Lifeboat Foundation

For now, the swarms don’t fly as much as they fall with style.

Origami-based structures have been used to create deployable solar arrays for space, adaptable acoustic systems for symphony halls and even crash protection systems for flying drones.

Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a new type of origami that can morph from one pattern into a different one, or even a hybrid of two patterns, instantly altering many of its structural characteristics.

The research, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and is to be published April 19 in the journal Physical Review Letters, could unlock new types of origami-based structures or metamaterials that leverage the characteristics of two types of origami.

Continue reading “Morphing origami takes a new shape, expanding use possibilities” »

We’ve seen autonomous aircraft doing everything from spraying crops to surveying wildlife, and now the Swiss air rescue organization Rega has announced a drone that’s capable of searching for and finding missing people all on its own.

The first commercial flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy ended with two boosters touching down on land while a third alighted on its drone ship out at sea.

Google’s parent company has launched a world-first commercial air delivery business in Canberra’s north, delivering gelato and golfing equipment by drone directly to homes.

The following is a guest post by talented author and self-described nerd Ryan LaDue.

The Latest Wave of Sensor Tech Could be a Game-Changer for LiDAR-Equipped UAVs

Avalanche photodiode sensors are semiconductors capable of converting photons into electrons with an extremely high level of precision. The technology isn’t as new as you might think, but accessible units used for laser range finders (as part of LiDAR systems) have only been making their way into consumer markets in recent years.

Continue reading “The Latest Wave of Sensor Tech Could be a Game Changer for LiDAR-Equipped Drones” »

Two new autonomous aircraft concepts that promise to redefine the Air Force’s unmanned fleet are moving forward.

The latest, Skyborg, is an autonomous drone prototyping program underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Researchers hope to get the aircraft—expected to be cheaper than other platforms and easily replaceable—combat-ready by the end of 2023.

Air Force Acquisition Executive Will Roper revealed the program, which launched in October, at a conference in Washington last month. Skyborg must be able to autonomously take off and land, fly in bad weather, and avoid other aircraft, terrain, and obstacles, the Air Force said.

This future is here 😲.