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Category: drones – Page 136

It’s that time of year again. Sleigh bells overhead and our jolly, bearded benefactor wafting gifts down the chimney to eagerly awaiting hands. We’ve heard every version of this tale. Except, perhaps, the variant that is currently playing out in East Africa. In the funny way that magic tales and science fiction sometimes become reality, if you swap out sleigh bells for drones and gifts for emergency medical supplies, you’ve got the real world tale of Zipline, a company delivering 20% of national blood supply via drone in Rwanda. The Sequoia and A16Z-backed company recently announced it woul…

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After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drone video over the battlefield.

Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield.

A few days into the trials, the computer identified objects — people, cars, types of building — correctly about 60 percent of the time. Just over a week on the job — and a handful of on-the-fly software updates later — the machine’s accuracy improved to around 80 percent. Next month, when its creators send the technology back to war with more software and hardware updates, they believe it will become even more accurate.

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From 2008–2011, Sandia National Labs and Northrop Grumman designed nuclear drones that would be able to fly for many months.

China has put $3.3 billion into making new highly compact nuclear reactors which would also use for nuclear powered drones.

The potential impact of nuclear-powered drones can be seen by comparing them with existing aircraft such as the MQ-9 Reaper, which is used extensively in Afghanistan and Pakistan in operations against insurgents. The Reaper presently carries nearly two tonnes of fuel in addition a similar weight of munitions and other equipment and can stay airborne for around 42 hours, or just 14 hours when fully loaded with munitions.

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after two years of development in a secret location in sydney, australian start-up alauda reveals the airspeeder mark 1, a new class of airborne racing vehicle – a flying car that could predict the future of sports. the company’s turning to kickstarter to not only help build the final product but the beginnings of a community that could usher in a new age of sport.

future of sports flying car alauda the body is modelled after a 1960’s Formula V images courtesy of alauda.

coining it ‘airspeeder sport’, the alauda is hoping to push the technology to the mainstream whilst looking ahead to their first official test race which will see two of their vehicles racing against one another next year. in the lead-up alauda has test raced with drones, developing a flight-control system before creating their much larger ‘speeders’.

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I saw hundreds of homes in one subdivision destroyed (8900 homes were destroyed in total in the fires). We must seek out better technological solutions to stop wildfires in California. Lives are at risk and hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake. The state is getting drier, and innovative technologies—especially drone surveillance—can help spot fires before they get too large to easily contain. AI can also tell us, based on weather conditions, where fire protection resources and first responders should be stationed. Quickly putting out fires that do occur is the key to protecting the state.

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Good idea, they could use the help!!

Updated at 5 p.m. ET

The FAA announced it has approved a drone that can function as a flying cell phone tower to help restore cellular service in Puerto Rico.

The aircraft is called the Flying COW, for Cell on Wings. Developed by AT&T, it flies up to 200 feet above the ground, and can provide voice, data and Internet service for 40 square miles.

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As if the mere phrase “killer robots” weren’t scary enough, AI researchers and policy advocates have put together a video that combines present-tense AI and drone technologies with future-tense nightmares.

The disturbing seven-minute movie is being released to coincide with a pitch being made on Monday in Geneva during talks relating to the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, or CCW.

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China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) AT200 prepares for its maiden flight in Neifu Airport in Pucheng, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Oct. 26, 2017. China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world’s most powerful civilian UAVs. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday.

The AT200 drone, jointly developed by several research institutes and companies, made a successful 26-minute maiden flight, according the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.

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