Drones are limited to non-commercial uses, 400ft altitudes, and their fuel/batteries. Small kites and balloons, however, can they legally fly to 4000ft, stay aloft all day, be used for commercial purposes, and cost less than $100. Learn how to all these things with a payload of your choice cheaply, easily, and safely.

In this talk I'll cover safety guidelines, regulatory constraints, and design considerations for assembling kite, balloon, and kite-balloon systems learned through my experience Grassroots Mapping and organizing kite and balloon development at the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science.

http://publiclaboratory.org/tool/balloon-mapping

http://publiclaboratory.org/archive

MathewL

Mathew is an artist and designer who has worked in technology education for eight years, and been developing balloons for four. He lives in Portland, loves DorkbotPDX, and pretty much anything that flies, buzzes, or zaps. A founding member of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS), he became involved in Grassroots Mapping through materials testing and the design of low-cost balloons and kites. In addition to developing flying machines, he supervises the production of kits and other materials.

He is also a founder of Cloacina, Cewas startup. Cloacina is currently developing educational materials on Onsite sanitation with ReCode:Oregon s Ecological Sanitation Campaign. Their emergency sanitation guide, the Sewer Catstrophe Companion, developed in collaboration with PHLUSH and PNCA's Collaborative Design MFA program has been featured at the Center for Disease Control and is recommended by Portland's Bureau of Emergency Management.