International

A Chinese power company has found an interesting and certainly awesome-looking use for drones: a flamethrower-equipped UAV is being used to clean rubbish off power lines.Just when you thought you'd seen the scariest possible modification of a multicopter, a Chinese power company releases a video that totally eclipses the weird flying contraptions of the recent past: they've equipped a drone with a flamethrower.
     That's right, they've equipped what appears to be a DJI S1000+ heavy-load multicopter known for being able to carry up to 11 kilograms of cargo with a makeshift flamethrower that spits a stream of fire with black smoke. It looks like something out of World War II — dangerous and far from "smart."

But you'll never guess why they made this thing. They use it to — drum roll — burn the debris out of power lines! It's a flame-throwing janitor, essentially.

The stream of fire is used to clean rubbish off tall power cords. Shoes, plastic bags and other debris that gets caught on the cords not only looks bad, but can also cause power outages.