Freeing up hands and minds for more important things.
Personal convenience drones (PCD) are designed to be available at a moment's notice—whether it's dropping something off and getting back out of sight or staying for a while—and take the burden off the user's hands and mind. No more need to carry items or worry about directions or path through the mud.
Mobile and desktop apps are available to control the drone and check its diagnostics.
The PCD is able to connect to the user's navigation app of choice and guide them safely and efficiently to their destination. An eye-safe laser emitted from the drone and pointed at the ground allows the user to easily follow a path. Voice directions with customizable gender and accent provide heads-up information throughout the trip ("take a left in 200 feet", "the destination the next door on the right"). Users may command the drone to navigate as desired ("Gerald, take me to the nearest taco joint with at least 4.2 stars on Yelp")
When walking on uneven or precarious ground, the PCD detects the best path to avoid water or awkward and/or dangerous body positions. LIDAR allows the detection of elevation increases/or decreases or incoming obstacles to maintain a constant distance to the user.
When walking through undesired weather (whether that be rain or shine), the PCD chooses the path to minimize the undesired affect: for rain, it will choose the path least likely to have puddles and most likely to have cover; for sun, it will choose the path most likely to have shade.
An umbrella will unfold from above the PCD to protect the user from rain, hail, and general debris. The PCD is able to detect wind direction and speed to accommodate and adjust for angle of the rain/hail/debris.
The diameter is customizable. For users who plan to use PCDs in wider spaces (parks, neighborhood walks), a wider umbrella may be more fitting. For those using PCDs in narrow spaces (sidewalks, nature trails), narrower umbrellas are better.
Umbrellas may be opaque (to protect against the sun) or transparent.
Speakers can play music from any app at a range of volumes. Users may command the drone to play audio as desired ("Gerald, play Modern Life is War's album Fever Hunting")
Two (2) hooks, a lockable compartment, and water bottle cage allow the user to safely store items without having to hold or keep track of them. Umbrellas, clothes, and bags can hang on the hooks. Small items (jewelry, wallets. lighters, food) can be placed into the compartment for safekeeping and accessed via the phone app, digital or analog keypad, or key. Beverages can be placed into the cage for easy access.
Pivotable main and wide-angle cameras allow pictures and videos to be taken using voice commands ("Gerald, take a picture") or through the user's phone app. Adjustments can be made through the app or by physically moving the camera (angle and focus quality not guaranteed!).
Speakers, a microphone, and the ability to connect to the user's phone allow for phone calls and text messages to be sent ("Gerald, call Mom"; "Gerald, text Mom 'I will be there in five minutes'") and received ("Mom is calling you"; "Mom texted you 'See you soon!'")
Solar cells convert light into electricity to supplement the rechargeable battery. The battery is easily replaceable for long-distance journeys where charging isn't available.
The PCD maintains a small footprint while operational and is able to fold when non-operational for ease of transport.
The PCD will "go away" when commanded to hide ("Gerald, hide"). Going away consists of either flying high enough above the user such that no one notices or literally going away until it is called back by the app.
Noise is an important factor when considering the drone design and requires tradeoffs in multiple areas. Ultimately, noise is what makes this entire project infeasible: drones are just too loud. If one person had a PCD flying low, others would be annoyed at how loud it was, if not the person (and anyone they're with) themself! Even if the PCD hover value was quite high, every time it comes down the noise would be obnoxious. And if everyone had a PCD, the world would be chaos.
As an aside, the propeller blades generate the most noise, as Brush details in his Drone Noise – A New Challenge in Acoustics
the dominant (unweighted) sound levels are produced at the propeller blade pass frequencies, which are in the 100 to 300 Hz range for most small drones. Secondary sound sources can originate from the electric motors and vibration of the airframe. Strong harmonics of the blade pass frequencies have been measured all the way up to several kHz, and can often be the dominant tones on an A-weighted basis. The individual manipulation of each rotor occasionally sets up a beating condition when the blade pass frequencies are only slightly different from one another. The rapidly changing and asynchronous rotor speeds needed when maneuvering or even hovering in windy conditions can exhibit significant sound amplitude fluctuations.
Assuming noise is no longer an issue, the next obstacle is physical space, which becomes more difficult as PCDs become more prevalent.
A few mitigation options:
People would likely not get worse at self-navigation. Phones are already mindlessly used to get from point A to point B without thinking about street names, directions, public transit routes, etc.
Ability to pay attention to one's surrounding may get worse as the person mindlessly follows the drone's laser to their destination.
While unlikely, users may be inclined to purchase more things (e.g., food) when out shopping because they don't have to carry as much thanks to the drone's hooks. This leads to less physical exertion while walking and more eating.
Would drones indicate high status for users? It all comes down to price: if expensive, then likely yes.
As Gwern has said:
I've never asked a cent, because ideas are cheap, and timing/implementation everything
If someone ends up reading this and attempts to commercialize PCDs, please contact me because I would strongly consider investing.