RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments) (Image: © Alain Herzog CC BY SA) EPFL researchers have built a drone that can walk, hop, and jump into flight with the aid of birdlike legs, greatly expanding the range of potential environments accessible to unmanned aerial vehicles.

AIE has introduced the 40ACS Wankel engine, a compact and powerful solution that can be used in aerospace and robotics.

A team of roboticists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, working with a colleague from the University of California, has designed, built and demonstrated a bird-like robot that can launch itself into flight using spring-like legs.

The group describes their robot in a paper published in the journal Nature. Aimy Wissa, an aerospace engineer at Princeton University, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue suggesting possible ways the innovation could be used in real-world applications.

Some types of drones, such as those with rotors, can rise straight up off the ground—others that are powered with forward-facing rotors or engines that push exhaust out the back must either race along a runway or catapult to get airborne. For this new project, the research team developed a new design for getting such craft into the air—jumping using spring-like legs.

Advanced Navigation and MBDA are creating a GPS-free drone navigation system using NILEQ’s neuromorphic sensors for terrain positioning.

Researchers from Seoul National University College of Engineering announced they have developed an optical design technology that dramatically reduces the volume of cameras with a folded lens system utilizing “metasurfaces,” a next-generation nano-optical device.

By arranging metasurfaces on the glass substrate so that light can be reflected and moved around in the glass substrate in a folded manner, the researchers have realized a lens system with a thickness of 0.7mm, which is much thinner than existing refractive lens systems. The research was published on Oct. 30 in the journal Science Advances.

Traditional cameras are designed to stack multiple glass lenses to refract light when capturing images. While this structure provided excellent high-quality images, the thickness of each lens and the wide spacing between lenses increased the overall bulk of the camera, making it difficult to apply to devices that require ultra-compact cameras, such as virtual and augmented reality (VR-AR) devices, smartphones, endoscopes, drones, and more.

A new rocket drone could shake up the hypersonic game.

New research from the University of Kent has demonstrated that quantum information could eventually be used to coordinate the actions of devices that can move, such as drones or autonomous vehicles. This could lead to more efficient logistics, which could make deliveries cheaper, and better use of limited bandwidth for the likes of self-driving cars.

By carrying out “real world” experiments on a quantum computer, the team of quantum physicists (led by Ph.D. student Josh Tucker in the University of Kent’s School of Physics and Astronomy), found that if the two devices share a pair of quantum coins (qubits), the devices can continue to influence each other even after they have been separated and can no longer communicate.

The experiments simulated the phenomenon using real qubits inside a quantum computer developed by IBM. The qubits are made of superconducting material and kept at temperatures colder than the interstellar void. This allows them to behave according to the laws of quantum physics that defy common sense—including the ability to influence each other without coming into contact and without sending signals.

The heart-stopping flights led to his research of unmanned aircraft systems while getting his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Then, he formed Rotor Technologies in 2021 to develop unmanned helicopters.

Rotor has built two autonomous Sprayhawks and aims to have as many as 20 ready for market next year. The company also is developing helicopters that would carry cargo in disaster zones and to offshore oil rigs. The helicopter could also be used https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-season-2024-firefighters…2e4c66fd7” rel=“noopener”>to fight wildfires.

For now, Rotor is focused on the agriculture sector, which has embraced automation with drones but sees unmanned helicopters as a better way to spray larger areas with pesticides and fertilizers.

China’s latest weapon, unveiled during an air show in Zhuhai, could be a game-changer during possible future conflicts with rival powers.

China is making advancements in its multiple military-related technologies that will give it an edge over its adversaries during a possible conflict in the future. During a recent giant air show in Zhuhai, Beijing unveiled multiple game-changer military technologies, including a mobile air defense weapons system.

Called FK-4000, the mobile air defense weapons system is reportedly capable of intercepting the smallest, lightest drones using its high-power microwaves (HPM).

Debuted by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the weapon can deliver microwave blasts in less than a second from a distance of almost 2 miles.

Using drone-based lidar, researchers mapped two medieval cities, Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, in Uzbekistan, revealing detailed urban structures significant to the Silk Road’s history.

The first use of drone-based lidar in Central Asia has enabled archaeologists to uncover details of two newly discovered medieval trade cities high in the mountains of Uzbekistan.

The team used this cutting-edge technology to map the archaeological scale and layout of the cities, which are among the largest ever documented in the mountainous parts of the Silk Road, a broad network of ancient trade routes that connected Europe and Eastern Asia.