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The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Technically demanding and impressively staged.
Drones conjure up a globe in the night sky.
This was followed by huge fireworks, as is customary at large celebrations.
But the drones were remembered.
The British company Celestial - which means something like heavenly - wants to completely replace complex pyrotechnics with drones in the future.
There is also an ecological idea behind this.
John Hopkins co-founder of Celestial
“Our goal is to make fireworks obsolete. We love fireworks. But there things are blown up, they are only intended for one-time use, catch fire and scare animals. So we try to create something that is creative, interesting and environmentally friendly because we use renewable energy sources and do not scare the animals. "
Celestial employees let up to 300 drones fly in formation.
Technology is developing so quickly that elaborate flying images can soon make you forget classic fireworks.
John Hopkins co-founder of Celestial
“I'm a filmmaker and have worked with screens for a long time. When I first looked at drone displays, I realized that the night sky is a huge three-dimensional canvas of epic proportions and the creative possibilities are completely limitless. So here we have a digital system with which we can bring the stars to life and create a whole new artistic medium. It's incredibly exciting. "
During a filmed exercise, the swarm of drones transformed into shapes like a running toy robot, a dancer, and a butterfly flapping its wings.
There seem to be no limits to realistic images.
But the whole thing is complex.
To make the drones fly like this, you need a lot of technology and personnel.
Batteries must be used.
Every single aircraft has to be calibrated and moved by hand - at least for now.
Tony Martin, Co-Founder and CEO Celestial
»We have an innovation pipeline whose core is artificial intelligence. And in this innovation pipeline we have a number of scenarios where we work on live control, we work on parametric controls, we work on pre-visualizations. All of this is based on Artificial Intelligence, and what viewers will see in the sky at the end of the day, even if it may not be obvious to them, is to a large extent linked to Artificial Intelligence. "
There is demand for and interest in the drones.
The city of Sydney is considering replacing its famous New Year fireworks with drones to reduce the risk of bush fires.
However, Celestial is silent about the costs of such a spectacle - at least in public.
