The majority of the UK public now supports the use of drones for a wide variety of applications, according to a new study by the air traffic control service, NATS. Continue reading
Category Archives: Research
New Drone Research Advances Wildfire Monitoring
Typically, the primary indicator of a burgeoning wildfire in California is a plume of hazy, gray smoke wafting through the air, seen by satellites or cameras. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, is alerted, and mitigation and containment efforts ensue. Continue reading
MIT Trains Drones to Perform Mid-Flight Acrobatics
MIT researchers have created a new algorithm to enable more complex maneuvering capabilities in tailsitter drones. The novel design could have potential applications in search-and-rescue missions, as well as for deliveries in remote or difficult-to-access locations. Continue reading
Global Agriculture Robots Markets Forecast to Grow to $40Bn + by 2028
The agricultural robots market is projected to grow from USD 13.5 Billion in 2023 to USD 40.1 Billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 24.3% during the forecast period. Increased awareness about digital agriculture is driving the widespread usage of agriculture robots as farmers recognize the transformative potential of advanced technologies in modernizing and optimizing farming practices. Continue reading
Drones Can Lock Together in Mid-Air to Form a Bigger, Stronger Robot
A drone’s size affects what it can—or can’t—do. If a drone is too small, it may be limited in the types of tasks it can complete, or the amount of heavy lifting it can do. But if a drone is too big, it may be difficult to get it up in the air or have it navigate around tricky structures, but it may make up for that in other ways. Continue reading
Wireless Energy-Delivering Crystals Could Unleash Drones’ Capabilities
Crystals with the capacity to transform light directly into mechanical energy without using electricity as an interim stage could unleash a host of advances. For example, drones that run on laser beams could cut back on batteries, or do without them entirely, with the weight savings enabling extra capabilities. Continue reading
AFWERX Reaches Out to Academia for New Technologies
AFWERX, the innovation arm for the Department of the Air Force, met with entrepreneurs, educators and researchers at a recent Academia Days outreach event in Dayton, Ohio, to hear about their dual-use and defense-specific technologies. Continue reading
New Method for Dynamic Target Tracking in GPS-Denied Environments
A study published in Engineering introduces a novel image-based visual servoing (IBVS) method for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to track dynamic targets in GPS-denied environments. Continue reading