We usually think of drones as hostile military vehicles striking targets in distant conflict zones, but civilian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have also been developing rapidly right over our heads.

Copter technology is now close to mass market; over 300,000 units of an iPhone-controlled quadrocopter have been sold to private users around the world.

The opportunities for future applications of UAV technologies seem to be limited only by our imagination (and by national air space regulation).

At this event we hosted a panel including Noel Sharkey (Professor of Artificial Intelligence at University of Sheffield), Liam Young (designer, futurist and critic at Tomorrow's Thoughts Today) and Steven Hailes(Professor of Wireless Systems at UCL and the SUAAVE project) to discuss what we can do with UAVs in the future.

Check out the infographic on Quadcopters

Infographic about drones