Drones are marvels of technology that come in all shapes and sizes.

Some are small enough to fit on your palm. Others will dwarf you in size and are powerful enough to carry you high up into the air.

We are familiar with drones as used in photography and videography, but they have many more uses than that.

Most drones consist of a number of helicopter-like propellers that spin using an electric motor. They have rechargeable batteries onboard that power all the controls and propulsion.

The person who flies a drone is called a pilot. He must have a license to operate the drone.

A pilot flies the drone using a remote control.

Drones can be designed to perform different functions on a farm. They can be fitted with cameras that use AI to identify sick plants or weeds. The farmers can then go directly to the affected sections.

They can have tanks and sprayers to spray pesticides and avoid exposing people to harmful chemicals.

Farmers with big ranches can use drones to track their animals. With the help of machine vision built in, they can count the animals.

They can also differentiate between sick and healthy animals as well as the state of the pastures.

This saves the farmer time to go out physically in cars or horses which is time-consuming and costly.

In Kenya, the government uses drones to monitor the animals in our national parks. This ensures that they are safe from poachers. They can identify and track the location of unauthorized individuals.

They can also be used to determine which animals are sick or lacking food during droughts. The park officials can cater for them by bringing food and water.

A drone can be retrofitted to have a payload of a standard package. This can be used for package delivery over short distances.

A shopkeeper may deliver items to a customer's house. A farmer may deliver his produce to the market without leaving his farm.

This saves them time and money as drones are inexpensive to run.

A medical drone has the same function as a delivery drone. It can deliver equipment and medicine to hard-to-reach areas.

It can be used during disasters where infrastructure may be non-existent. For example, when roads and bridges have been swept away by floods. The drone will quickly reach the affected areas.

Another form of specialized drone is used for weather monitoring. This drone is fitted with special instruments and sensors. They detect temperature, cloud cover, wind speed, pressure and other aspects.

This drone can be used to move to a specific area without a weather station. It can collect data on the current weather or measure pollution.

Racing drones are small, lightweight and powerful. They are fast and agile. They can travel at speeds over 200km/h and can change direction rapidly.

People use them for sporting competitions with teams supporting their drones and pushing innovation.

The fastest civilian drone in the world reaches an astonishing 480km/h.

Unmanned vehicles are not only found in the air. They are also underwater where they explore the depths of water bodies. Scientists use them to discover new species of plants and animals in the Ocean Ecosystem.

The drones can get to hard-to-reach places where human beings are unable to access. These drones are operated from ships.

The final drone on this list is the military drone. These are more advanced and are very expensive and powerful.

They can be controlled from hundreds of kilometers away and can travel equally far. They carry weapons and specialized spying equipment.

These are used for performing attacks and reconnaissance. Some are powered by fuel as well.

1. What is a UAV?
2. Who flies a drone?
3. What is the current highest speed of a drone?
4. Which drone is controlled from ships?
5. How small is the smallest drone?