Lifeboat Foundation

Many people don’t like the thought of delivery drones buzzing up to their doorstep, with their propellers whirling dangerously close. The RDS1 setup was designed with that in mind, as it drops packages – in free-fall – but doesn’t let them hit the ground.

Created by Los Angeles-based company A2Z Drone Delivery, the RDS1 (Rapid Delivery System 1) incorporates a remotely piloted DJI Matrice 600 Pro hexacopter drone that’s equipped with a motorized reel of Kevlar cord. At the end of that tether is an elastic fabric pouch that can hold a payload weighing up to 2 kg (4.4 lb).

When the drone reaches its destination, it remains hovering at an altitude of 150 ft (46 m). It then releases the brake on its tether reel, allowing the payload pouch to freely fall through the air. Shortly before that pouch reaches the ground, however, the reel brake is gently reapplied, slowing the payload’s descent to a stop.

For people such as soldiers, security officials and airport workers, drones aren’t always a welcome sight. That’s why drone-jamming guns were developed, and the new Paladyne E1000MP “pistol” is said to be one of the most compact on the market.

Manufactured by British company Drone Defence, the E1000MP works in the same fashion as similar products – it emits an electromagnetic signal at the same frequency that a target drone utilizes for control communications, GPS orientation, and video transmission. This causes the drone to lose communication with its operator, resulting in it automatically landing or returning to its point of take-off.

The gun has an operational range of 1 km (0.6 miles), and can be used with either a directional or omnidirectional antenna – the former focuses the jamming signal on one particular drone, while the latter spreads the signal out over a wider area that needs protecting.

Unmanned combat air vehicles have notched up kills against armored fighting vehicles all over the world. Does it mean the end of the tank?

But people need to be kept at the centre of it.

There is more than one reason that we need to reforest Planet Earth. Less than a fifth of Earth’s original forests have survived the rise of humans since the last glaciation, and over half of them are in just five countries (see figure below).

The biggest effect from loss of forests is loss of habitat and the resultant loss of biodiversity, even if you don’t care about climate change. We’re burning billions of acres of pristine Indonesian rain forests to plant palm oil trees (Scientific American) just to get a cooking oil with a better shelf life.

Continue reading “Drones Can Reforest The Planet Faster Than Humans Can” »

Airborne taxis are coming?

“Flying taxis” will start taking off from an aerodrome north of Paris as soon as next June, operators said, in a trial ahead of a vast tourist influx for the 2024 Olympics.

The experiment will take place at the Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin aerodrome some 90 minutes northwest of the capital by car, according to a joint announcement by the Ile-de-France region, airports operator Groupe ADP and the RATP public transport agency.

Continue reading “France to test ‘flying taxis’ from next year: operators” »

AI powered drones are doing acrobatics.

The FAA has given a green light to Beyond Visual Line of Sight flights while conducting bridge inspections in North Carolina. That’s great news for Skydio.

O,.o.

It uses “machine vision” to identify targets indoors.

The new Ring Always Home Cam is a product that shows why trust is such an important asset for any business.