A hybrid drone that can fly over, land on and walk across rough terrain before launching tiny drones from its back could be useful for search-and-rescue operations. Dzmitry Tsetserukou at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, Russia, and his colleagues have created the MorphoLander – a hybrid drone that acts like an … Read more
Altius drone model with at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center in Florida NOAA/AOC A growing fleet of seafaring and aerial drones stand ready to take the plunge into the heart of some of the most powerful storms on Earth during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. The up-close measurements they make will help deliver more accurate hurricane … Read more
The artificial intelligence system can identify valid targets Athena AI Drones being evaluated by the US military could soon be equipped with an artificial intelligence that is claimed to be better than humans at identifying targets, although the classified nature of the work makes it difficult to verify this claim. Stephen Bornstein of Athena AI, … Read more
This drone can perch on nearly anything Arizona State University An inflatable drone can perch on many different objects by colliding with them – taking advantage of its soft-body floppiness to increase the time spent in contact with the landing target and to avoid bouncing off. This approach loosely mimics the physics of how birds … Read more
Software commissioned by the US Air Force will allow drones to identify people via face recognition technology aappp/Shutterstock The US Air Force can now equip autonomous drones with face recognition technology, raising fears that they could be used to find and kill specified people. The drones will be employed by special operations forces for intelligence … Read more
A project for incorporating dead birds into flapping-wing drones might enable new ways of stealthily snooping on wildlife – and possibly spying on people for military purposes. “Instead of using artificial materials for building drones, we can use the dead birds and re-engineer them as a drone,” says Mostafa Hassanalian at New Mexico Tech. Hassanalian … Read more