Year after year, countries around the world are looking for innovative new ways to ring in the new year with an ever more spectacular and sophisticated show, with drones taking centre stage at the Star Island Singapore countdown experience to start the new decade with a technological bang.
Debuting for the first time in Marina Bay, Singapore, 500 drones took to the skies to wow audiences, creating what is believed to be the first combined fireworks/drones performance in the world.
The drones took on the shape of various animals, people and objects throughout the show before morphing into a countdown clock before 16,000 fireworks were launched, creating a one of a kind spectacular where both fireworks and drones were used side by side to light up the night sky.
It has been speculated that drones could be used as a low-emission alternative to fireworks which increase air pollution all around the world on New Year’s Eve.
The Star Island Show was not the only demonstration of drones for a new year’s celebration at the end of the decade, with a proof of concept demonstration by Chinese drone display company Yihang Bailu who undertook a pre new-year’s eve display of a drone light show without fireworks.
With the
growing popularity of drone lightshows and a growing prominence of environmental concerns from the use of conventional fireworks, drone light shows could certainly offer an exciting opportunity as the stars of the show (literally and figuratively) for the AV world in the 2020’s.