Drone

Artificial intelligence is becoming more prevalent in our everyday life. You find it in self-driving cars, smart speakers from companies like Google and Amazon, in the photo editing apps on your smartphone and of course in the Skydio R1 drone. Today we learn in a paper called Eye in the Sky, that researchers are trying to use AI together with drones to spot fighting people and other violence in crowds.

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According to four U.S. officials, Russia has found a way to jam American unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over Syria, seriously impacting the drone operations. It started a few weeks ago, after the suspected chemical attacks on civilians in rebel-held eastern Ghouta. First, the Russians began jamming some of the smaller drones as they were seemingly afraid the U.S. military would retaliate over the attacks.

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An estimated 10 million drones will be sold globally this year. About 3 million of them will be sold here in the US and among the new drone pilots are many young people. Schools and colleges have taken notice and have started different drone programs and classes.

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Union Pacific Corp. has started using drones to monitor their workers and see if safety guidelines were being adhered to. The response from the railroad workers has been to flood the Union Pacific safety hotline complaining that the drones, in fact, make their work more dangerous.

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Drones are becoming more capable every day. Now, scientists have developed a drone with an extendable origami arm that can pick up objects in hard to reach places.

In a study that was published in Science Robotics, the workings of the origami arm are explained as follows, it is made of seven plastic actuators. These rectangular boxes are stacked on top of each other and when unfolded they extend to 27.5″. The arm folds almost completely flat and can easily be mounted underneath a drone and not cause any problems while flying.

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During yesterday’s shareholder meeting, Walt Disney’s chairman and CEO Bob Iger showed this drone video to provide a visual impression of the massive expansion that is underway at both Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The drone video is from Disneyland’s version, which will open ahead of the Walt Disney World version, of the Star Wars themed amusement park. Both parks are expected to open in 2019.

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A drone developed in the UK with radiation-mapping capabilities will be deployed deep inside the damaged and contaminated reactor building of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The highly technical drone, called RISER which stands for Remote Intelligence Survey Equipment for Radiation, is developed by Blue Bear from Bedford. The software comes from Cockermouth-based Createc.

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A hovering drone seemed to be spying on a sunbathing mother and daughter in Mt Wellington, New Zealand. Melissa Rays and her daughter Morgaine Halligan were soaking up the sun in their backyard late in the afternoon when the drone showed up. The video footage shows the drone hovering above their house and backyard, seemingly spying on them.

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An Israeli attack helicopter takes out an Iranian drone as soon as it entered the airspace of Israel. The drone was based on an American stealth drone that was intercepted six years ago by Iran.

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Researchers from the University of Zurich have found a way to let drones fly autonomously through the city without the unmanned aerial devices crashing into things.

Instead of outfitting the drones with ‘heavy’ sensors and radar or with power hungry GPU’s, the researchers preloaded the drones with data that was collected from cars and bicycles to help the drone understand the urban environment and to teach it how to fly autonomously through the city without crashing into other road users or buildings.

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This morning, we received DJI’s invitation to its “Adventure Unfolds” event in New York City that will take place on January 23rd.

The invitation seems to provide two clues as to what the Chinese drone manufacturer may be introducing later this month. We think it will be a new version of the Mavic Pro drone that is smaller, lighter and faster. We also believe it will be called the DJI Mavic Air. Read on and see how this adventure may unfold.

Update on 1/16: DJI just released their teaser video for the event.

Update 2 on 1/16 : it seems we have the name DJI Mavic Air confirmed!

Update 3 on 1/17: dual cameras with a zoom feature for the Mavic Air?

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AEE Aviation Technology Inc. and SELFLY Camera LLC have partnered to launch the Selfly, a smartphone case, and drone in one. While the drone-case will not fly with the smartphone still attached, the idea is that you carry your phone, and thus your drone, with you at all times, allowing you to take selfies from new heights and angles. The Selfly was announced at CES 2018.

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Intel has been showing off its skills in flying swarms of drone yet again. We all have seen their drone show at the Bellagio. Now Intel has taken one hundred tiny drones, that flew as a group, in a coordinated fashion over the crowds, without GPS, inside. If that sounds impressive, well, that is because it is.

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Last year at CES, UVify introduced the Draco racing drone. This year they are introducing the Oori, a 60MPH micro racing drone. The Oori is much smaller and lighter than the Dacro quadcopter. In fact, it is so small it easily fits in the palm of your hand. The small form factor promises very fast and agile flying ability. The Oori is aimed both at beginning drone pilots as well as speed addicts. According to UVify the Oori is very easy to fly and can be flown safely indoors with the use of the lock-on, pop-off propeller protectors.

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We came across photos this morning that seem to show an upgrade to the DJI Inspire 2 drone. Wedged between the batteries and mounted to the bottom of the Inspire 2 is a device that seems to provide 360-degree or omnidirectional obstacle avoidance. It is hard to say if we are looking at a prototype, a test device or whether this is an almost final design. Judging by the photos this may well be the final design and 360-degree obstacle avoidance may be added to the DJI Inspire 2 soon.

Update: somebody with knowledge of the matter has informed us that these photos are from the original design process for what became the Inspire 2. These photos do not show a prototype or anything that is going to go into production. 

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The U.S. government has been concerned about this possibility and in another video, we were warned about swarms of drones being used to attack and now we learn that the first documented attack by a swarm of drones has actually taken place in Syria during the night of January 5. The Russian airbase, Khmeimim as well as a naval facility in the city of Tartus on Syria’s western coast were attacked by 13 drones launched from as far as 35 miles away, according to the Russian defense ministry.

With the use anti-aircraft missiles, the Russians were able to shoot down seven of the thirteen drones. Another six were hacked by a cyberware unit and taken under Russian control. There were no casualties or injuries at the two military bases.

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Workhorse’s Surefly personal helicopter drone was first shown to the public during the Paris Air Show in June of 2017. Now we have learned that Workhorse has received an Experimental Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly their personal drone during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.

The Surefly is a hybrid octocopter that can carry two passengers. The aerial vehicle can be flown manually with a joystick. Something that should be as easy as flying a DJI drone, according to Workhorse. Or it can be flown in a fully autonomous (drone) mode using sense-and-avoid technology to bring its passengers safely to their destination. A 4-cylinder gasoline engine charges the batteries, which in turn power the electric motors for the eight propellers. The personal helicopter has a range of 70 miles and can lift 400 lbs. The rotor arms can be folded as shown in the photos below.

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Check out these Germans, the Real Life Guys. They have made a manned bathtub drone. The project started out a few months ago when they ended a video with the question whether their next project should be a flying bicycle or a human drone. In the end, they did both.

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This is a somewhat older video, that you may or may not have seen. We’re covering it here today, as the design of this ball-catching drone is mind-blowing. Normal drones or quadcopters, the ones that are typically flown by professionals and amateurs, have their four rotors positioned in a single plane. For the drone to move or fly in a certain direction it has to first tilt. The ball-catching drone or omnicopter works differently. It was designed by researchers Dario Brescianini and Raffaello D’Andrea from the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC), ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. The unmanned aerial vehicle has eight rotors, positioned in four different planes and all the rotors can spin forward and backward, enabling the drone to fly in all three directions, at any velocity, and at any altitude with ease and precision.

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The soccer game between the towns of Yeovil and Crawley in the UK, was interrupted by the referee after he spotted a drone flying over the stadium. The game was stopped in the 80th minute but resumed after an 11-minute delay when an unmanned aerial vehicle was seen flying over the Huish Park stadium. The soccer match ended in Crawley beating nine-man Yeovil 2-1.

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The first ever FAI World Fly-In Expo was held from November 4 to 7, in Wuhan, China. The show featured hundreds of aircraft, including jets, helicopters, hot air balloons and of course drones. According to an article in the NY Times, the drones were actually the stars of the event.

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