Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: drones

Researchers at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Russia have recently developed an innovative system for human-swarm interactions that allows users to directly control the movements of a team of drones in complex environments. This system, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv is based on an interface that recognizes human gestures and adapts the drones’ trajectories accordingly.

Quadcopters, drones with four rotors that can fly for long periods of time, could have numerous valuable applications. For instance, they could be used to capture images or videos in natural or remote environments, can aid search-and– and help to deliver goods to specific locations.

So far, however, drones have rarely been deployed for these applications and have instead been primarily used for entertainment purposes. One of the reasons for this is that complex missions in unknown environments require users operating the drones to have a basic understanding of sophisticated algorithms and interfaces.

Read more | >

The researchers, from the University of Science and Technology of China, hope that the technique – which uses liquid metal to mimic natural muscle movements — could also help to administer drugs inside the body and underwater drones.

Researchers created an artificial muscle using liquid metal that allows it to expand and contract and hope one day to use the technology to help humans.

Read more | >

Earlier this year, in June 2,021 the British Ministry of Defence employed Rafael’s DRONE DOME counter-UAV system to protect world leaders during the G7 Summit in Cornwall, England from unmanned aerial threats. Three years ago, Britain’s Defence Ministry purchased several DRONE DOME systems which it has successfully employed in a multitude of operational scenarios, including for protecting both the physical site and participants of this year’s G7 summit. Rafael’s DRONE DOME is an innovative end-to-end, combat-proven counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS), providing all-weather, 360-degree rapid defence against hostile drones. Fully operational and globally deployed, DRONE DOME offers a modular, robust infrastructure comprised of electronic jammers and sensors and unique artificial intelligence algorithms to effectively secure threatened air space.

Meir Ben Shaya, Rafael EVP for Marketing and Business Development of Air Defence Systems: Rafael today recognizes two new and key trends in the field of counter-UAVs, both of which DRONE DOME can successfully defend against. The first trend is the number of drones employed during an attack, and the operational need to have the ability counter multiple, simultaneous attacks; this is a significant, practical challenge that any successful system must be able to overcome. The second trend is the type of tool being employed. Previously, air defense systems were developed to seek out conventional aircraft, large unmanned aerial vehicles, and missile, but today these defense systems must also tackle smaller, slower, low-flying threats which are becoming more and more autonomous.

Read more | >

An army of drones descending over a city from a massive corporate airship…damn, amazon just out-cyberpunked cyberpunk itself.

While the origin of this video has something, in part, to do with April Fool’s day, there’s some truth to this concept too. Amazon has, for long, been experimenting with aerial deliveries, sending unmanned drones to fulfill package deliveries. In fact, the blimp idea isn’t completely far-fetched, either. Click the below link to read the entire article.

For more inspirational content, visit http://www.yankodesign.com/

FOLLOW US IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES:
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/yankodesign/
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/yankodesign/
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/yanko-design/
Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/yankodesign/

Read more | >

“Once operational, the MQ-25 will refuel every receiver-capable platform including E-2,” Reed said in a separate news release on the August flight test between T1 and the Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Zero (VX) 20. “This flight keeps us on a fast track to getting the Stingray out to the fleet where its refueling capability will greatly increase the range and operational flexibility of the carrier air wing and strike group.”

The first aerial refueling test was conducted on June 4, when an F/A-18E-F Super Hornet refueled in air with the unmanned tanker for the first time in naval aviation history. In this first in-air encounter with the drone, a Super Hornet approached to take measurements, made several “dry connects” to practice connecting and detaching from the tanker, and made two actual refuelings, with 300 pounds and then 25 pounds of fuel being passed from the Stingray to the Super Hornet at different altitudes and flying conditions.

Last month, the Navy and Boeing conducted in a virtual environment the first manned-unmanned teaming event between the Stingray and a Super Hornet, where the manned jet bypassed the ground control station and communicated directly with the tanker drone to give directions on where and when to rendezvous for a refueling.

Read more | >

A Shortfall of Gravitas: SpaceX’s new drone ship detailed

The ship supported its first mission on August 29. This was the 23rd Commercial Resupply Services mission, the latest in a series of launches for NASA that sends cargo to the International Space Station.

A Shortfall of Gravitas is a notable upgrade over previous ships. SpaceX explained during the mission launch livestream that it improves over its predecessors with a fully autonomous operation procedure. That means it can travel to sea, find its position, receive the rocket, grab the rocket with the “octograbber” robot and return it to land — all autonomously.

Read more | >

LOD, Israel — An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield.

Proponents say such semi-autonomous machines allow armies to protect their soldiers, while critics fear this marks another dangerous step toward robots making life-or-death decisions.

The four-wheel-drive robot presented Monday was developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries’ “REX MKII.”

Read more | >

NASA and Joby’s eVTOL craft could be the weird plane/chopper fusion of the future.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is also America’s civilian aerospace research organization. In that role, it has been instrumental in developing new technologies ranging from rocket engines to aircraft control systems.

Part of that role is running the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) campaign to test autonomous drone technology. The latest milestone in that campaign was testing an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) helicopter intended for eventual use as an air taxi.

The testing, which runs through September 10 utilizes a yet-to-be-named eVTOL craft from a company called Joby, which has been developing the technology with NASA for over 10 years. The aircraft, which looks like a large version of a 6-rotor drone, will perform flight tests at Joby’s Electric Flight Base, near Big Sur in California.

Read more | >

Simply by adding sugar, researchers from the Monash Energy Institute have created a longer-lasting, lighter, more sustainable rival to the lithium-ion batteries that are essential for aviation, electric vehicles and submarines.

The Monash team, assisted by CSIRO, report in today’s edition of Nature Communications that using a glucose-based additive on the positive electrode they have managed to stabilize lithium-sulfur battery technology, long touted as the basis for the next generation of batteries.

“In less than a decade, this technology could lead to vehicles including electric busses and trucks that can travel from Melbourne to Sydney without recharging. It could also enable innovation in delivery and agricultural drones where light weight is paramount,” says lead author Professor Mainak Majumder, from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Associate Director of the Monash Energy Institute.

Read more | >