The US Air Force’s (USAF) XQ-58A Valkyrie low-cost unmanned air vehicle (UAV) demonstrator has completed its fourth flight at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has partnered with Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to develop the demonstrator.
It is part of the research laboratory’s Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology portfolio.
In-car satnav systems and mobile mapping apps have made it much easier to travel from one place to another without getting lost, but a new innovation promises to help fix a remaining pain point – getting in the right lane at intersections.
Today’s mapping apps aren’t always much help if you’re at an unfamiliar intersection and aren’t sure exactly where on the road your car is supposed to be: the apps often don’t have the detail or the knowledge to warn you in good time about changing lanes.
The system developed by researchers at MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute uses satellite imagery to augment existing mapping data, but the smart part is applying artificial intelligence to work out the layout of roads hidden by trees and buildings.
The first person diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus in the United States is being treated by a few medical workers and a robot.
The robot, equipped with a stethoscope, is helping doctors take the man’s vitals and communicate with him through a large screen, said Dr. George Diaz, chief of the infectious disease division at the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.
Proving once again that truth is often stranger than fiction, a Swiss researcher has recently developed an astonishing new type of robotic hand that can actually lift small items via invisible sound waves. While it might appear to be a clever conjuror’s trick, it’s really employing an old invention called ultrasonic levitation, whereby objects are captured and levitated using the sorcery of science.
Researcher Marcel Schuck of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich is utilizing a strange phenomenon whose history dates back 80 years, but fusing the technology into modern robotics applications. Schuck’s initial touchless gripper resembles a halved gourd attached to a network of wires and containing dozens of miniature loudspeakers.
