Events
When a team from MIT’s Senseable City Lab flew to Dubai this weekend to participate in Drones for Good, a contest hosted by the UAE government, they brought a swarm of five amphibious drones in tow. Their project, dubbed “Waterfly,” mimics a swarm of dragonflies. Each Frisbee-like device is
Testing
Alibaba, the Chinese online marketplace, is conducting a three-day test to deliver packages using quadcopters within an hour. The initial scope of Alibaba’s experiment is small. The company’s online Taobao bazaar is inviting 450 shoppers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to try parcel deliveries by drones. They will
Regulations
The Federal Aviation Administration has granted eight more regulatory exemptions for commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations, bringing the total number of exemption grants to 24. The agency has issued new exemptions to Total Safety U.S. Inc. for flare stack inspections, to Slugwear, Inc. (dba LikeonaTree Aerial)
Commercial
Even for the world’s biggest icebreaker, the best way through Arctic ice is to go around it. There’s an art to navigating an obstacle course of ice floes thick enough to smash a hole in a steel hull. Experienced seamen know how to suss out the softer spots.
Commercial
Puy du Fou has become the first theme park to introduce an ‘intelligent’ drone fleet to enhance its visitors’ experience. France’s second most-visited theme park (after Disneyland Paris) allows visitors to witness history being brought to life through 60+ shows – from the Vikings and Knights of the Round Table,
Commercial
Thousands of square kilometres of the world's forests are burned and cut down every day to make room for agricultural zones and new urban developments. But a new drone design may be able to combat industrial deforestation by dispersing seeds from the air and planting up to a
Commercial
An eye-catching stunt to pilot a drone over 10 kilometres of stunning Hong Kong countryside in order to deliver a chocolate bar to a friend took months of careful planning, one of the project’s pilots has revealed. Tens of thousands of viewers have watched a spectacular two-minute YouTube video
Commercial
Days after the Chennai police said that it was considering regulation of private use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), Kolkata Police banned any private use of UAVs or drones in the city. This comes in the wake of a private drone crashing into the White House compound in
Commercial
The Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency, a division of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (Ministerio de Fomento) has just published a list of approved UAS operators. The State Aviation Safety Agency , also known by the acronym AESA is a state agency responsible for the safety of civil aviation
Commercial
Maldrone bills itself as the "first backdoor for drones." Developed by security researcher Rahul Sasi, this malware tricks a drone's autonomous decision-making unit into handing over control to a hacker. Once the drone has been infected, that hacker can do anything from flying the drone to
Commercial
The FAA has settled the fine in the Huerta v. Pirker court case for an estimated $1,100 penalty to Raphael Pirker, who was originally fined $10,000 by the FAA for using a RiteWing Zephyr II aircraft to film promotional videos for the University of Virginia Medical Center. The
Regulations
The Federal Aviation Administration continues to allow expanded commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations by granting two more regulatory exemptions, bringing the total to 16 grants. The agency gave new exemptions to AeroCine, LLC for aerial cinematography, and to Burnz Eye View, Inc. for aerial photography and inspections.