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Archive for the ‘drones’ category: Page 152

Jul 17, 2016

SpaceX successfully lands Falcon 9 rocket on solid ground for the second time

Posted by in categories: drones, robotics/AI, space travel

SpaceX has successfully landed another Falcon 9 rocket after launching the vehicle into space this evening from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Shortly after takeoff, the vehicle touched down at SpaceX’s Landing Complex 1 — a ground-based landing site that the company leases at the Cape. It marks the second time SpaceX has pulled off this type of ground landing, and the fifth time SpaceX has recovered one of its rockets post-launch. The feat was accomplished a few minutes before the rocket’s second stage successfully put the company’s Dragon spacecraft into orbit, where it will rendezvous with the International Space Station later this week.

It’s also the first time this year SpaceX has attempted to land one of its rockets on land. For the past six launches, each rocket has tried landing on an autonomous drone ship floating in the ocean. That’s because drone ship landings require a lot less fuel to execute than ground landings (something we explain here). If a rocket has to accelerate super fast during launch — such as those going to high orbits or ones carrying heavy payloads — it uses up a lot of fuel during the initial takeoff. That leaves less fuel for the rocket to land back on Earth, which means a drone ship landing is sometimes the only option. But for this launch, the mission requirements allowed for a successful landing on ground.

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Jul 15, 2016

Drone disguised as a BIRD discovered in Somalia — is it a surveillance tactic?

Posted by in categories: drones, surveillance

The drone crashed in Mogadishu’s Waabari district this week where it was found and pictured on social media.

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Jul 14, 2016

Sirens of Titan: Flying Aerobot Drone Could Soar Over Saturn Moon — By Elizabeth Howell | Space.com

Posted by in categories: drones, space

winged-vehicle-titan-conception

“As the long-running Cassini mission enters its last year at Saturn, NASA is moving forward with an early-stage technology study to send a drone to its moon Titan.”

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Jul 13, 2016

Russia’s Next Military Game Changer: Microwave Weapons?

Posted by in categories: drones, military

New drones and fighters could fry enemy hardware from a distance.

Michael Peck

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Jul 11, 2016

System controls robots with the brain

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, neuroscience, robotics/AI

More update on controlling drones with BMI.


Using wireless interface, operators control multiple drones by thinking of various tasks.

Continue reading “System controls robots with the brain” »

Jul 11, 2016

Uploading my brain waves to the cloud, Azure IoT Hub and Emotiv brain interface

Posted by in categories: drones, neuroscience

Nice read by Microsoft on their BMI efforts.


I have been reading a lot about brain interfaces and that the Tesla S can be summoned with the brain and that people have started having competitions with drones controlled by brain waves. I have recently acquired an Emotiv Insight® as shown in Figure 1 and have been doing some testing with it.

image

Continue reading “Uploading my brain waves to the cloud, Azure IoT Hub and Emotiv brain interface” »

Jul 11, 2016

Finding the human in robots

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, education, robotics/AI

Personally, I would love to see a majority of the elementary schools expose more children to robotics, Biocomputing, etc.


DRONE technology and other burgeoning fields beckon for Hunter kids.

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Jul 8, 2016

How Technology Could Facilitate and then Destroy Legal Immigration

Posted by in categories: drones, law, robotics/AI

My new article on the future of immigration and technology (chipping refugees, AI immigration, and walls vs drones):


We need some authoritative measures to guarantee safe and effective immigration. But then, the robots come.

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Jul 6, 2016

Can we really grow aircraft?

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, drones, transportation

BAE systems and a professor at Glasgow University have revealed a way to really grow drones with an advanced form of chemical 3D printing.

The news has already swept the mainstream news sites, even though this is little more than a theoretical exercise right now. Professor Lee Cronin, the man behind the concept, freely admits that he has a mountain to climb to turn this dream into a reality.

The video, then, which depicts a pair of printer heads laying the absolute basics in a vat before the drone literally grows from almost nothing, is really a pipe dream right now.

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Jul 4, 2016

DARPA Develops Virtual Eye That Captures a Real Time Virtual Reality View Using Two Cameras

Posted by in categories: computing, drones, virtual reality

DARPA Vector Logo.eps

During a disaster situation, first responders benefit from one thing above anything else: accurate information about the environment that they are about to enter. Having foreknowledge of specific building layouts, the locations of impassable obstacles, fires or chemical spills can often be the only thing between life or death for anyone trapped inside. Currently first responders need to rely on their own experience and observations, or possibly a drone sent in ahead of them sending back an unreliable 2D video feed. Unfortunately neither option is optimal, and sadly many victims in a disaster situation will likely perish before they are discovered or the area is deemed safe enough to be entered.

But a team at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has developed technology that can offer first responders the option of exploring a disaster area without putting themselves in any risk. Virtual Eye is a software system that can capture and transmit video feed and convert it into a real time 3D virtual reality experience. It is made possible by combining cutting-edge 3D imaging software, powerful mobile graphics processing units (GPUs) and the video feed from two cameras, any two cameras. This allows first responders — soldiers, firefighters or anyone really — the option of walking through a real environment like a room, bunker or any enclosed area virtually without needing to physically enter.

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