Hello everyone! I’ve just joined the forum to do some research on the industry.
Recently, my son got into robotics during the holidays, and my partner and I noticed that our house is too small for all the robots. We also noticed there aren’t any recreational spaces nearby where he can play, practice flying, programming, driving, battling, and so on.
So, I’m exploring the idea of opening an indoor facility where people can bring their robots (drones or ground ones) and practice flying (missions, racing, general) or navigate them (battle, inventory, gardening, etc.).
The idea is to have a place people can use year-round, regardless of the weather.
I have a few questions:
Where are most of you from in the US?
Do most of you prefer working with air, ground, or water robots?
What would you want to see in such a facility?
How much would you be willing to pay for an hour of pilot time?
There are a lot of places in the US that do FPV racing setups in buildings after hours, at least if you know where to look. I’d suggest reaching out to one of those groups that coordinate these events. You can ask them what they would like to see or what kind of places they would need. Honestly, I’m not sure if there’d be enough traffic for a standalone business doing this, but it could work if it’s supported by a hobby shop or another venue.
Jin said: @Merit
Thanks for this info! We had already looked into this, which is why we thought of opening one ourselves. How do I find one of these places?
It’s mostly about knowing the right people. Most FPV racing groups in each region have their own pages, and sometimes they post publicly about who to reach out to. What area are you in?
You guys have tons of people and races in that area! I’d suggest reaching out on Facebook or other group pages. They have many outdoor races listed on MultiGP, but I’m sure they also have private groups for indoor night races. Most of the time, they can’t publicly share them because of agreements they have with venues.