[PhotoSparks] Welcome to the world of drones – at makerspace One Maker Group and Future Friday

PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In this photo essay, we feature the makerspace activities and discussion at Singapore’s One Maker Group and Future Fridays meetup!

In the earlier 85 posts, we brought you a wide range of creative photographs from an art fair, world music festival, painting fair, telecom expo, art museum, mobile showcase, math museum, social hackathon, bookstore, co-working space, sensorium, international design week, flower show, outdoor ads, startup roadshow, computer museum, startup T-shirts, business cards, art therapy, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, Vesak, jazz festival, modern art gallery, ecopreneurs, painter-poets, health activists, eNGOs and digital innovators.

Singapore’s One Maker Group (OMG) hosts activities on a weekly basis at its makerspace in the National Design Centre, called Prototyping Lab. This includes an IoT hackathon (in wellness, geriatrics and construction), 3D printing workshops, and the Maker Mindset Programme (growth mindset training).

Earlier fun activities were a Hacker Halloween Nite for making props and costumes, including an Arduino-activated dancing skeleton! Bootcamps have been held in the National University for hundreds of students, introducing them to scrum methods, electronic prototyping, woodworks and more. OMG’s community manager, Seth Loh, is coordinating activities for Maker Faire Singapore, which will be held on June 25-26.

On a recent visit to Singapore, I attended OMG’s joint event with Future Fridays, called ‘Drones ‘R Us.’ Drones seem to be all the rage in sectors ranging from event photography and geo-surveillance to military and logistics. There has even been a choreographed drone dance in front of Mt. Fuji, with a troupe of Japanese shamisen guitar players (check out this jaw-dropping video)!

The drones meetup was facilitated by Chew Lin Kay, Futures Catalyst at the Sustainable Living Lab, along with Syabiqah Phang, curriculum developer at OMG. Participants included electronics engineers, drone enthusiasts, media researchers, startup founders, financial analysts, R&D heads, and even philosophers and social scientists!

In addition to playing with drones (the first time for many attendees!), the group discussed the rise of drones, ethical and legal issues, emerging trends, new startup opportunities, and design frameworks.

Can drones help resolve traffic jams, and deliver medicines to accident victims? Can drones help people with disabilities, via better navigation? What kinds of hazardous environments are drones best suited to tackle? Can micro-drones and bio-drones get into our blood streams and zap viruses and bacteria?

Will drones make good waiters? Can governments ban drones? When will we see ‘all terrain drones’ that can float, swim underwater, fly in the air, and walk on land? What would drones do in swarms and ‘drone social networks’?

More questions than answers for sure, but definitely a lot of fun and provocative discussion at the three-hour meetup. Welcome to the Brave New Drone World!

Got a creative photograph to share? Email us at [email protected]!

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