The robotic revolution has been underway for quite some time, and as it begins entering the daily lives of regular people more intimately the generic terms used to describe certain mechanical wonders need to be better described. Drone began as the word for flying military craft made (in)famous from being the first robots to intentionally kill another person, giving them a reputation analogous to ninjas in their ability to inescapably strike without warning. As similar systems for civilians came to market, the name stuck and has been used erroneously ever since.

DJI Phantom 2’s quad-copter being falsely labeled

3D Robotics IRIS+, a true “drone”

If you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about, it’s important to understand the common terms for the industry:

In General: All descriptions have a three letter abbreviation. The last letter is when the term “vehicle” is used when talking about just the platform. The term “System” is used when talking about the platform, ground control, sensors, and software. As none of these systems have a pilot in them, they are also generally known as “unmanned”. The middle letter describes the environment the platform works in. 

With the above in mind, every platform can fall into these categories:

Unmanned Air Vehicle/System = UAV/UAS

Unmanned Ground Vehicle/system = UGV/UGS

Unmanned Water Vehicle/System = UWV/UWS

Unmanned Underwater Vehicle/system = UUV/UUS

For something to be considered a true “drone”, it needs to be able to complete a mission without any input beyond the mission planning. That means any RC toy or tool can become a drone by adding a “brain” to the system. The best option for regular people is the Pixhawk APM system from 3D Robotics. For example:

Ground Rover, also a drone

Can fly for an hour, also a drone

The core of many autonomous systems across all environments

Knowing the difference between these systems and normal RC ones is a skill that will put you ahead of the curve and hopefully skip the price scams that seem inevitable as more true drone systems come to market. Knowing what a drone is versus its RC counterparts is also great for understanding that one Pixhawk can be swapped between multiple platforms when upgrading or changing environments. So the next time you see a Phantom flying around, be sure to look for the pilot(unless they’re using an FPV system to fly from far away, but that’s another post).