drones
Latest
Google's military AI drone program may be more lucrative than it said
Google's Project Maven program for AI-based military drone image recognition program could net the company up to $250 million per year, according to internal memos seen by The Intercept. That's a lot more than the $9 million Google reportedly told employees the contract was worth. What's more, the program may be tied to a much bigger contract, possibly the US military's JEDI Cloud program.
Regulators want drones to have visible 'license plates'
When you register a drone with the FAA, you'll get a government-issued ID number you can put as a note inside the battery compartment or any other internal part of the machine. In the future, though, you may have to make sure that number is perfectly visible -- sort of a like small license plate for your UAV. Bloomberg has discovered a proposed rule filed earlier this month that would "require small unmanned aircraft owners to display the unique identifier assigned by the FAA upon completion of the registration process on an external surface of the aircraft." If it becomes an official rule, you'd no longer be allowed to keep that number hidden.
Robotic insect takes flight powered by frickin' laser beams
Miniscule robotic drones might be the future, but they've been tricky to get off the ground. Until now, any wing-flapping insect robot had to have a power source, making it too heavy to lift off with its tiny wings. Now, however, researchers at the University of Washington have found a way to transmit power to a flying robotic insect (lovingly dubbed RoboFly) via laser, obviating the need for a separate power supply.
Google employees reportedly quit over military drone AI project
Around a dozen Google employees have quit over the company's involvement in an artificial intelligence drone program for the Pentagon called Project Maven, Gizmodo reported today. Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 workers have now demanded an end to the company's participation in Maven in a petition that also calls for Google to avoid military work in the future.
Apple is using drones to improve Maps
North Carolina, one of the states the Transportation Department authorized to conduct drone testing beyond FAA limits, is apparently working with Apple. Cupertino has revealed that it's using drones in the state to improve its Maps application, effectively confirming a Bloomberg report from way back in 2016 that said the company was putting a team together to capture mapping data with the use of UAVs. A spokesperson said in a statement that Apple collects "both aerial and ground images around the world to improve Apple Maps," and it will soon "begin to capture additional aerial images in select areas using drones."
After Math: Robot revolutionaries
The whole "fear of SkyNet" trope is a bit moot at this point, seeing as how robots have already infiltrated our roads, skies and cafeteria-style eateries. You can already see it happening with Lyft adding 30 self-driving vehicles to its Las Vegas fleet, Sphero debuting yet another domestic robopanion, and gangs leveraging drone swarms to blindside the FBI. Numbers, because how else are we going to learn to speak the binary language of our future overlords?
Criminals used a drone swarm to disrupt an FBI hostage rescue
Drones are what you make of them. One person's wedding videographer is another person's drug mule. And while hobbyist drones were first used for simple jobs like sneaking contraband into prisons, over the years they've become the criminal's Swiss Army knife of gizmos. The FBI's Joe Mazel told a crowd at the AUVSI Xponential conference this week about a particularly organized gang that used drones to interfere with a hostage situation last winter. As Defense One reports, a swarm of small drones descended on an FBI hostage team, performing "high-speed low passes" in an effort "to flush them" from their position. "We were then blind," Mazel added.
DJI is building 1,000 custom drones for a construction company
You might think of drones as consumer products, but DJI has unveiled a deal that shows where their future sales potential lies. Its commercial division is selling 1,000 custom Matrice 100 drones equipped with Skycatch imaging technology to Japanese construction equipment giant Komatsu. The sale represents the "largest commercial drone order in history," said DJI.
BMW is helping to build the world's fastest racing drone
BMW is working with the Drone Racing League (DRL) to break the record for the world's fastest drone set by the DRL itself last year. BMW will loan its technical expertise and wind tunnel at its Aerodynamic Test Center to help the league break the 165.2 mph Guinness world speed record it set with its DRL RacerX drone. The automaker is also bring a DRL race to its BMW Welt exhibition center and museum in Munich, Germany.
Drones add eerie halos to landscape photos in 'Lux Noctis'
Drones usually act as flying cameras, often to great effect, but landscape photographer Reuben Wu has discovered an equally compelling use for them. In the series Lux Noctis (light the night), his UAVs both lit up and created halos around landforms in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, California's Alabama Hills and elsewhere. The results, he told National Geographic, are "a bit like a chiaroscuro painting, where one starts with a blank canvas and then adds light to the picture."
After Math: When it all comes crashing
It's turning out to be a great week for falling objects. China's first space station is set to reenter the Earth's atmosphere, IBM's 50-qubit processor record was felled by Google's latest invention, the FBI and Geek Squad's cozy narc relationship has been revealed and the White House has decided it wants to be able to shoot civilian drones out of the skies. Numbers, because how else will you gauge how fast you're falling?
After Math: Market fluctuations
It's been a volatile week for us all, what with the stock market's unpredictable undulations, the US Senate's DACA drama, the Olympics hacking and whatever other craziness that's sure to happen between the time I file this post and Sunday morning. It was pretty wild for the tech industry as well. Turns out that Apple's HomePod seemingly secretes wood-marking oils, Sony announced it'll cut the price of its VR headset by a third, and Netflix continued its spending spree, blowing $300 million on the guy who brought us "Glee." Numbers, because how else are you going to count stuff?
MIT CSAIL’s drone is never quite sure where it is
The current generation of autonomous drone navigation and flightpath planning systems are almost too precise, demanding hundreds of measurements be taken so that the UAV knows exactly where it is in space at any given moment. And if those readings are off by even a little, then the drone is in for an impact. What's more, all that data collection is computationally intensive -- especially for smaller drones where the space and weight capacities are limited.
After Math: If I had no loot
It was a week of lost and found fortunes in the tech world. The Feds charged My Big Coin Pay over its $6 million cryptocurrency scam, Netflix is poised to take home as many a four golden statues for Mudbound, Bungie's in hot water again over tweaking its Faction token payouts and Google will be holding onto its $20 million XPrize payout thankyouverymuch. Numbers, because how else would you evenly divvy up the spoils?
Lifeguard drone completes world-first ocean rescue
Australia's 'Little Ripper' drone has saved a pair of swimmers caught in rough seas in what's thought to be a world-first rescue operation. Lifeguards were busy testing the UAV off Lennox Head as part of New South Wales' $250,000 shark-spotting strategy when the distress call came in. Within 70 seconds the aerial helper had tracked down the stranded duo and dropped them a flotation pod, which they used to safely make their way to shore, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Flying a real drone in a VR world is as weird as it sounds
As drones become more ubiquitous in our lives, it's really only been a matter of time until they integrated themselves into our arcade games as well. French startup Drone Interactive has done just that by combining physical drones with virtual reality gameplay.
GoPro plans to cut 300 jobs as Karma drone division struggles
GoPro is laying off about 200 to 300 employees, largely from its Karma drone division, TechCrunch has reported. The company has informed the employees, who will remain on payroll for another six weeks, and will make a public announcement sometime soon. GoPro had already laid off around 270 people in early 2015, in part because of increasing competition in the action camera industry, and in part because of the disastrous launch of its Karma drone.
Fat Shark's 101 starter set is a gateway to drone racing
Fat Shark, the de facto name in drone-video goggles, is moving into the drone game proper with the 101 "drone training system." As the name suggests, the 101 is a quadcopter with new pilots in mind. There are many options at the entry level -- Parrot has plenty -- but these tend to be aimed at casual users. The 101 targets those who might eventually want to move on to something more serious but aren't ready to invest in a full kit yet. Or maybe this will appeal to those who are curious about first-person view flying (FPV) but don't know where to start. Basically, you start here.
Dutch police retire convocation of drone-catching eagles
Police in the Netherlands may have been a tad too hasty in testing a squadron of drone-catching eagles. NOS has learned that Dutch law enforcement officials are retiring the birds (they're going to new homes) and winding down the program. Not surprisingly, the decision is a response to both actual demand as well as the performance of the birds themselves.
Amazon envisions delivery drones that self-destruct in emergencies
It's been years now since Amazon revealed its plan to begin using drones for delivery, and the company has slowly been improving and refining the idea ever since. Now, Amazon has been granted a patent on tech that would allow its drones to self-destruct in the event of an emergency.
