Ask the average person what they think about drones and you're likely to hear about military strikes, amateur hobbyists or starry-eyed futurists.
That can be frustrating for those who see the practical potential of drones to go mainstream and drastically improve the way the world works.
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Yet it's worth bearing in mind that drones are in good company.
Visionary entrepreneurs, enthusiastic amateurs and the military were the only parties associated with aeroplanes for their first decades as well.
![Airservices Australia is considering easing permission requests for drone flights near major airports.](/web/20161028200404im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/m/0/n/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gpd4j2.png/1465341862077.jpg)
It was only in the 1950s, when the Boeing 707 marked the start of the commercial jet age, that the game-changing popular potential of planes became clear.
Drones are now reaching a similar tipping point. Smaller and more powerful computers mean drones can combine real time depth-sensing capability with GPS, altitude and other onboard sensors. This means they can safely avoid objects and no-fly areas, and be relied on to comply with regulatory limits.
The next-generation 5G spectrum will open up the bandwidth for drones to exchange real-time information with millions of sensors in buildings and other devices, meaning they can accurately navigate the environment and report back valuable data to improve services.
The implications are endless. Amazon and Google are working on package delivery drones that could decongest our roads and boost the productivity of our economies.
Less well known are the humanitarian possibilities drones offer.
Last year Foreign Minister Julie Bishop launched the Pacific Humanitarian Challenge, to attract start-up projects that could assist with natural disasters in our region.
One of the winners, Firetail, is an Australian-designed drone that uses a low-cost foam wing and can fold easily into a backpack. It aims to address a key problem faced by first response units to disaster zones: an inability to get an accurate big picture of those in greatest need.
Closer to home there are incredibly exciting possibilities for drones to solve distinctly Australian problems.
NSW has led the way this year, with the Baird government commissioning an Australian-designed drone called the "Little Ripper" to patrol the state's coast for great white sharks.
Clever new local outfits like Ninox Robotics have developed drones that can search large areas for new bushfires, or map existing fire fronts in real time.
The typically confounding and laborious work of feral animal control can be assisted by drones that spot the pests being targeted and create highly accurate animal distribution maps to guide more focused baiting efforts.
Drones can also prevent deaths on Australian worksites. More than 30 Australians die each year by falling from heights while at work, but by using drone technology to carry out jobs like mobile tower inspections, tragedies can be prevented.
Yet if technology has unlocked the door of drone innovation, there remains an obstruction that stops it from fully opening: our existing laws simply do not factor in drones as a mainstream reality.
To pick one particularly acute example, Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations currently stipulate that unmanned aircraft operators must have a direct line of sight to their device.
But these laws were written many decades ago, at a time when no one could have envisioned the sophistication of self-navigating drone technology coupled with the information capacities of a 5G network.
Clearly it is desirable for this regulatory environment to change. The key, however, will not be to simply remove regulation, but to update it for the modern age.
Concerns about safety and privacy are entirely legitimate, and any legislative response should aim to address them thoroughly.
This is in the interests of drone innovators as much as anyone. Nothing would set back the nascent sector more than an accidental injury or a privacy breach.
The challenge for lawmakers will be to strike the right balance: a regulatory framework tight enough to satisfy rigorous safety and privacy standards, but flexible enough to allow for innovation, while encouraging R&D; investment in Australia.
Because there's no doubt a global race for drone innovation is now on. Intel, for example, is investing in an international spread of impressive new drone companies and talking to legislators around the world about the possibilities new technology has opened up.
In Australia we should feel buoyed by the fact we have excellent pedigree in blue sky innovation.
One of the very first international commercial aviation operations in the world, and the first company outside the US to enter that critical 707 jet age, was an ambitious Australian start-up called Qantas.
The airline went on to become the first to take passengers across the Pacific by jet and a pioneer of world standard-setting safety inventions like the inflatable exit slide.
There's no doubt this nation has the ambition and the know-how to once again lead the world into a new era of flight.
The challenge will be creating a regulatory system under which those ideas can flourish and find form.
Kate Burleigh is managing director of Intel Australia/New Zealand, which is presenting the 'Drones For Good' forum as part of the Vivid Festival on June 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
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