the particularly-floppy naked man at the cricket pitch invasion in real time, and you’ve got a clear idea how it’ll work. The same app also has text-to-speech functions, for those times when you need an eerie robotic cadence to you public broadcasts, and it’ll import and play back pre-recorded to your adoring subjects. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un probably has a few in the courier truck already.
If you’re worried about the clarity of your Zenmuse V1’s recorded missives, the DJI RC Plus controller throws the benefits of directional microphones and environmental noise cancelling at your on-the-spot recordings.
If the levity above has you thinking the flying speaker isn’t that bad, there’s also the Zenmuse S1 flying spotlight, with Laser Excited Phosphor tech (whatever that is), and a light range of 500 metres to consider. Our immediate thought is that these could be used as prison patrol devices, assist with manhunts, and help you find your missing dog at 3AM. We’re sure the neighbours won’t mind the excessive light and volume.
The only thing missing is the price, which DJI hasn’t announced for either the Zenmuse V1 or S1 yet. Since the drones they work with run just shy of R295,000 locally (most places won’t tell you the price upfront), it’s probably not going to be cheap. Like we said, investor or taxpayer money will wind up purchasing these accessories.
