Researchers have turned beetles into cyborgs, saying that controlling real animals equipped with high-tech backpacks could offer a better alternative to remotely controlled drones.
Category Archives: Research
Multimillion-Dollar Project Using UAS to Detect Emerging Pest Insects, Diseases in Food Crops
Kansas State University is leading an international, multimillion-dollar project that is looking at unmanned aerial systems as a quick and efficient method to detect pest insects and diseases in food crops before outbreaks happen.
Smart Parking Lot Using Quadcopter Network
Trying to find a parking spot in packed cities can be frustrating. But it inspired one UMass Dartmouth PhD senior with an idea that won him an international contest. Faced with the difficulty of parking his car in packed lots at Logan Airport and the Providence Place mall, Amir Ehsani Zonouz, 31, has come up with an award-winning solution — a Smart Parking Lot Using Quadcopter Network. Continue reading
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Laboratory
This video uncovers the workings, tools, and rationale of the scaled aircraft lab at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base. Continue reading
Sikorsky Gets $8M DARPA ALIAS Programme Contract
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded the company an $8 million contract for Phase 1 of the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) programme. Continue reading
Autonomous Quadcopter for Fire-Fighting Inside Ships
In a demonstration aboard a former U.S. Navy ship, a small quadrotor developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute and spin-off company Sensible Machines flew autonomously through dark, smoke-filled compartments to map fires and locate victims. Continue reading
DARPA Wants Autonomous UAS
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released a special notice, inviting participation in its Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment programme — offering capabilities, methodologies and approaches that could enable more autonomy and collaborative operations for military drones. Continue reading
Drone Interceptor Drone Concept
Rapere is a concept for an “intercept drone” designed to hunt down nearby drones, hover overhead and drop a tangle-line into their rotors, forcing them to crash.