Tag: drones
Researchers Are Turning Taxidermied Birds Into Drones
A reliable approach to creating a machine that can walk, run, swim, or fly like an animal is to simply copy Mother Nature’s work. There’s a good reason Boston Dynamics’ SPOT looks like a dog. But to create drones that fly, move, and even look like birds, researchers from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and…
Drones may better navigate unfamiliar surroundings with the help of liquid neural networks
Drones have a wide range of applications, but sending them into unfamiliar environments can be a challenge. Whether delivering a package, monitoring wildlife or conducting search and rescue missions, knowing how to navigate previously unseen surroundings (or ones that have changed significantly) is critical for a drone to effectively complete tasks. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe they’ve found a more effective way of helping drones fly through unknown spaces, thanks to liquid neural networks.
MIT created its liquid neural networks — which are inspired by the adaptability of organic brains — in 2021. The artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are able to learn and adapt to new data in the real world, not only while they’re being trained. They can think on the fly, in other words.
They’re able to understand information that’s critical to a drone’s task while dismissing irrelevant features of an environment, the researchers note. The liquid neural nets can also “dynamically capture the true cause-and-effect of their given task,” according to a paper published in Science Robotics. This is “the key to liquid networks’ robust performance under distribution shifts.”
The liquid neural nets outperformed other approaches to navigation tasks, the researchers noted in the paper. The algorithms “showed prowess in making reliable decisions in unknown domains like forests, urban landscapes and environments with added noise, rotation and occlusion,” the university said in a press release.
MIT points out that deep learning systems can flounder when it comes to understanding causality and can’t always adapt to different environments or conditions. That poses a problem for drones, which have to be able to react quickly to obstacles.
“Our experiments demonstrate that we can effectively teach a drone to locate an object in a forest during summer, and then deploy the model in winter, with vastly different surroundings, or even in urban settings with varied tasks such as seeking and following,” Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) director, MIT professor and paper co-author Daniela Rus said in a statement. “This adaptability is made possible by the causal underpinnings of our solutions. These flexible algorithms could one day aid in decision-making based on data streams that change over time, such as medical diagnosis and autonomous driving applications.”
The researchers trained their system on data captured by a human pilot. This enabled them to account for the pilot’s ability to use their navigation skills in new environments that have undergone significant changes in conditions and scenery. In testing the liquid neural nets, the researchers found that drones were able to track moving targets, for instance. They suggest that marrying limited data from expert sources with an improved ability to understand new environments could make drone operations more reliable and efficient.
“Robust learning and performance in out-of-distribution tasks and scenarios are some of the key problems that machine learning and autonomous robotic systems have to conquer to make further inroads in society critical applications,” says Alessio Lomuscio, PhD, professor of AI Safety (in the Department of Computing) at Imperial College London. “In this context the performance of liquid neural networks, a novel brain-inspired paradigm developed by the authors at MIT, reported in this study is remarkable.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/drones-may-better-navigate-unfamiliar-surroundings-with-the-help-of-liquid-neural-networks-180015474.html?src=rss
Zipline Unveils P2 Delivery Drones That Dock and Recharge Autonomously
To deliver cargo to a customer’s door, the P2 Zip hovers around 300 feet above ground level and dispatches a kind of mini-aircraft and container called the “droid.” The droid descends on a long thin tether, and maneuvers quietly into place with fan-like thrusters before setting down for package retrieval. Zipline’s original P1 drones will remain in production and in wide use, says Rinaudo Cliffton. The P1 Zip can fly a longer distance, delivering up to five pounds of cargo within a 60-mile radius, but it requires a larger space for take off, landings and “the drop.”
The P1 Zip lets cargo down with a parachute attached, so its payload lands within a space about the size of two car parking spots. After a P1 Zip returns to base, an employee needs to disassemble it, then set up a new one, dropping in a freshly charged battery for the next flight. Zipline’s new P2 Zip can dock and power up autonomously at a charging station that looks something like a street lamp with an arm and a large disc attached to that arm. Zipline docks can be installed in a single parking spot or alongside a building depending on zoning and permits.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In Death from Above, players will pilot drones and drop grenades on Russian tanks and soldiers
Yikes, the U.S. is Now Using Facial Recognition Rigged Drones for Special Ops
Flying killer robots used to be a nightmarish sci-fi fantasy—something that only existed in James Cameron movies or Michael Crichton novels. These days, not so much. Not only is drone warfare close to two decades old, but innovations to this lethal technology are being developed all the time.
Daily Crunch: Dronamics lands $40M pre-Series A for cargo drones that ‘can cross all of Europe in 12 hours or less’
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Daily Crunch: Dronamics lands $40M pre-Series A for cargo drones that ‘can cross all of Europe in 12 hours or less’ by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Targeted at commercial and military, hydrogen-powered drones are coming
The last time hydrogen-laden flying vessels zipped around the heavens didn’t end all that well, but that isn’t stopping Heven Drones from fueling up its H2D55 drone. The company claims the octacopter can fly for over an hour and a half, with a payload of 7 kg (15 lbs). The drones are built to spec, and […]
Targeted at commercial and military, hydrogen-powered drones are coming by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
SpaceX doesn’t want Ukraine using Starlink to control military drones
Elon Musk’s SpaceX may be willing to supply Ukraine with Starlink service as it repels the Russian invasion, but it’s not thrilled with every use of the satellite internet technology. Operating chief Gwynne Shotwell tells guests at a Federal Aviation Administration conference that SpaceX objects to reported uses of Starlink to control military drones. While the company doesn’t mind troops using satellite broadband for communication, it doesn’t mean for the platform to be used for “offensive purposes,” Shotwell says.
The executive adds that SpaceX can limit Ukraine’s ability to use Starlink with combat drones, and has already done so. The company hasn’t explained how it curbs use in the field.
Ukraine says it’s not alarmed. National security council secretary Oleksiy Danilov tells The Washington Post the country doesn’t rely solely on Starlink for military operations, and may only need to “change the means of attack” in some cases. Interior ministry advisor Anton Gerahchenko, meanwhile, argues that Ukraine “liberate[s]” rather than attacking, and that Starlink has saved “hundreds of thousands of lives.”
Starlink has proved important to life in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last year. The country uses the service to connect civilians, government agencies and military units that can’t rely on terrestrial internet access. For drones, this could let Ukraine coordinate reconnaissance flights, long-distance targeting and bomb attacks.
SpaceX has a contentious relationship with Ukraine. The firm was quick to provide Starlink terminals soon after the war began, albeit with US government help. Musk complained that it was becoming too expensive to fund service indefinitely, but changed his mind soon after. And while Ukraine struck a deal in December to get thousands more terminals with EU assistance, that came just weeks after a steep price hike.
Disneyland Paris’ Avengers: Power the Night Show Turns MCU Heroes Into Flashy Drones
As the larger Disney corporation celebrates turning 100 years old this October, Disneyland Paris is reaching its own 30th birthday in April. To commemorate the milestone, France’s theme park currently has an Avengers-themed show for the parkgoers that stay through to the evening.