We already know about the lethal capabilities of military drones, but a new personal drone experiment is showing us just how terrifyingly effective consumer-grade drones can be.
At this week's SXSW, a group called Chaotic Moon Studios showed off a taser-equipped drone it calls the Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone (CUPID).
The CUPID drone has the ability to hover while shooting barbed taser darts at a target, delivering up to 80,000 volts of paralyzing electricity to any human that might dare try to escape its wrath.
In the company's demonstration video (see above) CUPID is shown incapacitating a volunteer subject, giving viewers a troubling glimpse of the device's ability to deliver pain.
On the company's site there are currently no details about when or if the device will ever be offered commercially, but in the video we can see that the CUPID is a hexacopter equipped with a laser sight used to target the remote-controlled taser darts.
That information alone could be enough to inspire other drone enthusiasts to begin tinkering with similar designs. And from that perspective, the FAA's recent moves to regulate drone use in the U.S. suddenly seem less like innovation-stifling legislation, and more like a much needed move to protect the skies from cool, but nevertheless dangerous new experiments.
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