The event will be a two-day symposium with speakers who have experience in the unmanned systems business sector.

Sacramento, California June 13, 2013

There won't be any Predators preying on the unsuspecting at the Small Unmanned Systems Business Expo being held in San Francisco on July 25-26, but rather a group of entrepreneurs praying that they can bring enlightenment to the masses by extolling the values of their small unmanned vehicles.

Sponsored by the sUAS News Group, the group is hoping to change the narrative and broaden the perception of "drones".

"They have gotten a bad rap and there is a running misconception that they are going to be used to look in people's windows," says Patrick Egan, President of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems, Int'l. "We see them being used in search and rescue operations, wildlife management, forestry protection, waterway and levy surveys , as well as feeding a hungry world," he said. "The positive uses for this technology are endless."

The world of unmanned vehicles is far broader than many realize, encompassing a range of technologies from land vehicles such as Google's driverless cars, to surface and subsurface water craft used to explore, map and survey our oceans, lakes and rivers.

Worldwide, the unmanned vehicle industry is growing rapidly, and, not unlike the growth of the internet, people are actively creating applications that few people would envision.

One of the finalists in the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge has created an unmanned aerial vehicle to deliver life saving vaccines to remote locations. Domino's UK is experimenting with a system that will allow pizza delivery via multi copter.

The OppiKoppi festival in South Africa is promising beer delivery to the festival goers via multicopter so fans need not leave the pit; all GPS coordinated of course. Meanwhile, US aerial vehicles are getting more print space than airspace as they idle on the runway awaiting FAA regulation.

"California has had many firsts in aviation and we are continuing that tradition as this business event will be the first of its kind, with speakers, exhibitors, and an opportunity to pilot a drone," said Egan. "This will be a great opportunity for people to walk through the door of a new era in unmanned, robotic technology."