FedEx just unveiled a robot designed to make "last mile" deliveries without a (human) driver. SameDay Bot, as they call it, features a set of pivoting wheels that allow it to climv shallow stairs, traverse rough sidewalks, and move at speeds of up to 10 miles an hour, according to Reuters'...
Kalashnikov is perhaps best known for their long-running series of rifles, but recently, the Russian defense manufacturer has been making headlines with a variety of forward looking contraptions. The company recently revealed neural network-controlled gun turrets, a 4.5 ton mech, and an electric...
VentureBeat reports that police in Chula Vista, California are successfully using drones to witness and record crimes as they happen. The police department launched the partnership with Cape last year, and since October, the two remotely piloted drones have reportedly "assisted in 21 arrests...
The New York Times reports that "suspected drone activity" shut down Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, between 10:13 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Reuters mentioned that there are "severe penalties in the United Arab Emirates for unauthorized drone activity," while the...
IEEE Spectrum reports that researchers from UC Berkeley are working on a drone that's physically smaller than a penny, and weights just 67 milligrams (which, according to WolframAlpha, is about the weight of a "typical large sand grain.") The tiny drone has its own IMU, and uses a set of 4 ion...
Legged robots and propeller-powered drones each have major strengths and weaknesses, but IEEE Spectrum says that a group of researchers want to combine the best of both worlds. Caltech’s Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies is building a robot they call "Leonardo," short for LEg ON...
While some companies worked on keeping rogue drones out of Super Bowl LIII, Intel put on quite a show with their own fleet of drones. A press release on their website mentions that Intel operated 150 "Shooting Star" drones simultaneously, which smashed Intel's previous record of flying 110...
Citing an FCC application on Sunday, The Guardian reports that Echodyne, a company based out of Seattle, wants to operate experimental radar "'in the immediate vicinity' of Mercedes-Benz Stadium to 'alert security personnel, including federal officers, of any unidentified drone activity during...
Joining the likes of ground delivery startups like Starship Technologies, Amazon just announced the "Scout" autonomous delivery system. The retail and web hosting giant says that Amazon customers in Snohomish County, Washington can place orders just like they normally would on Amazon, and then...
New Atlas reports that a updated set of regulations proposed by the FAA could make commercial drone delivery systems more viable. Among other things, the new rules would allow drones to fly over people "under certain conditions" or fly at night without obtaining a waiver. Drones would be split...
The Guardian reports that at least one drone shut down Gatwick airport for a few hours. 91 arrivals and 64 departures have been canceled so far, and authorities say the disruption will have a "knock on" effect. The police claim they've found "persons of interest" related to the rogue drone, but...
The Russian drone company SKYF has apparently broken the world record for the heaviest weight to be lifted by a remote controlled multicopter. According to their website, the "SKYF" drone features a 220hp gasoline engine that drives 2 large rotors for lift, while "small" electric motors power 4...
While Uber, Google, and others are working on flying taxis, a small company from Austin, Texas intends to beat them to the punch. Lift Aircraft has developed a manned, 18-rotor VTOL aircraft called "Hexa," and they say it'll be ready soon. The company will start selling flight time in 2019, and...
Think you're safe from drones when you jump in the water? Well, thanks to Nvidia and a startup called Notilo Plus, you aren't safe anymore. Using a 7.5W Nvidia Jetson TX2, the startup has created an underwater drone that can operate autonomously. "iBubble" can follow divers around, film them or...
Google's parent company, Alphabet, says they're launching a drone delivery service in Finland next year. Using drones developed in their their long running "Project Wing" experiment, Alphabet's drones will supposedly be able to autonomously deliver "food, medicine and other items just minutes...
We already have guns designed to take out drones, but now the U.S. Navy is working on drones that can be shot from a "gun". The Nomad UAV has 2 counter-rotating propellers that fold up, and is about 3 feet tall. The whole thing fits inside a launch tube, which is pressurized with CO2 to shoot...
Starship Technologies launched what it claims to be the world's first robotic package delivery service. The company's ground-based robots already deliver food to some locations in Calfornia, but starting today, residents in Milton Keynes, UK will be able to open up an app on their phone, and get...
Researchers at Stanford university built tiny drones that can work together to manipulate objects that are 40 times their own mass. The researchers say they mimicked the behavior of wasps, which drag large prey back to their nests along the ground instead of carrying it through the air.
Check...
The government recently passed tougher drone regulations, while private institutions are looking for their own drone security measures. As it turns out, there's a reason pilots and regulators are afraid of collisions between aircraft and drones. Researchers at the University of Dayton shot a 2.1...
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the FAA Reauthorization Act, which gives U.S. authorities the power to shoot down privately owned drones. While the bill is intended to protect aircraft from drones, the The ACLU told Techcrunch that “These provisions give the government virtually carte...
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and New York University created a system that can control a drone with nothing but eye movement. The setup uses Tobii Pro Glasses 2 to track both eyes and provide an HD camera feed, which is fed to an Nvidia...
Now drones don't even need humans to change their batteries, according to the Russian company GET. Their wireless charging stations can deliver 12 kilowatts of power at 80% efficiency to multiple drones hovering within the station's perimeter. GET says the system is portable, and envisions...
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart built an organic, reconfigurable sun shade system powered by drones and lego like building blocks. The system can adapt the shades to the angle of the sun throughout the day, or even move the cover around based on where people are sitting. While smart...
DHS is seeking new legislation from Congress giving them new powers to disable or destroy threatening drones. They say new legislation will enable them to provide protection from security risks of unmanned aircraft. Further, terrorist are using drones more and more so I understand where they are...
The FAA has rolled out a new application that allows drone operators to get permission to fly in restricted airspace in a matter of seconds. The old process could take weeks and this prevented many operators from even trying to use drones in these areas. The new application is called LAANC, or...
250 Intel drones give you some of those "Ooooo," and "Ahhhhh" moments. Makes me think that we only need 8.3 million more of those and we could do 4K resolution in the sky.
Check out the video.
What a way to kick off CES 2018 in Las Vegas, the world's biggest tech show. Tech giant Intel were...
President Trump signed the Defense Authorization Act yesterday and it included an interesting little tidbit for drone owners that now requires registration of all drones with the FAA. Now all we can do is wait and see how much this is going to cost and how much paperwork is required. Also...
A recent FAA study showed that an airliner traveling at 250kts (max allowed speed below 10K ft) was likely to only cause minor damage to the airliner. This study is in conflict with one that the British government conducted that purported to show more damage is caused by a drone striking an...
Using aerial photography isn't a new thing for archaeologists, but using drones with thermal imaging is a technology that is making the detection of ancient sites and artifacts more accurate than use of aerial or satellite photography alone. Another big positive for the archaeology community is...
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, could help farmers determine if their crop is growing satisfactorily, according to a recent study conducted by University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture researchers. This isn't something that surprises me at all. It makes...
They next time you are lying on the ground clutching your chest in agony, and here that loud buzz, it could just be a defibrillator drone coming to save your life (autoplay video warning), you fat bastard! Well, the drone is not going to actually defib you, but it will deliver a kit to your...
When radio frequency ID tags were introduced, it was suppose to revolutionize modern logistics systems. Unfortunately with the large scale of most operations, RFID use isn't as efficient as it should be for larger warehouses. MIT researchers devised a system to equip drones to help in reading...
Mass produced consumer drones have been used by the Army for quite some time now, but that has come to a screeching halt as of two days ago. DJI drones mass produced in China, not secure? Whodathunkit?
Document here.
If you are into drones and security, this hour long video will tell you...
According to Quartz, the DJI Spark is experiencing some flight difficulties. Released in May of this year by the Chinese manufacturer as a small and affordable drone, the devices are powering down during operation and dropping like flies. Some forum posters are suggesting it could be an issue...
An article from Business Insider has a breakdown of the various drones out there and what types of applications the drones are being used for in today's world. The importance of drone tech is vital in helping with the military, being deployed in combat missions and used as observation tools all...
What once seemed like science fiction, people either accidentally doing harm with unmanned aerial drones at airports, or intentionally causing harm through terrorism, is not quite as far fetched as it once was. The FAA receives more than 100 reports every month of drones flying too close to...
Microsoft has started an open source project for creating smarter drone A.I.. These open source A.I. routines will make it so that anyone can assist in testing the software within a simulator; and then implement it into their own drones. The goal of the project is to get drones to be able to...