A new study gauging the potential harm of Chinese-made consumer drones shows the remotely controlled device does not do severe damage when hitting humans.
Three brands of quadcopter drones from China were the subject of a test conducted by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, better known as Virginia Tech. According to its findings, quadcopters made by Chinese manufacturers, which are predominantly available in international markets, are unlikely to inflict severe head injuries.
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The study focuses on the damages from being hit by drones falling from the sky and does not include drones being run into them. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had similar findings earlier this year.
Less than 5 per cent was recorded as to potential harm of a severe head injury caused by a 1.2-kilogram drone crash. Per results published in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, lead researcher Steven Rowson has noted higher risk of injury may be inflicted by larger drones, referring to unmanned aircraft systems.
"Risk of injury was observed to increase with increasing UAS mass, and the larger models tested are not safe for operations over people in their current form," states Rowson.
Between the two DJI drones used in the test, the four-rotor Phantom 3 has less impact than the eight-rotor S1000+ model since the latter is heftier, weighing 11 kilograms.
The physical harm taken into account in this study did not include those that rotor blades may inflict n on humans.
In the US, FAA restricts flying quadcopter drones 120 meters high from the ground and directly over at people.
