Amazon has filed a patent to build drone propellers that can emit warning noises and certain phrases. The eCommerce giant is interested in using drones to deliver parcels to people’s homes and offices, cutting out delivery companies like FedEx and DHL.
Category Archives: Technology
Non-GPS Autonomous Aerial Delivery
The U.S. Army’s Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) has developed a new capability with a navigation alternative to GPS. In recent tests, JPADS were dropped from planes, and immediately determined their location using optical sensors to compare local terrain with commercial satellite imagery. The new system demonstrated navigation to its intended point, using nothing but imagery to guide it. Continue reading
Antimatter Space Propulsion Possible within a Decade
Dreams of antimatter space propulsion are closer to reality than most rocket scientists could ever imagine, says former Fermilab physicist Gerald Jackson. In fact, if money were no object, he says an antimatter-driven spacecraft prototype could be tested within a decade. To that end, next month, Jackson and his Chicago-based Hbar Technologies firm are launching a $200,000 Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the next phase of its antimatter propulsion research.
SensorTape Unrolls New Sensor Deployment Possibilities
MIT Media Labs has made sensor deployment as easy as unraveling a strip of tape from your toolkit. They’ve developed SensorTape, an unroll-able, deployable network of interconnected IMU and proximity sensors packaged in a familiar form factor of a roll of masking tape. Continue reading
NASA Works on Quieter Supersonic Passenger Jet
The return of supersonic passenger air travel is one step closer to reality with NASA‘s award of a contract for the preliminary design of a “low boom” flight demonstration aircraft. This is the first in a series of ‘X-planes’ in NASA’s New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget.
VertiGo – a Wall-Climbing Robot from Disney Research
VertiGo is a wall-climbing robot that is capable of transitioning from the ground to the wall, created in collaboration between Disney Research Zurich and ETH. The robot has two tiltable propellers that provide thrust onto the wall, and four wheels. One pair of wheels is steerable, and each propeller has two degrees of freedom for adjusting the direction of thrust. Continue reading
NEC Surveillance System Detects, Tracks UAS
NEC has developed a surveillance system that can spot drones from up to a kilometer away. The system is intended to be used around places like sports stadiums, nuclear power stations and government buildings, and can detect drones in several ways.
NASA Offers Patents to Start-ups
NASA is unveiling a new opportunity for start-up companies to license patented NASA technology with no up-front payment. The Startup NASA initiative addresses two common problems start-ups face: raising capital and securing intellectual property rights.