The ubiquity of drones in the modern world has recently birthed a new sport: drone racing. Motherboard’s Erik Franco went to meet drone racing ‘it’ girl Zoe Stumbaugh as she prepares for a major race and competes with the fastest model she’s ever built.
WATCH NEXT: The Drone Engineer Helping Farmers Work Smarter –
Subscribe to MOTHERBOARD:
Follow MOTHERBOARD
Facebook:
Twitter:
Tumblr:
Instagram:
More videos from the VICE network:
Related Posts
Arduino Indexer Part 2 ( See Metal Casting at Home Part 64 for Part 1)
This is part 2 of my Arduino indexer build. Part one was shown as …
Dji Mavic Mini Drone – 400 foot Max Altitude Test Flight – Nail in tire
Testing the Dji Mavic Mini at the 400ft Max Altitude. Note that you can …
A DJI spark clone ,YH 19 HW 0.3mp fpv drone Full review 2018
Hi guys , this is the YH 19 HW drone. A toy grade DJI …
Fort Worth Quad Racers Fall Series Race 2 Hot Laps
Come join me for some hot laps @ FWQR’s fall series race #2. Check …
JXD 515W 2.4GHz, 4Ch, 6 Axis, Wi-Fi FPV, RC Quadcopter with Altitude hold, Headless, 0.3MP Cam (RTF)
JXD 515W Review: https://goo.gl/vsMFKc Coupon code: JXD515W (Valid until July 31) JXD 515W 2.4GHz, …
“Put on the goggles, and you get to fly. Have an out of body experience and become one with the machine.”
WATCH NEXT: The Future of UAVs Over the US –
What is this THING? The ogre from Harry Potter movies?
Zoe rocks!
Well done for battling the patriarchal society of toxic drone racers. Why didn’t they just focus on the race and even better the build. Far more interesting about how some men are oppressing her???
why does motherboard feel the need to report on a female drone racer but not on a male drone racer ? do i smell the bittersweet smell of bigotry and sexism in here?
Um, that’s not a girl. Unless it makes you feel cool and hip to say so.
holy cow, some mad pilot skills.
You aren’t a female. Enough with this shit.
I can’t stand the way this world is going. Oh I might hurt its little feelings by calling it a Man. So the entire world must now call them what they want, no questions asked. In fact, if you do ask questions you are labeled “Insensitive”.
So instead of reality, our whole society will act like a proven mental disorder is normal because you know, fuck Science. What has it ever done for us?
Ridiculous. Completely fucking ridiculous.
“shes” a he wright?
Is she actually an engineer? Or is it one of those self proclaimed things…?
Zoe is my hero
Fat man’s wife you are the best of the World ?? shall I laugh or cry
Fat man’s wife you are the best of the World ?? shall I laugh or cry
im playing league of legends and i consider it practice for anything reactive lmao
Push back? We love zoe we could only hope there were more women like her in the community
“push back she experienced.” Laughable. Read professor Kazcynski’s manifesto if you want a better understanding of these people’s minds. I`ll have to paraphrase an excerpt: “Helping women is not their real goal. Instead, gender serves as an excuse for them to express their own hostility and frustrated need for power. In doing so they actually harm women, because the activists’ hostile attitude toward the white male tends to intensify discrimination.”
Hhhhhh🤦♂️
Hhhhhh🤦♂️
Hhhhhh🤦♂️
For those about to rock we salute you! Good luck lady!!! I can only write a series of science fiction books on what this will evolve into…
What “push back” are you talking about? I didn’t see any evidence in the story. Bit of dishonest reporting there think!
dagobb she’s cool with bullies
And full of bullies
She is cool as hell! People like her usually only exist in movies.
Zoe is such an amazing pilot and person👍 definitely glad we have her in the community
When sexism is focused on in anything, it does my fuckin head in. Just get on with it. Businesses focus on an audience based on the majority of whom already partakes in the hobby/sport/genre/whatever. Just get on with it.
Thats a man. That man doesnt get to lump himself in with woman and say us women beating men in drone racing. If i was a woman that would piss me off.
I’ve never ever flown a drone, but I’ve flown som’pin high with a remote controller back when I was a subteen kid. The plane went up to a thousand feet! Still a lower altitude than a conventional occupancy aircraft.
We wouldn’t have persisted to use the toy if the replica of the aircraft were to be sent to Mars.
Why was that drone racing event held at a fine arts venue? The competition should’ve been held at a nearby arena like where the Golden State Warriors play as a home team or where the San Jose Sharks play as such a team. Where the competition happened is exclusively for ballet programs, opera concerts, plays, musicals and whatnot. Not for drone racing! Fly electronically somewhere else!
Well done,its nice to see women getting into male dominated sports, what was once considered taboo for women is now open for all.Having 3 daughters ,I always taught them,its okay to like what dad likes,boys like.
Naomi Wu creates and flys her own drones as well as other things
Anything else to complain about? Just because half the people aren’t women doesn’t mean that needs to change. Women wanna fly a drone? Ok great they can fly just as good as a male could. And if they don’t that’s there choice. I was really enjoying this video untill you had to push you’re fucking leftists views into everything. Wow she’s a women in a sport that mostly men play in big fucking deal give her a medal. It doesn’t matter that she’s a women she is the same as the rest of us and there is no prejudice against her in the drone community. I’m white in a 97% non-white school but I don’t complain. It doesn’t effect my school experience much if at all. Do dudes complain that women make up most of softball players? No. Do most women complain about the lack of women in drones? No because they could do it there fucking selves if they wanted to.
1 000 men do something, no one cares.
1 woman does something 1 000 men have done and it’s a revolution!
There are NO shops, NO online retailers , NO digital markets that have a gender clause in their purchasing systems , PAYPAL does not gender check your purchases , there are NO reasons why a person of any gender who wants to fly , cant . Making excuses is simply that , making excuses ! go buy a Quad and start flying , you would think that men were born with these skill sets other than having to sit down , learn and practice like every other human being on the planet has do to in order to become proficient in their interest.
I’m married and i have 2 daughters who are proof that the only obstacle you face is in your tiny little mind. Think BIG.
As soon as they said “unfortunately a male dominated sport” I’m out
See I saw something similar to this not long ago about how people of color are being marginalized out of hiking and camping. MaiOnHigh is a femal FPV pilot, what about Onigiri ? I watched a vid where Le Drib’s girlfriend flew in a tiny whoop race.How’s about you advertise to woman. Watch the response you get, the problem isn’t the men turning it into a boys club, it’s the lack of interest from woman.
I talked to a few friends a party recently and a showed a few of them my goggles and flew around. Equal parts men and woman present, one guy bought fatshaks and a whoop later that month and another bought aomways and taranis to fly a simulator. Girls couldn’t care less about Augmented reality drone buzzing around the room.
lol, just because it’s a male dominated sport doesn’t mean that it’s an exclusive, sexist demographic. It’s a male dominated sport because well, more men fly drones… Why? Who knows, maybe it’s more of a male thing… It’s pretty amazing that people don’t realize that males and females are actually different. Doesn’t mean you can’t do it, but you need to be ok with being the minority. Has nothing to do with the men. It has all to do with the women that aren’t flying drones… Nothing is stopping them… (Other than probably biology and the norms of a female’s interests).
All in all, who cares…
As a pilot I can say Zoe’s flying skills kind of make everyone else look like toddlers trying to walk. When you see her rip in 3D mode everyone, including the experts, just watch in amazement. On top of that she is one hell of an engineer. She’s a frikin gift to the community.
For all the douche bags concentrating on her being a girl. I am in the community, and a pilot and if you knew a single fucking thing you would know that Zoe has earned her spot. No one can fly in 3D mode like Zoe and I mean no one. If you even know what that means. She helped with the engineering of the esc’s in the giant X-Class drone races and basically invented them if you know what any of that means. I have never once seen her use her gender to benefit her. This video is the first time I have ever seen that mentioned. She shows up, smiles, is friendly, and flys. She helps promote this sport. She engineers new products for this sport. She flys with Rotor Riot a lot. She is seems an ultra kind individual and a fucking great mentor if you ask me. Yeah, she’s not leading the DRL but that is just one of many many branches of this sport. So please, don’t fucking begin to think she only would be interviewed because she is a woman. Yeah, its a male dominated sport. No one said that kept her down. Its just a fact. Why is it always okay to ask a male cheerleader ,”Isn’t it weird being the only guy?” but the second you ask a female in a male dominated arena everyone screams “Femanazi!” . Its stupid illogical political trash. Zoe has put in her time and effort just like everyone else at the top of this industry.
she?
would love to hang out with her n just talk and fly
What about drone racing is stopping girls from participating? They did not mention one specific thing that is stopping them other than that the majority of people interested in it is guys. Is that the reason? These chicks would do it but they just don’t want to hang around a bunch of dudes? Sounds kind of sexist to me. So who exactly has the problem?
Riiight…All of us RC nerds don’t want more girls out racing drones with us. What a joke.
unsubbed after this.
When you just want to see some drone racing but vice has to put an sjw spin on it… Not many girl gamers, not gonna be many female drone racers either. Most wouldnt take interest. Especially when you consider you have to build your own to be competitive and I know very few women that would want to. Most cant even be bothered to know the first thing about the car they drive every day.
Now this is pod racing
What 3d printer does she use?
This should’ve been focused on Colby