第二屆美國(guó)全國(guó)無(wú)人機(jī)錦標(biāo)賽（National Drone Racing Championship）于8月7日在紐約總督島拉開(kāi)了帷幕。最終的勝者名為扎克里·泰勒，他的比賽用名是“A_Nub”。不過(guò)最大的新聞不是誰(shuí)獲得了冠軍，而是這項(xiàng)賽事在ESPN3頻道進(jìn)行了全程直播。

你可能都不知道去年夏天在薩克拉門托舉行的第一屆美國(guó)全國(guó)無(wú)人機(jī)錦標(biāo)賽。當(dāng)時(shí)有120人參賽，幾乎沒(méi)有觀眾。也幾乎沒(méi)有人觀看今年3月在迪拜舉行的世界無(wú)人機(jī)大獎(jiǎng)賽（World Drone Prix）。當(dāng)時(shí)有250支隊(duì)伍參加了比賽，獲勝者是一名來(lái)自英格蘭薩默塞特的15歲男孩，他贏得了25萬(wàn)美元的獎(jiǎng)金。

不過(guò)無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽已經(jīng)有了牢固的群眾基礎(chǔ)——每個(gè)月都有數(shù)十場(chǎng)當(dāng)?shù)睾偷貐^(qū)的無(wú)人機(jī)比賽。全國(guó)無(wú)人機(jī)錦標(biāo)賽的舉辦方是一個(gè)名為無(wú)人機(jī)運(yùn)動(dòng)協(xié)會(huì)（Drone Sports Association, DSA）的組織，他們正在前所未有地努力將這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)推向主流。

盡管無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽的歷史很短，但它的起源仍是個(gè)謎。無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽聯(lián)盟（Drone Racing League）的首席執(zhí)行官尼克·侯巴祖斯基表示：“大約四年前，你就可以在澳大利亞看到這種類型的比賽。”值得注意的是，他們沒(méi)有舉辦這個(gè)周末的全國(guó)無(wú)人機(jī)錦標(biāo)賽，可見(jiàn)無(wú)人機(jī)如今不僅是一項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)，還存在許多互相競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的職業(yè)圈。侯巴祖斯基補(bǔ)充道：“約兩年前，你可以看到有很多社群開(kāi)始在網(wǎng)上形成——論壇的帖子，怎樣打造一架無(wú)人機(jī)，可以在哪里參加比賽?！彼幕纠砟罹褪亲屢蝗簾o(wú)人機(jī)愛(ài)好者一起玩。你可以開(kāi)辟一塊賽場(chǎng)。你可以通過(guò)虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡，從無(wú)人機(jī)前面的攝像頭上得到實(shí)時(shí)圖像反饋，看到飛行時(shí)無(wú)人機(jī)的視角。這被稱作第一人稱視角（FPV），它讓你感覺(jué)自己就坐在無(wú)人機(jī)里，或者你就是無(wú)人機(jī)本身。

隨后，你就可以操縱無(wú)人機(jī)以大約每小時(shí)80英里的速度繞著場(chǎng)地飛行。它的聲音就像憤怒的機(jī)器人蜜蜂，尤其是在低速?gòu)澋郎?，也?huì)出現(xiàn)很多撞機(jī)事件，不過(guò)非常有趣——人們覺(jué)得這就像是在打電子游戲。

無(wú)人機(jī)的操縱也比看起來(lái)更難——它可不像那些售貨架上的遙控飛機(jī)?？刂颇Ｊ揭獜?fù)雜得多，而且是手動(dòng)的。這可不是手機(jī)上裝個(gè)應(yīng)用就能解決的事情，你需要使用一個(gè)碩大的遙控器，同時(shí)操縱兩根搖桿：左搖桿控制油門和偏航，右搖桿控制俯仰和橫滾。第一次操縱無(wú)人機(jī)飛行就讓它停在空中的難度，就仿佛將F1賽車開(kāi)出維修站而不讓它熄火一樣。侯巴祖斯基表示：“這涉及許多計(jì)算，你需要在三維方向上進(jìn)行迅速操作。你看那些優(yōu)秀的無(wú)人機(jī)操縱者，會(huì)感覺(jué)他們仿佛在使用原力。”

人們普遍認(rèn)為，對(duì)無(wú)人機(jī)操縱者而言，這就是一場(chǎng)心理游戲：你必須要有碳素纖維般的神經(jīng)，讓你的手指在競(jìng)速環(huán)境下保持穩(wěn)定。來(lái)自愛(ài)達(dá)荷州博伊西的康拉德·米勒是四個(gè)孩子的父親，這次以Furadi的名字參賽。他表示：“在其他競(jìng)賽中，你通常需要的是粗大運(yùn)動(dòng)功能。例如我參加摩托車賽，我感到很緊張，但我可以讓全身來(lái)控制摩托車。但在操縱無(wú)人機(jī)時(shí)，我只能用自己的拇指。當(dāng)腎上腺素在你體內(nèi)大量分泌時(shí)，你很難控制住你的手指?！?Furadi在這次周末的比賽中進(jìn)入了決賽，最終獲得了第四名。

無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽難以完成，也難以觀看：無(wú)人機(jī)太小了，外型也很像，跟蹤他們的移動(dòng)甚至搞清楚是誰(shuí)贏了，都不太容易。在專業(yè)的比賽中，無(wú)人機(jī)通常會(huì)裝上鮮艷的發(fā)光二極管，讓你區(qū)分它們。但對(duì)于努力想將無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽推廣成為大規(guī)模商業(yè)聯(lián)賽的推銷商、直播商和其他人而言，這是一個(gè)很大的挑戰(zhàn)。它的門檻很高：新興職業(yè)聯(lián)賽有著很高的夭折率——每一個(gè)電子競(jìng)技聯(lián)盟（Electronic Sports League，蓬勃發(fā)展）和世界沖浪聯(lián)盟（World Surf League，蒸蒸日上）的背后，都有一個(gè)全國(guó)漆彈聯(lián)盟（National Xball League）。

到目前為止，無(wú)人機(jī)競(jìng)賽可能比虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)和增強(qiáng)現(xiàn)實(shí)等直播和現(xiàn)實(shí)技術(shù)超前了一兩年。這些技術(shù)會(huì)讓它成為不容錯(cuò)過(guò)的娛樂(lè)賽事。無(wú)人機(jī)運(yùn)動(dòng)協(xié)會(huì)的主席和首席宣傳官斯科特·萊弗思蘭德表示：“我們將要來(lái)到一個(gè)多流媒體、多屏幕、多轉(zhuǎn)播的時(shí)代。”他認(rèn)為，未來(lái)在這種混合現(xiàn)實(shí)的賽事上，觀眾可以虛擬遠(yuǎn)程地觀看賽事?！叭绻阌萌庋劭促悎?chǎng)，基本上只能看到四架無(wú)人機(jī)。但如果你戴上了全息透鏡，可能就會(huì)看到12架飛機(jī)。你還可以看到所有得分、各種排名，哪架飛機(jī)是誰(shuí)的，它們?cè)谀睦铮l(shuí)暫時(shí)領(lǐng)先。”考慮到參賽的無(wú)人機(jī)本質(zhì)上就是飛行計(jì)算機(jī)，這很利于高科技創(chuàng)新。萊弗思蘭德稱：“這是一項(xiàng)21世紀(jì)的運(yùn)動(dòng)。它就是為此誕生的。這就像《威龍猛將》（Running Man）——阿諾·施瓦辛格死而復(fù)生！這就是“饑餓游戲”（The Hunger Games）！”（這里需要說(shuō)明：阿諾·施瓦辛格目前尚在人世，“饑餓游戲”本身是反烏托邦的暴行。不過(guò)你可以領(lǐng)會(huì)到他的意思。）

不管怎么說(shuō)，目前的商業(yè)趨勢(shì)對(duì)他們十分有利。今年的全國(guó)無(wú)人機(jī)錦標(biāo)賽吸引了包括AIG和GoPro在內(nèi)的頂級(jí)贊助商。NPD Group的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，截至今年4月的過(guò)去半年中，無(wú)人機(jī)的銷量是一年前同期的四倍。聯(lián)邦航空局（FAA）估計(jì)，光2015年的節(jié)日季，美國(guó)人就購(gòu)買了100萬(wàn)架無(wú)人機(jī)，而2016年節(jié)日季的銷量預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到190萬(wàn)架。無(wú)人機(jī)運(yùn)動(dòng)協(xié)會(huì)計(jì)劃于今年10月在《侏羅紀(jì)公園》（Jurassic Park）的拍攝地：夏威夷古蘭尼牧場(chǎng)（Kualoa Ranch）舉行世界無(wú)人機(jī)冠軍賽（World Drone Racing Championship）。我們可以預(yù)計(jì)，屆時(shí)主辦方一定會(huì)不吝成本的。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

The second National Drone Racing Championship was contested on August 7 on Governors Island in New York City. The winner was one Zachry Thayer, who races under the name “A_Nub.” But the biggest news wasn’t who won. It was that the whole event was streamed live on ESPN3.

You may not have realized there was a first National Drone Racing Championship—that happened last summer in Sacramento, and while around 120 people competed then, almost nobody saw it. Almost nobody saw the World Drone Prix in Dubai this past March either, although 250 teams entered and the winner, a 15-year-old boy from Somerset, England, took home $250,000.

But drone racing already has deep grass roots—there are dozens of local and regional drone races every month. The Drone Nationals which are run by an outfit called the Drone Sports Association, or DSA, are the biggest swing anybody has taken yet to bring the sport to the mainstream.

As young as it is, the origins of drone racing are still shrouded in mystery. “About four years ago you started to see stuff out of Australia about it,” says Nick Horbaczewski, CEO of the Drone Racing League, which notably did not run the Drone Nationals this weekend—not only is drone racing now a sport, there are several competing professional circuits. “About two years ago you start to see communities forming online—forum posts, how do I build a drone, where can I race it,” Horbaczewski adds. The basic idea is, you get a bunch of drone flyers together. You lay out a course. You route the video feed from your drone’s forward-facing camera through a pair of VR goggles, which gives you a drone’s-eye-view of the action. This is called first-person view, or FPV, and it makes you feel like you’re inside the drone, or possibly like you are the drone.

Then you fly the drones around the course at around 80 miles per hour. They make a noise like angry robot bees, especially on tight corners, and there’s a lot of crashing, but it’s hugely fun—people describe it as like being in a video game.

It’s also harder than it looks—racing drones don’t work like those easy off-the-shelf ones. The control schemes are much more complex and hands-on. Instead of an app on your phone you use a fat remote control with two joysticks which you manipulate simultaneously: the left stick controls throttle and yaw, the right stick handles pitch and roll. The first time you fly a racing drone you’ve got about as much chance of keeping it in the air as you do of driving a Formula 1 car out of the pits without stalling. “There’s a lot of calculations, and you’re doing it in three dimensions at very high speed,” Horbaczewski says. “When you watch the really good pilots, it’s like they’re using the Force.”

For the racers it is, by all accounts, as much a mind game as anything else: Uou have to have nerves of carbon fiber to keep your fingers steady under racing conditions. “In other things where there’s competition involved it’s usually gross motor functions,” says Conrad Miller, a father of four from Boise, Idaho, who flies under the name Furadi. “If I’m racing a motorcycle, I’m nervous, but I’ve got my whole body to control this thing. When I’m flying a drone I’ve only got my thumbs. When you have all that adrenaline coursing through you, it’s hard to control your fingers.” Furadi made the finals this weekend and finished fourth overall.

If drone racing is hard to do, it can also be hard to watch: the drones are small, and they tend to look a lot alike, so it’s not easy follow the action or even tell who’s winning. In a professional race the drones are usually equipped with bright colored LEDs so you can tell them apart, but it’s a major challenge for promoters and broadcasters and everybody else who’s trying to turn drone racing into a major-league business. The bar is high: there’s a high rate of infant mortality among newfangled sports leagues—for every Electronic Sports League (booming) and World Surf League (thriving) there’s a National Xball League (paintball).

So far drone racing may be running a year or two ahead of the broadcast and display technology, like VR and augmented reality, it will need to make it must-see entertainment. “We’re going to be entering into the world of multi-stream, multi-screen, multi-broadcast,” says Scott Refsland, the DSA’s chairman and chief evangelist. He imagines a future scenario of blended-reality events where audience members can race along with the pros virtually and remotely. “If you looked at a field with the naked eye, you would just basically see four drones. Whereas if you put on something like Hololens, now there’s 12 drones racing, and you get all the markers, all the various leaderboards, who’s what, who’s where, who’s in first.” Given that the racers are already essentially flying computers, it should lend itself well to high-tech innovation. “It’s a 21st?century sport,” Refsland says. “It’s made for that. It’s?Running Man–it’s like Arnold Schwarzenegger come to life! It’sThe Hunger Games!”?(It could be argued that Arnold Schwarzenegger is in fact already alive, and the Hunger Games were actually a dystopian atrocity, but you see what he means.)

The business trends are in their favor, anyway. This year the Drone Nationals attracted some blue-chip sponsors, including?AIG?and GoPro. According to the NPD Group, drone sales over the six months ending in April of this year were four times what they were in the same period a year ago. The FAA estimates that Americans bought a million drones in the 2015 holiday season alone, with 2016 sales projected at 1.9 million. The DSA is setting up a World Drone Racing Championship in October, to be held at Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii, where?Jurassic Park?was filmed. We can assume that no expense will be spared.