Taming Drones: UF Professor Researching Better Monitoring Practices | Opinion

Drones seem to be everywhere these days — flying over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, making Amazon deliveries, tracking pythons in the Florida Everglades and delivering donor blood to rural Rwanda. Increasingly, drones are being used in warfare as well, such as the consumer drones that Ukrainians have modified to destroy Russian armor.

From toys to weapons of war, drones serve an incredible range of functions. However, drones have also collided with firefighting planes during the Los Angeles wildfires, and they have raised alarms when used in restricted airspace around airports and military bases.

If misused, drones — especially those employing Artificial Intelligence to make their own decisions — can pose a dangerous threat to national security and the public.

That’s why researchers at the University of Florida are conducting work at an autonomous drone center for the Air Force and a testing ground called the Autonomy Park for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Read more about Taming Drones: UF Professor Researching Better Monitoring Practices | Opinion.