Hundreds of Intel drones now perform light shows at Disneyland

Intel has made it clear its future will rely on industries outside the slowing personal computer market. The company has spent a lot of time talking about the Internet of Things and data center business opportunities, but another area of focus has been drones.

Intel announced recently a drone it developed itself called the Shooting Star, which is not designed for the average consumer. The drones are meant to be bought in bulk so they can coordinate with each other to put on light shows. Intel set recently the Guinness World Record for most drones flown simultaneously with 500 Shooting Star drones. The previous record was 100 drones, which was also set by Intel this year.

Shooting Star drones are meant to help simplify the process of putting on complicated light shows. Intel said these drones allow organizations to design a light show in days when the same show might have previously taken weeks to plan. To put its UAVs to the test, Intel reached out to Disney.

The debut show at Disney World used 300 Shooting Star drones and will be part of an ongoing holiday show called "Starbright Holidays." The drones are capable of creating bright, colorful images in the night sky, serving a similar purpose to fireworks shows, which Disney parks currently have every night.

The Shooting Star drones use an LED light embedded on the bottom. They can fly within 1.5 meters of each other at 3 meters per second. They are also capable of flying in winds of 8 meters per second. Unlike fireworks displays, however, drones are limited by battery power. Intel said each Shooting Star drone can fly for 20 to 22 minutes, which should be enough for a light show. Disneyland's website said its fireworks displays only last 5 minutes, anyway.

The drones are controlled by a single person from software capable of controlling 10,000 drones at once. That technical limitation is likely to remain just that for now, as Intel has only tested afraction of that number at once.

Along with VR, drones are thought to be one of the more exciting emerging industries with a bright future in the commercial sector. Intel is showing that VR is not the only industry with a future in theme parks. China makers have done well with drones and LED lights, but the big trick for competitors will be in software that allows for coordination at the same scale Intel has achieved.