Today, in “Drone-Augmented Amazingness,” Japanese dance troupe Eleven Play have teamed up with artist, hacker, and all-around iconoclast Daito Manabe to create a performance that brings the term, “rise of the machines” to literal new heights. Continue reading
Category Archives: VTOL
Saint John Paul II Relic Procession in Washington Filmed by QuadCopter
The procession had an ancient vibe: Dozens of priests in white robes, leading hundreds more Catholics in a solemn procession through Northeast Washington. People chanted and sang prayers from the 3rd century, asking saints through Christianity’s history for help. The Archdiocese of Washington debuted its new, hubcap-sized flying device on Mother’s Day, using it to videotape crowds participating in a procession marking the canonizations of popes John Paul II and John the 23rd (now called St. John Paul II and St. John the 23rd). Continue reading
Quadrotor uses Google’s Project Tango for Autonomous Flight
Early this year, Google unveiled its Project Tango smartphone, a mobile device equipped with a depth sensor, a motion tracking camera, and two vision processors that let the phone track its position in space and create 3D maps in real time. The device is particularly useful for robots, which have to navigate and locate themselves in the world. Continue reading
Mumbai Police Investigate Pizza Delivery by QuadCopter
Police have launched a probe into the usage of a quadcopter by a Lower Parel-based outlet of a pizza chain in Mumbai, which has now become an internet sensation. The eatery created its own slice of history on May 11 when it successfully test-delivered a 13-inch Margherita from its Lower Parel outlet to a highrise in Worli, 1.5-km away, in 10 minutes using a remote-controlled, GPS-enabled quadcopter. Continue reading
AR Drone Launches BeBop Controlled by SmartPhone
Wireless products maker Parrot unveiled a drone Sunday aimed squarely at smartphone or tablet owners keen on getting bird’s eye views of the world.Parrot billed its Bebop Drone as a flying high-quality camera that will land in the market in the final three months this year. Continue reading
Northrop Grumman & Yamaha Motor Build Unmanned Helicopter System
Northrop Grumman Corporation and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., have agreed to work together to develop and market an innovative small, unmanned autonomous helicopter system. Continue reading
UAS Deliver Coke to Workers Building Singapore Skyscrapers
A few weeks back, drones buzzed up to high-rises under construction in Singapore and dropped off cans of Coke to the migrant workers building the towers. Tucked into the care packages were 2,734 messages from Singaporeans thanking the tradesmen for their hard work. The idea was to link two communities that don’t often come into contact – Singaporean nationals and the migrant workers who travel far from their countries to build the city-state’s apartment buildings, offices and schools. Continue reading
University of Tasmania UAS Maps Vegetation
The University of Tasmania’s Terra Luma project is using unmanned aircraft systems for environmental and agricultural remote sensing and aerial survey work.