Tag Archives: drones

Tiny Drone Swarm Navigates Bamboo Forest Autonomously

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Because the robotic apocalypse can’t come soon enough for some people, researchers at China’s Zhejiang University have programmed a swarm of small drones to navigate autonomously to avoid obstacles. In this case, those obstacles are the entirety of a bamboo forest. It’s been real, folks, but there is officially nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

All of the ten-drone army “are equipped with depth cameras, altitude sensors and a small computer, all running a custom algorithm for collision avoidance, coordination, and flight efficiency.” Wow, so not only are they flying around, not crashing into things, but they’re doing it efficiently. The future, ladies and gentlemen! Humanity doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in the devil’s butt.

The drones were allegedly developed to be utilized for aerial mapping applications, as well as conservation and disaster relief. Maybe they originally were, but all that goes out the window when they become sentient and decide the only disaster that needs relief is the planet wiped clean of humans. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rocket to the moon to build.

[via TechEBlog]

Designed at Caltech, this bipedal, hybrid robot can walk and fly to showcase the future of locomotive robotics

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Researchers at Caltech designed LEO, a hybrid, bipedal robot, that combines flying and walking to experiment with the future of locomotive robotics.

If you’ve ever seen a heron take flight or land afterward, you’ve probably admired how gracefully they move. Like cats, they seem to always stick the landing. Inspired by the flight and movement of birds like herons, researchers at Caltech created a clever, bipedal robot with a small stature and uncanny knack for balance. In its current form, LEONARDO, as they. call the robot, is strictly experimental. However, future applications could find LEONARDO tactfully sticking the landing on a solo mission to Mars or leading the way to adaptive landing systems for other robots on Earth.

Designer: Caltech

LEONARDO, or LEO for short, stands for LEgs ONboARD drOne and is equipped with a pair of multi-joint legs and propeller thrusters to stabilize its walking gait and allow the robot to hop and jump. Standing only 2.5 feet tall, LEO is lanky in proportions, with long legs and the main body measuring only half the length of them. These proportions aid in LEO’s varied locomotive capabilities, from flying to walking. The researchers at Caltech explain, “The point of LEO is to give unprecedented walking ability and to solve problems posed by hybrid locomotion. LEO is capable of many tricks: tight-rope walking, stair flying, and skateboard riding. LEO is helping engineers rethink how robots could move in the future and could open difficult environments to robotic exploration.”

While LEO is more or less a passion project that serves to experiment with the potential of locomotive robotics future applications could find LEO revolutionizing adaptive landing gear systems, not only for Earth-bound robotic exploration missions but for rotorcraft on Mars. Caltech researcher Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Aerospace and Control and Dynamical Systems explains, “By using a hybrid movement that is somewhere between walking and flying, the researchers get the best of both worlds in terms of locomotion. LEO’s lightweight legs take the stress off of its thrusters by supporting the bulk of the weight, but because the thrusters are controlled synchronously with leg joints, LEO has uncanny balance.”

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Polestar’s emergency vehicle uses autonomous drone technology to respond to catastrophe

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Polestar Duo is an itinerant vehicle that merges autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to provide emergency relief.

In the age of COVID-19, one thing’s for certain—the need for autonomous, mobile emergency services is more urgent than ever before. When faced with unprecedented crises, dwindling resources make it hard to respond with tact. Considering the modern world’s technological advantage, innovative task forces and emergency services should be made readily available to help prevent catastrophe.

Designer: Marcelo Aguiar

Marcelo Aguiar, Chief Automotive Designer at electric car startup UNITI Sweden, recently devised a concept for a vehicle that blends autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to create an accessible means to respond to any disaster.

Designed for the Polestar Design Competition, Aguiar’s Polestar Duo appears like a multifunctional shipping container that travels via drone technology.

Aguiar conceptualizes Polestar Duo to be flexible, adaptable, and itinerant, to be able to “perform in a variety of scenarios adopting different functions: it can work as a rescue vehicle, be used as pop-up structure or temporary accommodation, provide support in humanitarian crisis situations, be a mobile off-grid home to enable a more itinerant lifestyle.”

Equipped with a wind turbine, the Polestar Duo operates from a pair of back-driven propellers with wings that swivel to the optimal position considering the given day’s weather and wind conditions. Before taking flight, Polestar Duo’s wings unfold by rotating along their axes.

The integrated drone technology carries Polestar Duo’s Pod, which functions as the hybrid modular building, by attaching the Pod’s roof to the drone’s base. In difficult access scenarios, Polestar Duo deploys high-strength tethers that suspend the Pod from the drone’s base.

Merging today’s appeal to sustainable design with autonomous technology, the vehicle’s overall carbon footprint remains low due to the use of recycled and lightweight building materials, re-adaptability, and local power generation. Aguiar goes on to explain that, “this reduces the load on available resources while building, and becoming, a versatile infrastructure to support societal progress.”

Twin wings unfold at Polestar Duo’s axes to take flight. 

When idle, Polestar Duo’s wings fold up.

Polestar Duo is comprised of two main parts: the drone and the folding quadcopter.

The Pod attaches to the drone’s base for secure transportation.

In difficult access scenarios, the Pod suspends from the drone’s quadcopter via high-strength tethers. 

Outside of emergency services, Polestar Duo can be used as temporary living accommodations. 

The post Polestar’s emergency vehicle uses autonomous drone technology to respond to catastrophe first appeared on Yanko Design.

MIT researchers equip these bug-like bots with low-voltage, power-dense artificial muscles to take flight

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MIT researchers have reinvented the fabrication technique behind micro-robots so they can operate with lower voltage while carrying more payload.

As researchers at MIT put it, “When it comes to robots, bigger isn’t always better.” From pollinating drones to ones that can locate survivors buried in rubble, micro-robots can bring humans where we otherwise cannot go. While the potential of micro-robots is immense, their miniature size calls for a highly technical fabrication technique that MIT researchers have recently refined and tested for success. Comprised of soft actuators, elastomers, and voltage distributors, the new fabrication technique produces artificial muscles with fewer defects.

Designer: MIT

Since the micro-robots are featherweight, before refining this new fabrication technique, they couldn’t carry the necessary power electronics that would allow them to fly on their own. The artificial muscles are produced from the soft actuators that rapidly flap the diminutive drone’s wings, giving flight to the micro-robots. MIT researchers found that the more surface area the actuator has, the less voltage is required. With this in mind, they “were able to create an actuator with 20 layers, each of which is 10 micrometers in thickness (about the diameter of a red blood cell).”

MIT researchers then developed soft actuators that operate with a 75-percent lower voltage than current versions while carrying 80-percent more payload. In addition, the power output of the actuator increased by more than 300 percent and significantly improved the microrobot’s lifespan. As Kevin Chen, an assistant professor at MIT, explains, “We demonstrate that this robot, weighing less than a gram, flies for the longest time with the smallest error during a hovering flight.”

In a newly released video that describes the design and construction process behind these micro-robots, MIT researchers note, “Each rectangular micro-robot…has four sets of wings that are each driven by a soft actuator. These muscle-like actuators are made from layers of elastomer that are sandwiched between two very thin electrodes and then rolled into a squishy cylinder. When the voltage is applied to the actuator, the electrodes squeeze the elastomer and that mechanical strain is used to flap the wings.” In addition, researchers optimized the thin electrodes, which are composed of carbon nanotubes to increase the actuator’s power output and reduce the voltage.

Working with such a thin layer of elastomer, the sharp ends of the carbon nanotubes would puncture the elastomer before researchers perfected the concentrations. As more layers are added during the curing stage, the actuators also take longer to dry. As Chen explains, “The first time I asked my student to make a multilayer actuator, once he got to 12 layers, he had to wait two days for it to cure. That is totally not sustainable, especially if you want to scale up to more layers.”

Following this, they found that once the carbon nanotubes are transferred to the elastomer, baking each layer for a few minutes significantly reduces the curing time. As researchers continue to refine the microrobot’s operation, Chen hopes to reduce its thickness to only one micrometer, leading to many more possible applications for the insect-sized robot.

The post MIT researchers equip these bug-like bots with low-voltage, power-dense artificial muscles to take flight first appeared on Yanko Design.

This flying donut is probably one of the safest drones around

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Who knew that ditching half the fans would actually yield in what seems to be a more stable and safer drone, which is exactly what this odd-looking drone is promising.

Drones are no longer things immediately associated with the military and warfare. Thanks to companies like DJI, commercial drones have gone mainstream and have become familiar to many people in different walks of life. Despite differences in design, almost all drones share the same four-rotor system that gives them their technical name of “quadcopter.” This isn’t the only possible design, however, and a different kind of drone is trying to sell the idea of having only two fans instead of four.

Designer: Cleo Robotics

Quadcopter drones have four rotors not just to look cool or even intimidating. Up until now, it’s the commonly accepted solution to creating stability and movement in mid-air. As many drone users know by now, this design isn’t exactly the easiest to control, nor are they the safest to handle. Even those with protectors around them can suffer a serious setback when they bump into something or, worse, someone.

Cleo Robotics’ solution is to halve the number of rotors to two placed on top of each other. This bi-rotor design creates opposing forces that create the same stability that would normally require four rotors. More importantly, this compact design allows the rotors to be completely enclosed in what looks like one tough donut. Naturally, they just had to name this the “Dronut.”

This potentially makes the Dronut X1, the first in this line of bi-rotor drones, safer not just for people around the drone but for the drone itself. It can bump into things and into people without doing serious damage. It’s also small enough to fit on a person’s hand, albeit a person with very big hands. It can even be easily be operated using a smartphone, though you’d probably want to connect a gamepad for better results.

The Cleo Dronut X1 looks like a fun device, but its $9,800 price tag clearly indicates it isn’t a toy. It comes equipped with a 4K camera, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for positioning, and LED lights for seeing in the dark. The drone is aimed more at industrial and even military applications, especially for use in space-constrained places where a traditional quadcopter drone wouldn’t even fit. If this idea takes off, however, we could be seeing more of these flying donuts available for less serious uses.

The post This flying donut is probably one of the safest drones around first appeared on Yanko Design.

The world’s first Sea-Air Integrated Drone blazes a new path towards oceanic sustainability and carbon neutrality

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The Sea-Air Integrated Drone is the first drone of its kind to be able to fly in the air and swim underwater to perform various and complex tasks, leading a new path toward sustainable ocean economies and carbon neutrality.

Underwater robotics firm QYSEA recently teamed up with Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI to develop the world’s first sea-air integrated, remote-control-operated drone, which was constructed by the commercial drone manufacturer PRODRONE. The Sea-Air Integrated Drone was first unveiled during a flight showcase at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama. With sights set on modernizing “offshore and marine operations with its intelligent capabilities, high working efficiency, and minimized manpower required,” the drone will be the first of its kind to fly in the air and swim underwater.

Designers: QYSEA, KDDI, and PRODRONE

Known for an impressive catalog of underwater robotics and marine technology, QYSEA implemented the use of their industrial-class FIFISH PRO V6 PLUS ROV into the build of the heavy-duty aerial drone. Six years prior to its conception, KDDI first began “[combining] advanced mobile communication networks with drone technologies that would deliver extended flying distances and lengths.” Since then, KDDI and QYSEA have worked together to develop seamless drone operations between air and sea.

Defined by KDDI’s long-range mobile communication technology, operators can control the drone via remote from long distance ranges, whether the drone has submerged underwater or taken flight. Once the drone has landed in its designated location, the FIFISH ROV detaches and deploys to get to work, allowing the operator to remotely control the drone with the ROV from a safe distance. Describing the drone’s remote-controlled operations, the team at QYSEA notes,

“Without the need to leave their onshore working location, the operator can deliver inspections with real-time visual feedback and operate through underwater environments with a variety of sampling, measurement, and manipulation tools, as well as be able to live-stream operations for multi-person collaborations.”

In addition to the variety of operations the drone can manage, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone has shown its competency across additional marine-based industries. In offshore wind power plants, the drone can perform complex maintenance tasks.

In the world of aquaculture, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone can fly out to monitor livestock and crops, in addition to regular maintenance tasks. With further information to be released in early 2022, the Sea-Air Integrated Drone is sure to lead a new path toward the development of a sustainable ocean economy and the global goal of carbon neutrality.

The post The world’s first Sea-Air Integrated Drone blazes a new path towards oceanic sustainability and carbon neutrality first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Dronut X1: A Donut Inspired Drone

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I was just thinking the other day somebody should combine a donut and a drone, and apparently Boston-based Cleo Robotics was already on the case, developing the $9,800 Dronut X1 – the world’s first bi-rotor ducted drone that can operate in much tighter spaces than traditional drones. Now I can see where this is headed, but there’s no way I’m letting my doctor fly one of these inside me for a colonoscopy. He already misses my knee half the time just checking my reflexes!

The Dronut X1 was designed with military and police applications in mind, has a 1km range, and weighs only 15-ounces with an onboard 4K camera and streaming capabilities. It navigates around its environment “via 3D LiDAR (light detection and ranging), which utilizes beams of light that hit an object or a surface and reflect back to the laser scanner to create a 3D visualization of its environment.” Me? I navigate around my environment with my hands stretched out like a mummy hoping I don’t stub a toe on the way to the fridge for a midnight snack.

The Dronut’s ducted design means no exposed rotors, and no exposed rotors mean it can’t hit anything with those rotors, making it ideal for flying in environments where you don’t want things shredded by a traditional quadrocopter’s spinning blades. I swear, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve stuck my hand in a ceiling fan putting a shirt on in the morning, I might actually be able to afford a $9,800 Dronut.

[via PetaPixel]

Drone Designs that are paving and innovating the future of the Robotics world!

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Drones are quite honestly taking over the world! They’re more than just toys to fly around or simple accessories, they are now being used for critical functions as well! Drones these days are saving lives, relaying important information, landing on Mars, and even diving underwater. The scope and potential of drones are being massively unlocked and they seem unlimited. They are innovative and fascinating objects that can carry out many tasks, that we, humans are unable to do. Hence, we’ve curated a collection of inventive, super functional, and futuristic drones that will surprise you with their capabilities, and make you wonder what the world will really look like ten years down the line!

I love the Ahadrone kit’s DIY touch! Designed to be the “drone for everyone”, it democratizes one of the hottest (and sometimes expensive) categories in consumer electronics. With all the makings of a very capable drone, the Ahadrone is just like any other remote-controlled quadcopter, but it comes with a complete corrugated board body, allowing it to stay light, but stiff, the perfect property for a drone exterior! Cardboard isn’t new to consumer electronics. The Google Cardboard VR headset, and the cardboard Nintendo Switch Labo kits, have both showcased paper board to be a very capable low-cost solution to plastic parts. The board serves as a great packaging material too, knocking two birds with one stone.. and while it isn’t as permanent as plastic (the Ahadrone wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the rain), with the right template, people can rebuild their own cardboard parts, either out of a board, plastic sheets, or even 3D printing them!

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The Net Drone is a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made together by joining four identical quadrants with propellers. The drone takes off into the sky to rescue victims stuck at the top of high-rises in the event of a calamity requiring evacuation. It then, promptly, splits into four parts, as a safety net unfurls between the individual parts, creating a protective bed the victim can jump onto. Once the victim lands safely in the net, the drone carries them to safety, ensuring no human lives are endangered in the high-altitude, high-risk rescue attempt. While the technology to pull off such a complex rescue doesn’t really exist, the concept definitely makes a great case for how drones should be built in the future to assist humans in life-threatening situations.

DJI‘s latest drone doesn’t want you to simply operate it… it wants to put you in a virtual cockpit. The DJI FPV Drone isn’t so much about being an incredible drone as it is about boasting of its one, standout feature – the FPV or First Person View. Armed with a pretty futuristic-looking pair of goggles, a low-latency video transmission unit, and a redesigned set of controllers, the DJI FPV drone is about giving YOU the thrill of the flight by allowing you to see exactly what the drone sees… in real-time! At the heart of the DJI FPV drone are two incredibly revolutionary innovations. Firstly, its HD Low-Latency Transmission of video that gives you the ability to view high-definition footage from the drone in stunning real-time; and secondly, its set of hardware controllers, which allow all sorts of users to experience the FPV’s glorious adrenaline rush, whether you’re a novice or a pro-drone-flyer.

Latvia-based company Dartz Motorz takes that vision as an inspiration for a future where drones will complement our style and panache. They want to change the image of drones from being mere toys or industrial assets to that being an accessory that enhances the owner’s individuality. Dubbed the Dartz Prombdrone Black Bee, it is co-developed with drone pros Fixar who’ve given it the advantages of a helicopter and unmanned aircraft while doing away with the disadvantages of tilt rotors. The designer drone based on the Fixar 007 Outdoor model can take off and land like a copter and also has a high flight range courtesy of the wing lift. The design is such that the transition from the helicopter mode to the aircraft mode is seamless.

Designed by the students of the Hongik University, the Traverse is a conceptual drone powered by AI that’s designed to be a personal trainer for recreational runners. The autonomous drone comes with a quad-propeller layout, and also features multiple fish-eye cameras that help it navigate through spaces without requiring any external controls. A main gimbal-mounted camera focuses on you, the runner, and the camera focuses on you as you run, monitoring your speed, performance, technique, laps, and charts your overall progress. While running, Traverse takes photos and videos of runners to give them Form correction & visual running feedback by tracking their posture with deep learning. The Traverse drone is accompanied by the Pod, a wearable that sits around your neck. The drone uses the wearable as a tracking tag, while the Pod itself works as your personal coach, giving you audio feedback to improve your form and performance.

aurora_01

aurora_02

Did you know that Nikola Tesla patented a drone before there were drones?! Over 100 years ago he called these imagined vessels as being used to carry packages, establish communication with inaccessible regions, and “many other scientific purposes.” Drones are basically in the brand’s DNA, so it’s no wonder that there is so much hype around what a Tesla drone might be like! In this concept, called Aurora, Tesla’s electric motor technology is applied to a tricopter design to facilitate long-range, extended-time camera capability. Operating either autonomously or controlled manually, it’s ideal for reconnaissance, checking on out-of-reach machinery, routine structure inspections, or simply for capturing vivid photography and video for fun. The three-rotor design allows for larger propellers. This results in fewer required rotations and less energy to fly, making it more efficient with up to 35% more battery life. Because of the size of the propellers, it also has greater acceleration and better maneuverability.

The Alvix Multifunctional Drone isn’t designed to look like your average hobby drone. It comes in a compact cylindrical format, made for easy carrying, and opens out into a rugged drone capable of recording and monitoring extreme sports enthusiasts and players, who always carry heavy equipment and perform high-risk sporting activities alone. Think of the Alvix drone as your spotter, but in the outdoors – keeping a watchful eye on you as you engage in extreme sports. Its cylindrical format makes it easy to carry, as well as gives it a protective covering, as the drone’s propellers have built-in circular guards around them. The drone comes with a wearable that helps it track the wearer at all times, keeping a watchful eye on them.

The Mars Aerial Exploratory Drone 2030 which is the brain-child of 3D Generalist Anton Weaver aims to be the lead aerial surveillance vehicle that helps in tracking out the key habitat zones or detect any unknown threats in advance with its vantage position up in the air. The drone is inspired by the NASA Mars Helicopter which is planned for use with the scouting tasks for the future Mars rovers. According to Anton, the drone is more advanced than NASA’s iteration, with “bigger, smarter, and more utility.” It has soft landing pads for any surface on the planet and runs on the solar power of the sun. That said the primary objective of the drone will be to identify the points of interest for the research team and detect sites that’ll be of interest to the ground team.

Meet Oasis, an Aeronaval Rescue Drone capable of helping rescue people drowning in waters by not just locating them, but also pulling them to the nearest vessel to safety. Designed in the aftermath of the accidents caused by the Boeing 737 Max, the Oasis aims at being able to help search-and-rescue teams to reach farther and cover much more ground in lesser time. The autonomous drones are instantly deployed in an emergency situation. They fly in grid patterns to efficiently scan waters for any signs of humans. When found, the drone descends to the water’s surface, relying on two buoyancy devices to float on top of the water. The human then latches onto the drone, as it essentially does the job of a tugboat, pulling the human either to shore or to the nearest rescue vessel.

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Designed for site-recon for buildings under construction, the SiteWasp was built to be your all-in-one monitoring drone. “The objective of the SiteWasp drone is to remotely provide stakeholders with construction updates, thus unifying the planning process and the building process. This 3D drone system scans, measures, analyses, and documents with high-resolution images of the current state and process of construction. It uses the digital BIM (Building Information Model) so that all remote stakeholders can react directly to crucial errors and differences, which leads to a more synchronized and efficient workflow.” Made to do a better job than a construction supervisor, and in less time, the SiteWasp can complete an entire recon in a matter of hours, whereas it would take a human day to complete an exhaustive check of the building and its progress.