Tonight during the Superbowl halftime show, Lady Gaga incorporated hundreds of drones into her performance by having them illustrate an artistic light display behind her. The drones (as seen in the image below) are able to flock together in unison and they are collectively controlled by one individual via one computer.
Specifically, the drones that were used tonight were a project of Intel.
It's estimated that there were at least 300 drones that were flying behind her and they're referred to as 'shooting stars' or the shooting star drone - they are a part of the Shooting Star program. This technology might also be familiar to some folks already, as it has also been previously used at Disney World during a holiday performance (see below).
It's clearly a new trend in performing that we can expect more artists and corporations to turn to, as they continue to look for new and creative ways to entertain and wow the crowd.
Intel says the program can be used to control more than 10,000 drones at one time.
Currently, the drones aren't able to detect any collisions and they also don't have the ability to communicate with one another; they already have the routes they are going to take pre-programmed into them. The Shooting Star program is a desktop software suite of programs and it is able to determine the route that can eliminate any collisions.
It's said that at the Disney performance, there were at least 600 drones in the sky that were working in-sync that night to create the displays. And Intel says that they have been working for at least 2 years on this program. These drones are built at a factory in Germany, they're quick and easy to assemble, and they've each got their own multicolored LED light.
Pics:
Intel
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Geeky Gadgets
Sources:
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/technology-innovation/videos/drone-shooting-star-video.html
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/05/intel-powered-the-drones-during-lady-gagas-super-bowl-halftime-show/?ncid=rss
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/lady-gaga-halftime-show-drones/