Robopocalypse Report #89

Drones:

Alphabet (Google) got permission to test its delivery drones in the US.

Drone racing really wants to go main stream.

DJI opened a racing arena for drones.

The US Army showed off tech it has been working on, including a quad copter capable of carrying 300 lbs of supplies.

Mexico is trying to use drones to help save the Vaquita. 

It seems drone art is a thing.

Medical supplies are being delivered in Madagascar via drone.

The Russians are using drones to monitor wild fires.

You can now take a 3 year course to become a drone pilot.

Intel announced its Aero developer drone.

This octocopter is the Omnidrone.

Self Driving Cars:

Uber will deploy self driving cars to Pittsburgh this next few weeks in a pilot program: they will pick up and drop off people like normal, but will have someone in the driver's seat 'just in case.'

Google's self driving cars did very well this last month.

The CTO of Google's self driving car projects is leaving the company.

Tesla had its first crunch in China.  Apparently, Tesla WAS calling it a self driving car in Chinese on its website there.  Oops.

It appears Otto is moving into Pier 38 in San Francisco.

Roborace is showing off what's under the hood for its self driving race cars.

Toyota donated $22M to U Michigan to work on AI for self driving cars.

How humans can pave the way for self driving taxis.

GM tried to buy Lyft.  Lyft said no.

Self driving buses have hit the roads of Helsinki.

Ford plans to have a ride sharing service and self driving cars on the road for the consumer by 2021.

3d Printing:

The TSA found a 3d printed gun with live ammo in carry-on luggage at the Reno airport.

India is making progress on 3d printing for concrete.

The 3d printed village in Italy is making progress.

Dubai's 3d printed building is now open to the public.

Russia's 3dQuality continues to improve and expand their 3d printer line.

DARPA has produced new materials.

Electroloom , the 3d clothing printer company, is going out of business.

Robotics:

Pepper the robot is coming to the US.

It seems the robopocalypse is coming for tattoo artists!

Meet Alter...a very robotic robot. Sorta.

How pirates will adapt to robotic cargo ships. 

Swagbot is a new agriculture bot from Australia.

Pizza vending machines are coming.

Adidas is bringing its robo factory tech to the US.

Not even Foosball is safe from the Robopocalypse!

There's an underwater bot tied to a VR system.

Canadian researchers developed nanobots for delivering cancer fighting drugs.

How cost effective is a robo lawn mower?

There is some crap a roomba just can't handle yet.

Software Bots:

Amazon's Alexa got a lot of press.

How DOES Amazon's Alexa work?

Amazon is releasing an API to allow for game developers to use Alexa.

Alexa can check how much gas you have in your BMW...if you have one.

Alexa can also access your cars in other ways, too.

Can a software bot write a Hollywood film?  I'm pretty sure it could write a Michael Bay film at least! 

Software bots are being used now in material science.

Did the NSF just automate computer programming with project ExCape?

The  JPL just produced a software bot to help fire fighters.

Cyborgism:

Neural dust takes the sensors inside you as implants.

A bionic hand was made from...a Keurig Coffee maker?!

Brain machine interfaces have allowed paraplegics to regain some feeling in the paralyzing limbs.

And now smart tattoos.

A startup wants to commercialize a brain implant to improve memory.

META:

South Korea needs to better prepare for the robopocalypse.