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Archive for the ‘drones’ category: Page 133

Jan 10, 2018

Self-flying Ubers? This passenger drone concept could make it happen

Posted by in category: drones

Bell Helicopter showed its vision for airborne mobility, essentially an air taxi passengers could summon like an Uber, at CES 2018.

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Jan 7, 2018

Pentagon Seeks Laser-Powered Bat Drones. Really

Posted by in categories: drones, information science, military, robotics/AI

Wirelessly powered, biomimetic spybots…


A new contest seeks flight systems inspired by Mother Nature and powered by directed-energy beams.

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Dec 28, 2017

Record-breaking hybrid drone stays aloft for over four hours

Posted by in categories: drones, energy

Drone technology is getting better all the time, and one area folks are putting a lot of energy into is boosting the amount of time the things can stay in the air. Drone manufacturer Quaternium is claiming a new milestone in this field, after flying its HYBRiX.20 fuel-electric quadcopter for four hours and forty minutes in what it describes as a world record flight for a self-powered multicopter.

Most multicopter drones you can buy off the shelf boast flight times of 25 to 30 minutes, though we have seen custom-built multicopters fly for far longer. Last year, for example, a commercial drone operator used a bespoke quadcopter to cross the English channel in a 72-minute jaunt, while others such as dronemaker Skyfront have previously claimed endurance records well in excess of four hours.

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Dec 26, 2017

Using drones to build the ambulance fleet of the future

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, drones

It’s that time of year again. Sleigh bells overhead and our jolly, bearded benefactor wafting gifts down the chimney to eagerly awaiting hands. We’ve heard every version of this tale. Except, perhaps, the variant that is currently playing out in East Africa. In the funny way that magic tales and science fiction sometimes become reality, if you swap out sleigh bells for drones and gifts for emergency medical supplies, you’ve got the real world tale of Zipline, a company delivering 20% of national blood supply via drone in Rwanda. The Sequoia and A16Z-backed company recently announced it woul…

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Dec 26, 2017

The Pentagon’s New Artificial Intelligence Is Already Hunting Terrorists

Posted by in categories: drones, information science, military, robotics/AI, terrorism

After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drone video over the battlefield.

Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield.

A few days into the trials, the computer identified objects — people, cars, types of building — correctly about 60 percent of the time. Just over a week on the job — and a handful of on-the-fly software updates later — the machine’s accuracy improved to around 80 percent. Next month, when its creators send the technology back to war with more software and hardware updates, they believe it will become even more accurate.

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Dec 25, 2017

Nuclear drones are not technically challenging and could fly for years

Posted by in categories: drones, energy, military

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EaJ1RiQSt0g

From 2008–2011, Sandia National Labs and Northrop Grumman designed nuclear drones that would be able to fly for many months.

China has put $3.3 billion into making new highly compact nuclear reactors which would also use for nuclear powered drones.

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Dec 20, 2017

World’s First Flying Car Race Could Predict The Future of Sports

Posted by in categories: drones, futurism

after two years of development in a secret location in sydney, australian start-up alauda reveals the airspeeder mark 1, a new class of airborne racing vehicle – a flying car that could predict the future of sports. the company’s turning to kickstarter to not only help build the final product but the beginnings of a community that could usher in a new age of sport.

future of sports flying car alauda the body is modelled after a 1960’s Formula V images courtesy of alauda.

coining it ‘airspeeder sport’, the alauda is hoping to push the technology to the mainstream whilst looking ahead to their first official test race which will see two of their vehicles racing against one another next year. in the lead-up alauda has test raced with drones, developing a flight-control system before creating their much larger ‘speeders’.

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Dec 8, 2017

Here’s What A Cyborg Dragonfly Looks Like

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, drones

This cyborg dragonfly is half insect half drone.

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Nov 22, 2017

Today, as part of my #libertarian California Governor campaign, I toured some of the areas in Northern California destroyed by the recent wildfires

Posted by in categories: drones, habitats, robotics/AI, surveillance

I saw hundreds of homes in one subdivision destroyed (8900 homes were destroyed in total in the fires). We must seek out better technological solutions to stop wildfires in California. Lives are at risk and hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake. The state is getting drier, and innovative technologies—especially drone surveillance—can help spot fires before they get too large to easily contain. AI can also tell us, based on weather conditions, where fire protection resources and first responders should be stationed. Quickly putting out fires that do occur is the key to protecting the state.

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Nov 17, 2017

FAA Approves Drone As ‘Cell Phone Tower In The Sky’ For Puerto Rico

Posted by in categories: drones, internet, mobile phones

Good idea, they could use the help!!


Updated at 5 p.m. ET

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