... does whatever a spider can. Many of you like me will have been thrilled with the performance of the overhead 'spider-cam' during coverage of FIFA's World Cup.
Like me you will have wondered what that shadow was darting about the pitch... was it another Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon?
We saw recently how aerial drones transformed coverage of the Winter Olympics, so like me you will have paused the action to check if drones were in action again here.
Apparently not. The spider-cam, which for years in the US has been pulled this way and that by tethers at four corners of the stadia, is still with us... like Lionel Messi.
The reason drones are not used principally relate to health and safety, the chance of a stray ball bringing one down and, say, taking out a Lionel Messi, is considered too great a risk.
I would add physics plays a part. Larger multi-rotored drones used to follow sports like rowing or horse-racing have a good deal of inertia; something that does not trouble our spider-cam with its super-powers.
The alternative is a sub-250g type like that used for downhill ski and snowboarding events.
These though make a horrible noise, beside triggering PTSD breakdowns in veterans watching the match and wondering if friends were about to spill their intestines into a popcorn bucket.
Ed. Spiders have eight legs and not four but members of the Brush-Footed Butterfly family do fit the prescription and we've asked the MLS to refer instead to the 'brush-footed butterfly-cam'.
