There's one cupid that doesn't produce hearts when it hits you but rather violently sends you down to the ground while a high voltage current renders your muscles temporarily useless. This cupid is not a mythical character or a matchmaker in a romantic movie. We are talking drone.
Chaotic Moon Studios created CUPID or Chaotic Unmanned Personal Intercept Drone that can send 80,000 volts through an individual's body. Seen as a potential bodyguard in the future or a powerful toy for law enforcements, the CUPID is actually a Tarot Hexacopter pimped with a Phazzer Dragon, or what we more commonly known as a stun gun.
Instead of shooting an arrow that can make hearts fall for each other, the "stun copter" has projectiles that will deliver a non-lethal but incapacitating dose of electricity that will short circuit the whole body of an intruder or a hoodlum being apprehended by cops.
The capabilities of the CUPID were recently demonstrated at the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) festival in Texas. The brave soul at the receiving end of the taser darts was a 26-year-old male intern of the manufacturer. He was not randomly chosen but picked as the most physically fit after medical screening among five individuals who volunteered.
During the demo, the intern came face to face with the drone and postured as if he was about to escape, triggering the drone to stun him. The man instantly fell to the ground and the taser was turned off. A medical staff on standby attended to the willing victim.
"The drone can be deployed when an alarm is triggered. It can find a subject and send live video to the owner's phone and ask if you want to authorize the subject or detain them. If you detain them, it drops into fully autonomous mode to detain them until police arrive. If need be stunning them with 80,000 volts of electricity to render them incapacitated," Chaotic Moon stated.
Controlling the stun copter requires two persons. A pilot controls the drone and the other person fires the taser if they deem it necessary. The manufacturer was also advised by its lawyers to have an override when it comes to setting the amount of electricity the machine will give out.
The manufacturer wants to spark conversations about emerging technologies and their possible uses and SXSW Interactive was a perfect venue.
"You could make something comparable for few thousand dollars. It would be manual and not autonomous. This isn't something of a military-industrial complex budget. These are hobbyist-level budgets," said chief innovation officer William Hurley of Chaotic Moon.
As for how the 80,000 volts felt, the intern related his experience to a calf muscle that is cramping, only that it happens to all muscles of the body.
There are conflicting reports regarding whether or not the company will produce the drone for commercial use.
"The Austin-based design studio created the flying machine as a tech demo, but CUPID could be quickly brought to production whenever a personal security or law enforcement client sees fit. This prototype unit is based on a Tarot Hexacopter, originally designed to carry a digital SLR for video and aerial photo shoots. With a Phazzer Dragon on board, however, a few modifications made this an entirely different beast," TIME reported.
However, a YouTube video produced by Chaotic Moon says otherwise.
"Chaotic Moon built CUPID to raise awareness of technology that's outpacing everything from regulatory agencies to social norms. We have no plans to develop drone type or commercialize this in any way," the video description read.
Chaotic Moon is also behind the concept table-cum-computer-screen in Pizza Hut branches that makes life a lot easier for pizza lovers.
