Robopocalypse Report #119

Drones:

Amazon is seeking FAA approval for its drone delivery plans.

Bell's APT-70 cargo drone has flown.

The first FAA approved beyond line of sight drone has flown.

The FAA is warning everyone it is illegal to weaponize your drone.

DLR has been working on autonomous gyrocopters to act as cargo haulers.

The drone racing league is letting anyone buy the Racer4 drone.

Watch a drone take over a nearby smart tv.

Extinction Rebellion is threatening to shut down Heathrow with drones on September 13th.

Self Driving Cars:

What are the regulatory barriers in the US to full self driving?

Driverless scooters are coming.

Didi will offer self driving cars for its service in Shanghai.

Ford bought a robotics company to improve its self driving cars.

Kodiak Robotics has started a self driving truck route between Houston and Dallas.

Navya is abandoning the autonomous shuttle market.

Optimus Ride has started its self driving shuttle business in the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

Sony and Yamaha are working on a self driving cart for theme parks.

Tesla's Elon Musk has hinted at Project Dojo as his way to leap forward in the self driving car race.

UPS has been quietly using self driving trucks in Arizona for a while now.

Waymo has been using evolutionary competition to improve its self driving cars.

Waymo is sharing its data with researchers.

3d Printing:

3d printing has been successfully used in spinal implant work.

Researchers bioprinted living tissue in seconds.

Exploring how 3d printing might help with hip joint replacements.

A spinoff of the University of Pisa is 3d printing drone parts.

How to 3d print a human heart.  Sorta.

James Cook University compared different 3d printed rocket fuels.

SQ3D printed a prototype house is 12 hours.

3d printing is being used to try to create actuators for soft robots.

Robotics:

Meet FEDOR.  The scary, cylon looking robot being sent to the ISS by Russia.

Autonomous combines are being tested in Russia.

A chameleon inspired soft robot can change color.

A cockroach inspired robot cannot be squashed.

The Jellyfish robot swims untethered again.

Joola has made a robot for pingpong training.

Meet Kiki the social robot.

Apparently, Marty the grocery store bot is pretty useless and ominous.

Mesbot is a UUV intended to explore the mesopelagic depths of the ocean.

There is a robot that moves (sorta) like the human tongue.

New flexible sensors mimic human skin.

Autonomous USVs will hunt for Amelia Earhart's crash site.

Meet Astro, the robo dog.

Rollbot is a self folding, soft robot capable of self movement.

Consumer UUVs are a thing it seems.

DARPA's Underground Challenge presses ahead.

KAIST as developed artificial muscles.

MIT has developed a robot that can move through your arteries and veins.  Oh, and it's shaped like a worm.

MIT has developed boats that can reconfigure themselves.

Harvard has developed a robotic hand capable of grabbing jellyfish.

There is a new type of synthetic skin for robotics.

Exoskeletons:

Harvard developed some soft robotic shorts that assist running and walking.

Cyborgism:

The Arque is a robotical tail for a person to improve balance.

Bionic (functional prosthetic) eyes will possibly be able to see into the infrared.

Say hello to the Harvard developed cyborg organelles.

Japan will be offering $1 billion worth of research grants in 25 areas for cyborg tech and human augmentation.

Software Bots:

There are calls for an international ethics board to be independent of any nation and company.

Should software bots be required to go through FDA like trials?

Should China and the US collaborate on software bots for medical science or compete?

Will China lead the world in AI develop by 2030?

Researchers have developed a rigorous benchmark for software bots to be measured by for language understanding.

Amazon and Microsoft are putting the world at risk for killer AI.

Can open source take on Amazon and Google for software bots?

Cerebas is building a massive chip to power its AI development.

Facebook is training a digital assistant with Minecraft.

Google's DeepMind AI can supposedly predict kidney disease 48 hours ahead of time.

Google's DeepMind is being used to track Serengeti wildlife.

The cofounder of Google's DeepMind has been placed on leave while improprieties are being investigated.

Sony is using software bots to replace drummers.

Squirrel AI is a new 'school marm' software bot to tutor students in China.  The Chinese are looking to export it.

Software bots are being used by the Mayo Clinic for screening for atrial fibrillation. 

Are software bots making office life easier?

Software bots are being used for breast cancer screenings in London.

Software bots can help predict if storms will cause blackouts.

How software bots may be helping revolutionize medical diagnosis.

Researchers are pushing for software bots to be granted two patents.

There is a software bot to make sure patrons at bars are served in the right order.

A software bot can improve digital breast tomosynthesis.

Software bots are learning to detect fake smiles.

Three pitfalls to avoid when developing software bots.

See a software bot rendering your digital footprint.

A software bot predicts cell response to disease and treatment.

Software bots are coming for the coders, too.

There is a call for software bots to embrace social sciences in their coding.

Software bots could yield more accurate breast cancer diagnoses.

The human brain has inspired a new type of software bot algorithm.

Software bots are classifying words from where the brain activates.

Software bots need your data and you ought to be paid for it.

Software bots intended to flag hate speech are 1.5x as likely to flag black posters online than white.

Software bots are being used to test the math behind evolutionary theory.

Software bots have been developed to read ebooks in the author's voice.

Software bots are able to help track tiny particles.

A new brain map could help with machine vision.

Flawed software bots are grading millions of student essays.

Software bots can ID people in need of strong depression treatment.

Software bots can help ID genetic influence on behavior.

Software bots can play 6 person poker.

Software bots are helping track night time migrations of birds.

Software bots can help improve eye exams.

Software bots are helping to find a 'green' path to nylon.

Software bots take a stab at simulating the universe.

Software bots are being used to study old art master pieces.

Automata:

How much does robo coffee cost?

A robochemist set up uses software bots with robotics to make new compounds.

Georgia Tech has developed a robot that can build its own tools for a task.

META:

Strap on your exoskeleton, give up control and dance at the Gray Area Festival!

The "ethics" of hiding your data from the bots.

Former Uber, former Otto, former Waymo employee Levandowski is being charged by the federal government for stealing trade secrets of Waymo's self driving cars.

Terminator Times #55

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones):

The cat and mouse game militaries are playing with small UAVs.

The Pentagon is flying more border missions with its UAVs.

The MDA contracted General Dynamics to use a Reaper for missile detection.

The US military is struggling a bit with how smart to make its drone swarms.

The US Air Force awarded a $18.3M contract to Space Labs to support the Global Hawk in South Korea.

US Air Force will have Raytheon maintain cyber security for the Global Hawk.

US Air Force's XQ-58A Valkyrie will have its first flight next week.

A new ground station has controlled a USAF Reaper for the first time.

Will drone swarms help the US Air Force fight wild fires?

The US Army is looking at replacements for its RQ-7 Shadows.

The US Army is buying Black Hornet nano UAVs.

The US Army is using Coyote drones to kill other drones.

The US Coast Guard lifted the stop work order on the Insitu UAV being developed.

The US Navy gave Northrop a $19.6M contract for software work on the MQ-8 Fire Scout.

The US Navy ordered 5 more RQ-8 Fire Scouts.

The US Navy is also retooling the Fire Scout program.

The US Navy's MALD-N is moving forward into a fully funded EMD.

The US Navy wants the GQM-163A target drone to mimic the Russian Klub missile.

The US Navy declared the BQM-177A target drone to have its IOC.

The US Navy will test a swarm of EW drones launched from Growlers.

A mishap with a US Navy MQ-4C Triton might actually increase trust in UAVs.

Some are stating the US Navy's carriers need a airwing revamp, inclusive of UAVs.

Australia and Boeing announced a new Loyal Wingman aircraft called the BATS.  It is designed to be built in Australia without American components so it can be exported pretty much anywhere without American approvals.  First flight is expected to be next year.

The Australian army has started its Shadow UAV replacement procurement.

Australia will get its first Triton UAV in 2023.

Australia is changing how it is buying its shipborne drones.

Britain's Protector drones will carry the Brimstone missile and Paveway bombs.

The British have declared FOC for the Watchkeeper UAV.

The British are planning on using drone swarms to defeat air defenses.

The British are decommissioning a Reaper.

The British Tempest 6th Gen Fighter will have an unmanned loyal wingman that will be carrier capable.

The British have stood up a new drone squadron.

Canada and NATO are bidding on the mothballed German Eurohawk HALE UAV prototype.

China's AT200 UAV is about to start operational evals.

China's SD40 VTOL UAV started sea trials.

The makers of the EuroDrone may use American sense and avoid tech.

German Heron TP UAV crews are training in Israel.

A German made UAV crashed in Yemen.

Iran unveiled a new version of its stealthy Saegheh UAV which a knockoff of the RQ-170 they captured.

An intel report confirms UAVs given to the Houthi by Iran are a threat to the UAE.

Qatar's Bayraktar UAVs are completing testing.

Russia's Karnivora UAV has started weapons tests.

Russia's Kalashnikov has unveiled its KUB suicide drone with a 30 minute loiter time.

Serbia's Mini Aleks UAV will make its first flight in July.

Taiwan will test fly a modified Teng Yun UAV in 2020.

Turkey has unveiled its twin engined Anka-2.

Turkey also detailed its planned Akini UCAV.

Aero India has unveiled an unmanned helicopter.

Airbus will be doing payload tests on the Zephyr for Australia.

Airbus' Zephyr will attempt to set a new record for flight duration.

Israeli company Airobotics is moving its manufacturing to the US.

Dassault confirmed the Franco-British UCAV work has been ended.

FLIR has purchased Aeryon Labs.

IAI has unveiled a new loitering munition (suicide drone) called hte Mini Harpy.

India's HAL has unveiled its Loyal Wingman concept.

Kratos is developing a new ISR & tactical UAV for a US Gov entity.

Kratos bought a small turbine company in Florida for its drones.

Leonardo is pushing ISR roles for the SkyGuardian UAV.

Mobilcom received $1.2M to develop software bots as an add-on capability for drones.

Northrop is selling its optionally manned Firebird to an unspecified US government customer and is pitching selling it to Australia.

Northrop's Global Hawk will appear at the Avalon airshow.  A first.

Northrop agreed to expand local industry participation in Australia for the Global Hawk.

Textron's UAV control system gets reviewed.

UAVOS has developed a tropicalized UVH-170E VTOL UAV variant.

UVision has opened a US subsidiary.  

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Bolos and Ogres):

The US Army will begin testing some M-113s converted to being robotic to inform on requirements for the Robotic Combat Vehicle program.

Russia is receiving 12 Uran-6 mine clearing UGVs.

FLIR also bought Endeavor Robotics.

Milrem unveiled a missile armed variant of its Themis UGV.

Way Industries updates the Bozena mine clearing UGVs.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (roboats):

The US Navy's Sea Hunter sailed Hawaii and back with no one onboard.

The British Royal Navy received its first C-Enduro USVs.

China is building an armed USV, the JARI, for escorting its destroyers.

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (Robo subs):

The Navy Research Lab is looking to modify its Black Pearl AUVs.

The US Navy awarded Boeing the Orca XLUUV contract.  So far, $43M for 4 UUVs.

Russia has completed testing - supposedly - of its Poseidon intercontinental nuclear armed UUV.

3d Printing:

The USAF gave a contract to 3d print a conformal phased array radar antenna.

The US Army is testing combat engineering uses of 3d printing.

The USMC is also testing combat engineering uses of 3d printing.

Swedish researchers looked into whether it was feasible to use 3d printing to maintain assault rifles.

Exoskeletons:

The US Special Forces TALOS exoskeleton isn't yet ready for use in the field.  The first one will be available soon for testing though.

Russia claims it trialled its EO-1 exoskeleton in Syria and testing will complete in 2019.

Software bots:

Is the US losing the AI arms race?

DARPA wants to fix the social science reproducibility problem with bots.

The Pentagon wants to use AI to spot the next global disasters and conflicts.

It also wants to use AI for maintenance and flight safety.

And the Pentagon wants help from Silicon Valley.

The Pentagon needs to woo away talent from Silicon Valley for AI: hint, pay better and be more flexible.

Software bots may help with training for the US Navy.

France wants to integrate software bots with its software defined radios.

Google used micro workers to train its controversial Project Maven AI.

META:

Persistent Systems has developed a control system for unmanned vehicles.

Attacking the automated portions of the an enemy force might be the way to go.

The US Navy has released an RFI for a unmanned systems architecture.

Robopocalypse Report #112

Drones:

Canada has introduced strict rules for drone flights.

DJI drones can fly over crowds, if they have parachutes.

Drones have been shown to make traffic accident assessments safer and faster.

Dronestagram's drone photo contest had some breath taking entries.

The FAA is proposing relaxing the rules on flying drones.

Heathrow Airport was shutdown because of drones.

Intelligent Energy claims a new endurance record for hydrogen powered flight by a quad copter: 70 minutes.

The NYPD deployed a drone on New Year's Eve for security purposes.

The Severn Bridge in Britain was shutdown because someone started flying a drone from one of its towers.

A wireless tech company has found a way to charge drones without landing.

Self Driving Cars:

What is the future of transportation in the Automated Age (aka robopocalypse)?

Are self driving car efforts stalling?

Australia's autonomous train is being called the world's longest robot.

Baidu's self driving cars can handle speed bumps and parking lots now.

China is launching automated high speed trains.

DoorDash has teamed with GM's Cruise to test self driving cars for deliveries in San Francisco.

Intel's Mobileye tech is helping China's public transit become autonomous.

Hyundai has unveiled its autonomous charging concept.

KIA is looking past self driving cars to the next step.

Panasonic unveiled its self driving vehicle concept, the SPACe_C.

Stop and Shop will have self driving mini markets come to your house.

There is a self driving robotic bar.  Kid you not.

Toyota's self driving Lexus is testing two different self driving technologies.

And Toyota's self driving tech is improving.

Yandex's self driving car demo at CES has no safety driver.

3d Printing:

A new technique can 3d print 100 times faster than with melted filament layers.

In Eidhoven, a 3d printing house factory is being rolled out.

Robotics:

2018 robotics in review.

Breadbot can produce a new loaf of freshly baked bread every 6 minutes.

Caper's smart cart uses software bots to allow customers to skip checkout lines.

Hyundai has a new walking 'car.'

The Israeli robot ElliQ is designed to engage and interact with the elderly.

Pepsi is testing snack delivery bots on college campuses.

Police ended a standoff at a gas station by delivering a vape pen.

Robot butler dreams are getting closer to reality.

Watch this robot teach itself to walk.

This robot dog taught itself to walk.

A new approach will improve robots ability grasp.

A robot is helping with some experimental paleontology.

A Russian company claimed a self driving Tesla ran over its robot.  It appears to have been staged.

Segway is getting into the automated delivery business.

The Temi telepresence robot has added Alexa to its capabilities.

UBtech's Walker robot is intended to help at home.

Washington State University has its own robot for elder care.

Exoskeletons:

Atoun has unveiled two new exoskeletons.

Neofect has a robotic glove for those with hand paralysis.

Samsung has their own exoskeletons.

Sarcos Robotics has an exoskeleton capable of lifting 200 lbs.

Toyota's Mobility conference had ride share wheelchairs (!) and exoskeletons.

Whill's self driving wheel chair is coming.

Cyborgism:

Facebook's Zuckerberg and his wife funded brain implantable devices.

Software Bots:

China is flourishing with AI in no small part because of all the health care data and very lax rules regarding its sharing.

DeepSqueek is a software bot designed to interpret what sounds rodents are making.

Google's Assistant will soon be listening in on 1 billion devices.  Hello, big brother!

Google's AI is helping book flights online.

IBM is killing off Watson Workspace.

The Mayo Clinic is using software bots to detect heart disease.

Microsoft is stripping Cortana out of the its search.

The mining industry hasn't embraced software bots yet.

Did Numenta have a breakthrough in software bots?

A software bot using machine learning might have found an unsolvable math problem.

Software bots can help ID problems in EKGs.

A software bot can diagnose genetic illnesses from people's pictures.

A new software bot can listen for unusual sounds in your home and alert you if something is amiss.

New software bots are going to be used to crackdown on password sharing for video services like netflix.

Yet another software bot can detect if you have a urinary tract infection.

Software bots threaten privacy of health care data.

Software bots can now ID an individual zebrafish in a shoal of 100.

Software bots are starting to be able to organize what they see.

Unprovability is becoming a problem for whether or not software bots are actually useful for some problems.

Virtual assistants are hitting a wall.

Automation:

Kroger and Microsoft are testing 'connected' grocery stores.

An automated chemical compound fabricating lab.

The hotel is Japan run by robots is getting rid of half of them.

META:

Americans want AI regulated, but don't trust anyone to do it.

It's getting hard to tell what's automated or not.

What happens when you automate your coworkers out of a job?

LG's vision of the future has creeped some out.

Will the end of Moore's Law halt the Singularity?

Did GM's decline come from trying to automate?

The robopocalypse has been displacing some workers, but not all.

We should not freak out over the robopocalypse.

Finland has an ambitious plan to teach everyone the basics of AI.

Robopocalypse Report #108

Drones:

ABI Zero uses computer vision to map the indoors of buildings.

Drone startup Airways is shutting down despite raising $118M from investors.

Australian telecom company Telestra demonstrated how to use drones to help authorities after a disaster.

A drone has been used to deploy sensor packages in volcanoes.

Flirtey has conducted its first multidrone delivery in Reno, NV.

Glider drones have been taught to soar like birds through the use of software.

Impossible Aerospace has a drone that can fly for two hours.

An NFL official supports a bill allowing the Feds to seize drones.

University of Pennsylvania developed eye tracking glasses used to steer drones.

A reconfigurable shade made of drones has been designed.

RUDN University has proposed improving cellular coverage using drones.

Skidio released an SDK for its 4k capable drone.

State Farm has been given permission by the FAA to use drones to assess hurricane damage.

German company Strabag used LTE connected drones to map 7.5 miles of German autobahn.

Zipline is delivering blood by drone to remote areas.

Self Driving Cars:

5 great routes for self driving trucks, when they're ready.

There is a call for self driving car developers to put pedestrians first.

Is the self driving car industry blowing it?

The first self driving car was actually built in Germany in 1968.

Alibaba will develop its own chips for self driving cars.

Arm's latest chip is intended for self driving cars.

Audi thinks self driving cars are not a cure-all for traffic.

BMW built a self driving motorcycle.

BMW wants to form a self driving car industry coalition.

Ford unveiled its autonomous semi concept, the F-Vision.

Mercedes has rolled out their self driving car/van concept with switchable bodies.

Oklahoma will start using self driving cars for food delivery next year.

Renault unveiled its autonomous delivery system concept, EZ-PRO.

Self driving cars are the latest battleground for chip makers.

Siemens is developing self driving tech for trains and other track riding vehicles.

Volkswagen wants to organize a industry coalition self driving cars.

Volvo has designed a cabless self driving semi truck.

Robotics:

A new agrigbot has been developed to pick peppers.

Alibaba has a service robot for hotels.

Dyson has a robo vacuum.

City University of Hong Kong has developed a tiny, multi legged robot for potential use for drug delivery.

Inflatable grippers make an appearance again.

JAXA is sending robot avators into space with human-like hands.

Some machine learning algorithms are having problems being applied to real world robots.

MIT has developed a robot than can pick up anything after it examines it.

University of Queensland researchers have been studying lizards and how they use their tails to apply that knowledge to 'off-road' robots.

A new robot has been developed to demonstrate insect flight.

This robot makes images using thread.

A robot jellyfish can explore reefs.

Robo skin makes almost anything into a robot.  Including stuffed animals.

Robot lawnmowers are killing hedgehogs in Europe.

Robots are learning how to carefully peel lettuce leaves.

Watch sonic robots go nuts.

Sony's reborn Aibo robo dog is now available for preorder.

Samsung's NY AI center will focus on robotics.

Sphero and Facebook have teamed up to offer robots to help teach coding to schools.

A tactile sensor is applied through spraying it on.

A Tokyo cafe is using robot waiters operated by disabled people behind the scenes.

Hurricane Florence was studied by UUVs under the waves.

VineScout is a new and improved agribot.

xARM looks and acts like a 1950s robot.

Exoskeletons:

Harvard has developed a soft exoskeleton that adapts as you use it.

Cyborgism:

Meet the Transhumanists trying to turn themselves into cyborgs.

Researchers can now tell what mood you are in from your brain signals.

An electronic implant is helping the paralyzed walk again.

3d Printing:

Cody Wilson, the founder of a 3d printed gun company, is accused of child sexual assault and was on the run in Taiwan.  He was arrested there and has since been deported back to the US.  Cody Wilson has resigned from the 3d printing gun company.

Bioprinting is being used clinically.

Chinese researchers have come up with a new 3d printed metamaterial (pdf) that can absorb across a wideband.

3d printed CLIP carbon fiber parts were tested for strength.

HP has launched its 3d Metal Jet printers for mass production.

3d printing is being used for soft inserts for injection molding.

3d printing is also being studied to make tooling for injection molding.

LLNL is using lasers to help improve 3d metal printing.

There is now a nanodiamond enhanced 3d printer filament.

Are 3d printed parts made from recycled PLA as good as 'virgin' PLA?

Siemmens is turning to 3d printing for replacement parts.

3d printing was used to make a robotic surgical snake.

A recent study was conducted on how teachers will adopt 3d printing in the classroom.

Volkswagen wants to 3d print car parts in two to three years.

WASP has introduced a modular construction printer.

Software Bots:

A bill in the US Senate would require more AI adoption for the US government.

AI requires cultural intelligent.

Activists can't compete with bots online for 'clickivism.'

Can we hold algorithms accountable like people?

Now your microwave can spy on you.  Thanks, Amazon!

Amazon's Alexa went down across parts of Europe.

Apple put an AI chip in their Iphones.

China has changed its stance on AI and now wants to collaborate internationally, rather than dominate the field.

Computer vision still has problems.

Facebook's AI can analyze memes, but is there any real understanding?

Facebook has also developed an AI to autonomously conduct bug fixes.

Facebook's AI can extract text from images.

Ford is using software bots to improve on fuel economy in the Ford Edge.

Google is using its software bots to add sound searches to its search engine.

Google is using its software bots to predict and warn residents of Kerala, India about flooding.

Google has teamed up with Unity to accelerate Deep Mind development.

IBM is working to remove bias from AI.

Microsoft's AI tech could help with natural disasters.

MIT has developed software bots able to pick out objects in an image based on verbal cues.

nvidia is focusing on AI for the internet.

Software bots are being used to study superconductors.

Software bots are being used to track down fast radio bursts.

Software bots can help academics navigate scientific literature.

Software bots are being used to measure 3d printed items.

Software bots are being used to better diagnose lung disease.  Some can even diagnose which type of lung cancer.

Software bots can now scour social media for complaints about medication.

Software bots spotted DNA changes in a developing brain.

Software bots are being used to ID different types of plankton in millions of images.

A software bot enabled camera can spot guns and call the cops.

Software bots are better at predicting outcomes for psychosis and depression than people are.

US lawmakers are worried about deep fake technology.  They should be.

Automation:

Amazon's next locale to open an Amazon Go store is Chicago.

Amazon is planning 3,000 cashierless stores by 2021.

Machines will perform more tasks than people by 2025.

META:

Is fear of the robopocalypse overrated?

With very strong implications for the robopocalypse, farmers cannot repair their John Deere tractors without going to an approved dealer or mechanic.

Dr Lee Feifei focuses on people as the center of AI researcher.

Despite the rise in automation, carmakers are hiring people.

Robopocalypse Report #107

Drones:

In Africa, autonomous drones will help curb illegal fishing.

Airbus' Zephyr S broke flight records on its maiden flight.

The Amazon Prime Delivery Drone has been inducted into Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

ATLAN Space has developed an AI drone to detect environmental crimes.

AT&T recently trialled medical supply deliveries by drone in Puerto Rico and has now teamed up with Softbox for their effort.

Austin PD will be holding public hearings about whether or not to use drones in traffic accident investigations.

Australian rangers are using drones to monitor and protect an endangered turtle.

Australia has established 10 new 'drone parks' across Brisbane.

Australia is also using drones to check if Koalas are in trees before cutting them down.

Blue Bear Systems and Cranfield University have teamed up for the UK's drone corridor.

Caltech, CAIST and Imperial College have developed an algorithm to herd birds away from airports autonomously using drones.

Cape May County in New Jersey just got a $3M grant to build a drone center.

China's new drone innovation center in Shanghai will help develop new drone tech.

The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma is using drones to round up feral pigs.

The Chula Vista PD is holding off on the use of drones due to public perception.

Coimbatore uses drones to monitor and herd elephants in India.

The Denver PD has shelved a drone program due to public concerns.

Deveron, a drone company focused on smart farming, has acquired Veritas for its analytics capabilities.

Drake is using drones as part of his tour.

Drones are increasingly being used for crash scene analysis.

Drone swarms are something of an illusion...for now.

Drones are being used to thwart rhino poaching in South Africa.

Drone Dek has patented a solar powered docking station for drones.

Drone Delivery Canada has started a trial to deliver blood to remote areas.

An ambulance drone won a grant.

A drone enthusiast built a functional Lego helicopter drone.

English prisons supposedly had one inmate coordinating smuggling into prisons using drones.

Eversource Energy is using drones for electrical infrastructure inspection.

Flytrex is now testing food delivery in North Dakota.

Ford is using camera drones for inspection of its engine factory in Britain.

The French secret service intercepted a drone near the French President's summer home.

Georgetown police have been using drones, including to IDing and pursuing suspects.

IBM filed a patent for a drone to detect and deliver coffee if you are tired.

India will legalize commercial drones after reversing the UAV ban.

In India, a startup is looking to deliver medical supplies in rural areas.

Intel has unveiled an open standard for remote IDing drones.

Japan is trying to sort out how to deal with heat stroke at the 2020 Olympics using drones.

The Kansas Department of Transportation is about to launch its first flight for its drone integration program.

Korean Post will start trials of drone deliveries in August with an eye to a general roll out in 2021.

Drone company Korec has been hired to survey Ireland's roads.

Lincolnshire Charity uses drones to find homeless people.

Lockheed and the Drone Racing League have a challenge for people to develop a software bot that flies drones better than the pros in races.

MatterNet will begin testing medical supply delivery by drone in North Carolina.

North Dakota's UAV test site has received FAA approval to conduct beyond line of site tests of rones.

Pennsylvania law enforcement use of drones has raised privacy concerns.

Project Wing has demonstrated its first long distance residential delivery.

The Reno Fire Department has been testing a drone to approach and assess a fire before responders arrive.

The Royal Cayman Island Police were using drones as part of a disaster response test.

San Diego and Cape have teamed up.

Smuggling using drones may be happening across the Canadian-North Dakota border.

A solar powered quadcopter can fly for hours.  How big could a solar powered drone be?

In Spain, a life guard drone saved a swimmer's life.

The Spry drone can fly and swim underwater.

The Ukrainian Border Patrol found a tobacco smuggling drone.

Unifly will provide the drone traffic management system for NY's drone corridor.

Self Driving Cars:

Even semi autonomous cars have flaws.

Consumers have become MORE apprehensive of self driving cars than they were before.

Self driving cars are being tested in a massive simulation.

An OpEd against self driving cars and for car ownership.

Self driving cars should look down, not just forward.

Almost all self driving car accidents in California were caused by human drivers, not the self driving ar.

Apple has hired back Tesla's former test engineer.

An Apple self driving car had its first accident.  It was the fault of the safety driver.  Doh.

How Aurora is making self driving cars.

Autonomous pods have been given huge eyes to make eye contact with pedestrians.

AutoX has started testing its autonomous grocery delivery service in California.

Blackmore has a new lidar for self driving cars.

CMU and Yamaha showed how drones can be used for simple cinematography.

Daimler applied for a trademark that strongly implies it is going for AI driven self driving cars.

Drive.ai is not just making self driving cars, but making them connected cars as well.

Fiat Chrysler confirmed it invested $300M in self driving car testing grounds.

Ford has outlined its approach to self driving cars.  They have stated they want to get self driving cars right rather than be the first to market.

Hyundai just test drove a self driving semi on South Korean highways.

Kodiak has jumped into the self driving truck business.

Kroger has confirmed Scottsdale, AZ as the site of its self driving delivery vehicle tests.

Lyft and Aptiv have provided more than 5,000 rides in self driving cars in Las Vegas.

Nuro is running their self driving car grocery delivery service beta test in Phoenix.

Olli, a self driving 3d printed shuttle, made its debut at the University of Buffalo.

Scale wants self driving cars to be connected.

Tesla claims its self driving car chip is ready.

Toyota claims there are passenger safety issues with self driving cars.

Uber lost $900M last quarter and is being urged by its investors to dump the self driving division.  Toyota just invested $500M into Uber's self driving division. Uber is not going to dump its self driving car divison.

Volvo unveiled its self driving car concept, the 360c.

Waymo's self driving cars have problem with turning corners and Arizonans absolutely hate the vehicles.

Waymo gave a writer for The Drive a ride in its self driving car.

A new study states truckers are in no danger any time soon from self driving tech.

Yandex has started testing its self driving car tech in Russia.

The CEO of Zoox, a unique self driving car company, has been suddenly fired.

3d Printing:

Could 3d printed stem cells patch spinal cord injuries?

The ArianeGroup wants to 3d print its new turbine blades for the new rocket engines.

GM thinks 3d printing will make cheaper, better cars.

Graphene can now be 3d printed as an aerogel.

Researchers 3d printed an autonomous underwater robot.

A prototype bionic eye was 3d printed.

Despite a court order extending the ban on 3d printed gun plans online, the manufacturer has placed those plans on its website for a pay-what-you-want amount.

The CDC is using HP bio printers to expedite new antibiotic tests.

A 3d printer using metallic glass has been developed.

How economically viable is 3d concrete printing?

Lawrence Livermore National Lab developed a nanoporous gold that can be 3d printed.

Is 3d printing a viable technology for manufacturing  medium altitude long endurance drones?

Robotics:

Robotics has a serious security issue.

Human hands are far superior to robotic ones to date.

Anki's new home robot is cute, but will it be a viable product?

Using autonomous robots can greatly accelerate marine exploration.

An ESA astronaut remotely controlled a robot from the ISS.

The Peacock Spider has inspired a soft robot.

Robots can be used in rehabilitation.

Skin for a robot is more sensitive than human skin.

People react differently to robots, especially if they are...mean.

Children give in to robot "peer" pressure.

UUVs have been studying the Antarctic Sea and found there's a surprising amount of CO2 exhale.

New materials might become the basis for grippers for robots.

A robot IDs electric vehicles and automatically charges them up.

Japan is trialing robots to teach english.

Yale has conducted a study that found robots can help autistic children with social interaction.

Robots can help kids read more, too.

These robotic hands are made of paper.

Brexit has caused a push for robotic strawberry pickers.

Senator Flake is attempting to get funding for 'beerbots' banned from the Pentagon budget.

Developers at the University of Tokyo and Keio Unversity have developed a robot you strap to your back and someone else operates remotely.  That way you have another set of hands and eyes.  Telling your boss to get off your back has a whole new meaning.

Queensland University has developed RangerBot, a UUV intended to monitor and protect the Great Barrier Reef, especially from starfish.

Using robots to help those who are housebound to interact with other people.

A simple, but clever robotic hand as been developed.

Some hospitals will use robot ducks to comfort kids with cancer.

A robot was developed to simulate a VERY uncooperative patient for surgery.

Robat is an autonomous robot that explores its surroundings via echo location.

An MIT grad developed a robot that will swim through pipes looking for leaks.

A robot sailbot autonomously crossed the Atlantic for the first time.

Exoskeletons:

Ford thinks exoskeletons are ready for prime time in the factory.

LG just added an exoskeleton to its line up.

Software Bots:

AI can develop prejudices, too.

Transliteration can help Amazon's Alexa find data across languages.

Baseball players want software bots to replace umpires.

The British are facing an AI brain drain.

Will China overtake the US as the lead in AI development?

Christie's will auction AI generated art for the first time.

Facebook and NYU have banded together to improve MRIs using software bots.

The dangers of Frankenalgorithms.

Google's Assistant can understand two languages at once now.

Google's DeepMind has teamed up with eye doctors to ID eye diseases.

A small team of part time student coders beat Google's software bots on a benchmark.

Google seems to be working on a software bot fitness trainer for smart watches.

Google is using a software bot to control the cooling in its data centers.

Google is letting anyone use its software bot toolkit to find child sex abuse pictures.

IBM's Watson might be flopping.

Machine learning technique reconstructs images passing through a multimode fiber.

Microsoft is using bots to make searchable video transcripts.

Microsoft is enabling testing of Alexa and Cortana to control your XBox One.

MIT thinks it can secure cloud based AI without slowing it down.

MIT also produced a software bot that can tell if you're depressed based on how you walk.  Take your pills, citizen.

An OpenAI software bot steamrolled a pro DOTA2 team.  Apparently, it happened, because its basically cheating.  The latest round, the OpenAI bots just got thrashed.  

A path to AI.

Samsung's Bixby is still rough around the edges.

The dilemma of software bots and drug patents is being debated already.

What happens when software bots teach themselves to cheat?

A software bot uses patient data to make cancer treatments less toxic.

A software bot was taught how to do simulated dribbling.

Software bots were taught to write Shakespearean sonnets.

Software bots can probably learn to ID authors of anonymous code.

Software bots will help improve how your avatar looks and behaves in video games.

Software bots are being used to develop brain cancer treatments.

A new software bot has been connected to big data to discern the potential for disease development in people.

A software bot has been IDing heat resistant coral reefs in Indonesia.

A software bot has been used at Mount Sinai to ID acute neurological disorders.

Software bots might be able to fix the 'bad' lip syncing in the future.

Are software bots running amok on Amazon's Mechanical Turk?

Software bots can now spot cheating at universities.

A software bot is very good at predicting earthquake aftershocks.

A software bot is being developed to diagnose detection of diabetic retinopathy autonomously.

Software bots can even edit video to make it appear you can actually dance.

Software bots as music producers, not artists...

Software bots might be used to help fight elephant poachers.

Are software bots for the consumer doomed?

Software bots can now recognize text.

Startups in Silicon Valley want to use software bots for debt collection.

Supercomputers and machine learning are improving power plants.

Uber says it has a software bot that can distinguish whether a trip taken is for personal use or business.

The World Economic Forum is warning software bots (or AI) could disrupt the financial system.

Automata:

Amazon Go's checkout free store is coming to NYC.

An Amazon Go competitor has opened to the public in San Francisco.

META:

The robopocalypse ought to benefit even the workers.

Some are wondering why there are so few women involved in AI research.

The Chief Economist of the Bank of England is warning about the robopocalypse.

AI can be a force for good.

It's not the automation taking the jobs...

Is it time to start talking about AI's effects on xenophobia?

Studying universal basic income has turned out tougher than expected.  Whooda thunk something political would be so complicated?

Another anti self driving car rant.