VIDEO: Drone can latch onto ceilings like a spider

Drones have the potential to make some amazing technological advances but there are a few issues in the way - most notably battery life.

While the most expensive models have flying time of up to 30 minutes, it is much more normal for a commercially available quadcopter to fly for 10 minutes or less. While that's fine for a fun little jaunt around the park, it's less useful when it comes to more serious applications of the technology.

Better and lighter batteries will be developed in time but one solution which can be of use now has been put into practise by researaches at Stanford University in the US. Basically, they created a drone which can go for a bit of a rest.