Nov 19
Israeli Drone Crashes in Gaza
Posted in: Today's Chili
It happens to everyone, Israel, don’t worry—one of the IDF’s drones was either shot down or malfunctioned above Gaza. Now Hamas has it. More »
Oct 17
The Israeli Air Force has been utilizing UAVs ever since the IAI Scout first flew during the 1982 Lebanon War. Over the last 30 years, Israel’s rickety Reagan-era drones have been steadily upgraded into a world-class unmanned aerial fleet. And last Sunday, the IAF unveiled the newest upgrade to its Heron 1 (Shoval) drone, radar capable of identifying targets 300km away. More »
Oct 16
America Breaks Record for Flying Most Killer Drones at the Same Time [Drones]
Posted in: Today's Chili
Drones that fly for days and kill people from miles away are the future of warfare. But before they can become the present of warfare, we have to be able to able to fly many simultaneously. We’re on our way! More »
Oct 16
When scouting enemy positions, our forces rarely have the luxury of a proper airstrip—or even a fairway—with which to land an unmanned aircraft. That’s why California’s AeroVironment corporation has designed a drone that lands just about anywhere—water hazards and sand traps be damned. More »
Oct 04
Alcatel-Lucent flies Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 over 3,280 feet using LTE: reach out and buzz someone (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is many good things, but “long-ranged” isn’t what comes to mind with a 165-foot maximum distance between pilot and quadrocopter. Not to be daunted, Alcatel-Lucent has conducted a test with an ad hoc LTE network, a USB modem and a smartphone to see just how far the remote-controlled aircraft could go on 4G. In practice, quite far: thanks in part to the inherently wide coverage of the 800MHz band in France, the team flew the AR.Drone more than 3,280 feet (one kilometer), all while streaming 720p video of the farmland below. Besides giving us ideas for a North by Northwest remake, the flight emphasized the possibilities that come when we have access to a long-distance wireless link with high bandwidth, such as monitoring crops or some very literal field journalism. The challenge will be convincing Alcatel-Lucent to share its trick and let us pester our not-so-next-door neighbors.
[Thanks, Vincent]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless
Alcatel-Lucent flies Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 over 3,280 feet using LTE: reach out and buzz someone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 25
Sep 21
Are you worried about the safety of America’s waters? Rest easy. The overly paranoid folks at the Department of Homeland Security have a plan. Robotic tuna to the rescue! If that doesn’t work, we can try to stop ticking other countries off, but robots always come first cause robots are cool. And because if there were less ticked off folks we would have no reason to pay the DHS to build robot fishes.
A few years back, DHS Science and Technology Directorate started to fund the development of the unmanned underwater vehicle called the BIOSwimmer. The robot was developed by Boston Engineering Corporation’s Advanced Systems Group in Waltham, Massachusetts. Yes, it was inspired by the tuna, but it’s not nearly as tasty. It sports high maneuverability in harsh environments though. You can see the robot tuna in action at about the 2:17 mark in this video clip:
The idea is that it would inspect the interior voids of ships like flooded bilges and tanks, and other hard to reach external areas. The DHS tunabot could also inspect and protect harbors and piers. If it ever hits the seas, it will probably carry out secret tuna missions we will never even hear about.
Sep 19
Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s… a lifeguard? Aiming to keep a robotic eye out for distressed swimmers and dangerous marine life, Surf Life Saving Australia will soon deploy flying safety drones across beaches in Queensland, Australia. Starting off on a trial basis, the unmanned bots have a wingspan of one meter (about three feet) and will feature detachable safety buoys and alert sirens. While it could be the next thing in oceanside safety, we’d image that some folks won’t be too fond of being watched sans any say in the matter. That said, we’d be remiss not to mention to that SLS head Brett Williamson frankly stated to ABC that “at the end of the day this is about public safety.” Big brother conspiracy aside, we’re sure some folks could be swayed if these bad boys play Flight of the Valkyries while in formation.
[Image credit: Kim Powell]
Filed under: Science
UAV Lifeguards to patrol Australian beaches, Hasselhoff given notice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 07
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is our military’s premiere hunter-killer platform, sniping at targets from 50,000 feet in the sky. Except instead of bullets, it shoots Hellfire missiles. And with its most recent upgrades, the MQ-9 makes other drones look about as effective as Elmer Fudd. More »
Aug 11
If you’re flying a robot indoors, chances are it’s a quadrocopter. The ability hover and maneuver on a dime is essential to whipping around the confined spaces of a lab. Researchers have figured out a way to overcome such obstacles with a fixed-wing aircraft, using laser range finders, sensors and an Intel Atom processor to churn through all the data. To demonstrate just how accurate the on-board navigation systems are, the team of scientists took the autonomous plane to a parking garage with ceilings just 2.5 meters high. Why is that important? The vehicle has a wingspan of two meters — leaving little room for error. To see the plane in action, check out the video after the break.
Continue reading MIT researchers develop highly agile autonomous plane (video)
Filed under: Robots
MIT researchers develop highly agile autonomous plane (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Aug 2012 17:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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