Cheaper, Lighter, Quieter: The Electrification of Flight Is at Hand Our small electric plane, which uses light and powerful batteries and motors, is less costly than its gasoline-engine rivals Photo: Bye Aerospace Photo: Bye Aerospace When you first sit in the cockpit of an electric-powered airplane, you see nothing outRead more… […]

Industry Urges United Nations to Ban Lethal Autonomous Weapons in New Open Letter Representatives from 116 companies around the world, including Elon Musk, renew a call for the UN to ban lethal autonomous weapon systems Illustration: iStockphoto Today (or, yesterday, but today Australia time, where it’s probably already tomorrow), 116 founders of […]

Reliable Perching Makes Fixed-Wing UAVs Much More Useful Inspired by birds, S-MAD uses a controlled approach and microspine toes to land on vertical surfaces and take off again UAV designs are a perpetual compromise between the ability to fly long distances efficiently with payloads (fixed-wing) and the ability toRead more… Source: http://drone-rss.com/

Self-Driving Wheelchairs Debut in Hospitals and Airports The autonomous vehicles sense positions, select routes, and stop for obstacles Photo: Panasonic Autonomous vehicles can add a new member to their ranks—the self-driving wheelchair. This summer, two robotic wheelchairs made headlines: one at a Singaporean hospital and another at aRead more… Source: http://drone-rss.com/

How Much Would You Pay to Drive a Jumping Robot on the Moon? The European Space Agency is looking for lunar business proposals, and little gaming robots might be on the way to the Moon Photo: ESA The Moon isn’t nearly as exciting as it used to be. Once we convinced ourselves […]

Sapcorda Plans Centimeter-scale GPS for Europe Meanwhile, a last minute launch-cancellation not withstanding, Japan’s plan to introduce centimeter-level satellite positioning services next year remains on track Photo: John Boyd Germany’s Bosch and Geo++, u-blox of Switzerland, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric announced the establishment of Sapcorda ServicesRead more… Source: http://drone-rss.com/

Martian-Inspired Tripod Walking Robot Generates Its Own Gaits Why don’t animals have three legs? This robot is trying to figure it out Photo: Osaka University Osaka University researchers hope their robot will provide some answers about how animals have evolved to move the way they do, and perhapsRead more… Source: http://drone-rss.com/

Video Friday: More Boston Dynamics, Giant Fighting Robots, and ANYmal Quadruped Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos Photo: ANYbotics ANYmal quadruped robot from ANYbotics. Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics eventsRead more… […]

Why Co-Parenting With Telepresence Robots Could Be a Fantastic Idea In the near future, robots will help remote parents feel closer to their children Photo: Suitable Technologies The Beam remote presence system, from Suitable Technologies, allows you to “beam in” and visit family members from anywhere. Social roboticist Heather KnightRead more… […]

Robot Mechanic Could Prevent Satellites from Becoming Space Junk DARPA plans to send a robotic service technician to repair broken satellites in geosynchronous orbit Let’s say you are the program manager of a very large, complex system. Perhaps it’s an aircraft, or a building, or a communications network. YourRead more… Source: […]