Update: As I said, we weren’t going to jump to any conclusions, and that’s a good thing, because Google isn’t doing anything with this. Google got back to us with the following statement.
Google is not testing or using this technology. This was a purchase by a Google executive with an interest in robotics for personal use.
Original Article: Philipp Lenssen at Blogoscoped cites German publication Wirtschaftswoche reporting that a company called Microdrones has delivered "a cam-equipped flying mini drone to Google". Lenssen writes:
Microdrones boss Mr. Juerss is quoted as saying "We have good chances for a long term business relationship with Google" (is he just overly optimistic? Google wasn’t available for comment to the magazine). According to him the drones "are superbly suited to deliver more up-to-date recordings for mapping service Google Earth." Another potential use mentioned by Juerss is inspecting wind farms.
The following clip shows off Microdrones’ offerings. Among the capabilities: live bird’s eye view. We won’t jump to any conclusions though.
Matthew Humphries at Geek.com wonders if Google got the drone to improve imagery over Germany’s streets or for a new monitoring system for some of the company’s large scale projects.
Again, we won’t jump to any conclusions until we hear from Google on the subject. Until then, feel free to let your imagination run wild. What do you think they’ll do with this?