Category Archives: Non-Military & Commercial UAS

US Venture Capitalists Invested $40M in UAS Start-Ups in 9 Months

Tim DraperVenture capitalists like Tim Draper are placing their bets on the commercial applications of UAS. Draper, an early investor in Hotmail, Skype and Baidu, is now backing DroneDeploy, a start-up that is building software to direct unmanned aircraft on land mapping and the surveillance of agricultural fields.

“UAS hold the promise of companies anticipating our every need and delivering without human involvement,” Draper, 55, wrote in an e-mail. “Everything from pizza delivery to personal shopping can be handled by UAS.” Continue reading

“Crash Happy” Gimball UAS Bounces Off Obstacles


An interesting flying robot has been created called Gimball that is specifically designed to be able to crash and recover quickly. The creators of the robot designed it to be used in situations that might be hazardous for humans. The flying device has a spherical roll cage mounted on pivots that allows the helicopter to stay upright, as well as to handle cramped spaces where other aircraft would likely crash. Continue reading