"We used Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) software for a year, and loved it. I thought it was exactly what we needed until I realized that the models I was writing on the side were better than the ones we had in production," explains Johnny Hilgers, the VP of Business Analytics at Spring Venture Group, an inside sales and marketing company. "We used Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) software for a year, and loved it. I thought it was exactly what we needed until I realized that the models I was writing on the side were better than the ones we had in production." What Johnny reffered to as Machine Learning as a Service software professes to make machine learning so simple that even a ML novice can click and point their way to a predictive algorithm that will help their company make smarter, data-driven decisions after only a few weeks of training.

They might not be delivering our mail (or our burritos) yet, but drones are now simple, small, and affordable enough that they can be considered a toy. The Parrot AR Drone has an API that lets you control not only the drone's movement but also stream video and images from its camera. In this post, I'll show you how you can use Python and node.js to build a drone that moves all by itself. So given that I'm not a drone, or a machine vision professional, I'm going to have to keep things simple. For this project, I'm going to teach my drone how to follow a red object.