▁aer ial ▁vehicles . ▁Specifically , ▁produced ▁consumer ▁d ron es , ▁ready - to - fly ▁quad cop ters ▁for ▁aer ial ▁phot ography ▁and ▁mapping , ▁and ▁fixed ▁wing ▁U AV s ▁based ▁on ▁the ▁Ar dup il ot ▁platform . ▁As ▁of ▁September , ▁ 2 0 1 6 , ▁ 3 DR ▁and ▁the ▁major ▁open ▁source ▁Ar dup il ot ▁development ▁community ▁separated ▁due ▁to ▁disag re ements ▁over ▁the ▁license ▁of ▁the ▁open ▁source ▁code ▁which ▁ 3 DR ▁products ▁are ▁based ▁upon . ▁ ▁The ▁company ▁was ▁co - f ounded ▁as ▁ 3 D ▁Rob ot ics ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 9 ▁by ▁author ▁and ▁entrepr ene ur , ▁Chris ▁Anderson , ▁and ▁Mexican ▁engineer ▁Jord i ▁Mu ñ oz . ▁The ▁pair ▁met ▁online ▁through ▁the ▁DI Y ▁D ron es ▁community , ▁which ▁was ▁originally ▁started ▁by ▁Anderson ▁for ▁aer ial ▁vehicle ▁enthus iast s . ▁Mu ñ oz , ▁at ▁the ▁time ▁a ▁ 2 0 - year - old ▁Mexican ▁imm igr ant ▁who ▁had ▁just ▁arrived ▁in ▁the ▁United ▁States , ▁was ▁waiting ▁for ▁a ▁green ▁card , ▁so ▁he ▁passed ▁time ▁by ▁building ▁a ▁dr one ▁prototype ▁in ▁his ▁gar age ▁out ▁of ▁a ▁video ▁g aming ▁console ' s ▁remote ▁controls . ▁When ▁Anderson ▁read ▁the ▁online ▁updates ▁and ▁was ▁im pressed ▁by ▁the ▁prototype ' s ▁designs , ▁he ▁sent ▁a ▁$ 5 0 0 ▁check ▁to ▁Mu ñ oz ▁and ▁began ▁to ▁collabor ate ▁with