<p>These drones are smaller, private versions of the notorious Predator, which is relentlessly spying on terrorists and their hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br />Already Splash News, a paparazzi photo agency, is planning to use the drones to chase celebrities around the Hollywood Hills.<br /><br />"It would strike fear into the hearts of every celebrity having a birthday party," Splash chief executive Gary Morgan told the Wall Street Journal 'Call it C3paparazzo.'<br />The concept is strangely fitting: 'paparazzi' comes from an Italian word meaning the buzzing of a mosquito, reports the Daily Mail.<br /><br />Now the metaphor is coming to life.<br />Several personal drones are scheduled for completion next year. Liverpool police have already used such drones to make at least one arrest.<br /><br />In February, the Air Robot was deployed by Merseyside police after officers lost an alleged car thief who had escaped on foot in thick fog.<br /><br />Using the device's on-board camera and thermal-imaging technology, the operator was able to pick up the suspect through his body heat and direct foot patrols to his location.<br /><br />It led officers to a 16-year-old youth, who was hiding in bushes alongside the Leeds-Liverpool canal, in Litherland, Merseyside.<br /><br />The drone, which measures three feet between the tips of its four carbon fibre rotor blades, uses unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology originally designed for military reconnaissance.<br /><br />It is designed to hover almost silently above crime scenes and send live footage to officers on the ground, but the unit can also 'perch and stare' from a solid platform, allowing the operator to capture hours of footage from a hidden vantage point.<br /><br />The technology is swiftly moving beyond military and even police circles - already unmanned aircraft that can fly predetermined routes cost just a few hundred dollars and can be operated by an iPhone.<br /><br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Missy Cummings is working to develop a 'Personal Sentry' drone about the size of a pizza box that warns soldiers if danger is approaching from behind.<br /></p>
<p>These drones are smaller, private versions of the notorious Predator, which is relentlessly spying on terrorists and their hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br />Already Splash News, a paparazzi photo agency, is planning to use the drones to chase celebrities around the Hollywood Hills.<br /><br />"It would strike fear into the hearts of every celebrity having a birthday party," Splash chief executive Gary Morgan told the Wall Street Journal 'Call it C3paparazzo.'<br />The concept is strangely fitting: 'paparazzi' comes from an Italian word meaning the buzzing of a mosquito, reports the Daily Mail.<br /><br />Now the metaphor is coming to life.<br />Several personal drones are scheduled for completion next year. Liverpool police have already used such drones to make at least one arrest.<br /><br />In February, the Air Robot was deployed by Merseyside police after officers lost an alleged car thief who had escaped on foot in thick fog.<br /><br />Using the device's on-board camera and thermal-imaging technology, the operator was able to pick up the suspect through his body heat and direct foot patrols to his location.<br /><br />It led officers to a 16-year-old youth, who was hiding in bushes alongside the Leeds-Liverpool canal, in Litherland, Merseyside.<br /><br />The drone, which measures three feet between the tips of its four carbon fibre rotor blades, uses unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology originally designed for military reconnaissance.<br /><br />It is designed to hover almost silently above crime scenes and send live footage to officers on the ground, but the unit can also 'perch and stare' from a solid platform, allowing the operator to capture hours of footage from a hidden vantage point.<br /><br />The technology is swiftly moving beyond military and even police circles - already unmanned aircraft that can fly predetermined routes cost just a few hundred dollars and can be operated by an iPhone.<br /><br />Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Missy Cummings is working to develop a 'Personal Sentry' drone about the size of a pizza box that warns soldiers if danger is approaching from behind.<br /></p>