U.S. tech startup Skydweller Aero has teamed up with Thales, a French electronics company specializing in defense systems, to develop a new maritime surveillance drone that can stay aloft far longer than existing machines.

Skydweller powers itself purely from solar energy and aims to be capable of continuous flight. The initial flight milestone will be for it to remain aloft for 90 days, but ultimately it has the potential to fly for much longer.

The solar energy that powers the Skydweller is captured by over 17,000 individual solar cells, spread across approximately 2,900 square feet (270 square meters) of wing surface — across a wingspan of 236 feet (72 m), 25 feet (7.6 m) longer than a Boeing 747. In ideal conditions, the solar cells can generate up to 100 kilowatts of power for the aircraft.

During daylight hours, solar energy is used to maintain flight, power the onboard avionics and charge batteries. The Skydweller has over 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms) of batteries, which are used to power the aircraft through the night. This will allow Skydweller to maintain almost continuous flight.

The Skydweller typically flies at an altitude between 24,600 and 34,400 feet (7,500 and 10,500 meters), but can fly as high as 44,600 feet (13,600m) during the day, before dropping by 4,900 to 9,800 feet (1,500 to 3,000m)at night, as this minimizes power consumption.

Despite its similar wingspan to a long-range commercial airliner, Skydweller weighs 160 times less than a "jumbo jet" — 2.5 metric tons at maximum capacity versus 400 tons for the 747 at full payload.

Related: China has developed the largest drone carrier in the world — and it's getting ready for takeoff

Solar-powered aircraft are not completely new, but some designs have suffered structural problems, including catastrophic failure mid-flight when climbing or descending through medium altitudes (approximately 6,500-32,800 feet, or 2,000-10,000 m).

The Skydweller has been specifically designed to operate in this altitude range, using automatic gust-load alleviation software in the flight control system to reduce the aerodynamic loads caused by turbulence. It has also been constructed from carbon fiber and can carry up to 800 pounds (362 kg) of payload.

Continuous surveillance by sky

Operating an aircraft continuously and reliably for up to 90 days necessitates a quadruple-redundant flight control system and vehicle management system (VMS). Should one of the onboard systems fail, a backup system can take over to maintain the flight.

Self-healing algorithms within the VMS allow any failed strings (coding in an algorithm) to be autonomously shut down, corrected and resurrected during flight, thereby allowing the aircraft to return to quadruple redundancy, according to information published by company representatives. This enables the aircraft to consistently maintain flight.

Although the onboard batteries, once sufficiently charged, can maintain flight during the night, their capacity will degrade over time, which could limit the maximum patrol duration of the aircraft. Skydweller’s reliance on solar power to maintain flight means that its patrols must also avoid areas of limited sunlight, such as polar regions during winter.

Skydweller Aero has recently partnered with Thales to equip Skydweller with a radar surveillance system designed for maritime patrol operations. Further test flights are planned, with the goal of extending the maximum flight duration. Even so, this is a massive step forward in solar-powered flight, especially for long-term surveillance monitoring.

China is set to deploy the largest drone carrier in the world by the end of June. Nicknamed the "drone mothership," the aircraft promises to provide China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with more capability to deploy swarms of drones for combat, surveillance, emergency rescue missions, and other purposes.

The Jiu Tian drone carrier, an 11-ton (10 tonnes) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), can carry up to 100 smaller UAVs weighing an additional 6.6 tons (6 tonnes) up to 4,350 miles (7,000 km), according to a report published in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The aircraft was introduced in November at the international Zhuhai Air Show, China’s biggest aerospace trade show, and has the potential to launch kamikaze drones (also called loitering munitions) — UAVs that are designed to wait until their target is found, then intercept and crash into them, often while armed with explosives.

Kamikaze drones are becoming more common in warfare — Russia has used them extensively in its invasion of Ukraine to target power stations, population centers, and military equipment. Ukraine has combated their use by shooting down the drones before they can strike, setting up advanced air defense systems from allies, and building makeshift cages from chain link fencing and tree branches around likely targets.

Unlike kamikaze drones already in use, China’s drone "mothership" is designed to launch entire swarms of coordinating drones that might be able to overwhelm some existing air defense systems, according to the South China Morning Post.

"The big thing that really keeps me up at night is swarms," Col. Andrew Konicki, the head of the US Marine Corps Systems Command’s ground-based air defense said at a military exposition for US Marines on April 30.

Individual drones are often viewed as expendable, but when working together, they can accomplish a lot — especially when coordinated using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to navigate obstacles and respond to some attempts to interfere with their operations. Also, drone swarms are often cheaper to build and maintain than the defence systems used to shoot them down, depending on the level of technology and size of the swarm.

However, questions remain over how practical the Jiu Tian would be in some scenarios, and there isn’t a lot of information about the carrier’s technical specifications.

"China's display of advanced weapons systems can generate hype in ways that can align with deterrent and propaganda objectives, even when the actual capabilities remain unconfirmed," Elsa Kania, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Live Science in an email. Her research centers on China’s military strategy, defense innovation, and emerging technologies.

"For instance, given its size, there are reasons to question the survivability of the Jiutian in highly contested environments, even equipped with electronic warfare capabilities.The Chinese defense industry is also a leading exporter of unmanned systems, which has accelerated the global diffusion of these capabilities. The displaying of and deliberate disclosures about advanced unmanned systems can also serve advertising purposes sometimes in that regard."

Jiu Tian's drone swarms also have many applications beyond combat, including resource monitoring, disaster relief, and emergency response operations thanks to its modular payload design. Swarms could make it a lot easier to assess damage from natural disasters, look for survivors, and help rescuers navigate dangerous terrain.

The aircraft's first mission is expected to begin before the end of June and will consist of operational tests before it joins the rest of the PLA's UAV fleet.

Scientists are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) chip the size of a grain of rice that can mimic human brains — and they plan to use it in miniature drones.

Although AI can automate monotonous functions, it is resource-intensive and requires large amounts of energy to operate. Drones also require energy for propulsion, navigation, sensing, stabilization and communication.

Larger drones can better compensate for AI's energy demands by using an engine, but smaller drones rely on battery power — meaning AI energy demands can reduce flying time from 45 minutes to just four.

But this may not be a problem forever., Suin Yi and his team at the University of Texas have been awarded funding by the 2025 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program (part of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research) to develop an energy-efficient AI for drones. Their goal is to build a chip the size of a grain of rice with various AI capabilities — including autonomous piloting and object recognition — within three years.

AI-powered miniature drones

To build a more energy-efficient AI chip, the scientists propose using conducting polymer thin films. These are (so far) an underused aspect of neuromorphic computing; this is a computer system that mimics the brain’s structure to enable highly efficient information processing.

The researchers intend to replicate how neurons learn and make decisions, thereby saving energy by only being used when required, similar to how a human brain uses different parts for different functions.

Although neuromorphic computing was first proposed by scientist Carver Mead in the late 1980s, it is a field of computer design theory that is still in development. In 2024, Intel unveiled their Hala Point neuromorphic computer, which is powered by more than 1,000 new AI chips and performs 50 times faster than conventional computing systems.

Meanwhile, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center develops AI software and neuromorphic hardware. Their particular focus is on developing systems for sharing all sensor information with every member of a network of neuromorphic-enabled units. This technology could allow for greater situational awareness, with applications so far including headsets and robotics.

Using technology developed through this research, drones could become more intelligent by integrating conducting polymer material systems that can function like neurons in a brain.

If Yi’s research project is successful, miniature drones could become increasingly intelligent. An AI system using neuromorphic computing could allow smaller and smarter automated drones to be developed to provide remote monitoring in confined locations, with a much longer flying time.

A new comb-like computer chip could be the key to equipping drones, smartphones and autonomous vehicles with military-grade positioning technology that was previously confined to space agencies and research labs.

Scientists have developed a "microcomb chip" — a 5 millimeter (0.2 inches) wide computer chip equipped with tiny teeth like those on a comb — that could make optical atomic clocks, the most precise timekeeping pieces on the planet, small and practical enough for real-world use.

This could mean GPS-equipped systems a thousand times more accurate than the best we have today, improving everything from smartphone and drone navigation to seismic monitoring and geological surveys, the researchers said in a statement. They published their findings Feb. 19 in the journal Nature Photonics.

Up and atom

"Today's atomic clocks enable GPS systems with a positional accuracy of a few meters [where 1 meter is 3.3 feet]. With an optical atomic clock, you may achieve a precision of just a few centimeters [where 1 centimeter is 0.4 inches]," study co-author Minghao Qi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, said in the statement.

Related: How long is a second?

"This improves the autonomy of vehicles, and all electronic systems based on positioning. An optical atomic clock can also detect minimal changes in latitude on the Earth's surface and can be used for monitoring, for example, volcanic activity."

There are approximately 400 high-precision atomic clocks worldwide, which use the principles of quantum mechanics to keep time.

This typically involves using microwaves to stimulate atoms to shift between energy states. These shifts, called oscillations, happen naturally at an extremely high rate, acting like an ultra-precise ticking clock that keeps timekeeping accurate to within a billionth of a second.

That is why atomic clocks form the backbone of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) — which is used to set global time zones — and GPS (global positioning system) satellites, which rely on atomic timekeeping to provide positioning data to cars, smartphones and other devices.

Despite this incredible accuracy, traditional atomic clocks are far less accurate than optical atomic clocks. Where standard atomic clocks use microwave frequencies to excite atoms, optical atomic clocks use laser light, enabling them to measure atomic vibrations at a much finer scale — making them thousands of times more precise.

Until now, optical atomic clocks have been confined to extremely limited scientific and research environments, such as NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This is because they are extremely complex, putting them well out of reach of your standard Casio fan.

Tapping into the teeth of a comb

Microcomb chips could change this by bridging the gap between high-frequency optical signals (which optical atomic clocks use) and the radio frequencies used in the navigation and communication systems that modern electronics rely on.

"Like the teeth of a comb, a microcomb consists of a spectrum of evenly distributed light frequencies. Optical atomic clocks can be built by locking a microcomb tooth to a ultra-narrow-linewidth laser, which in turn locks to an atomic transition with extremely high frequency stability," the researchers explained in the statement.

They likened the new system to a set of gears, where a tiny, fast-spinning gear (the optical frequency) drives a larger, slower one (the radio frequency). Just as gears transfer motion while reducing speed, the microcomb acts as a converter that changes the ultra-fast oscillations of atoms into a stable time signal that electronics can process.

"Moreover, the minimal size of the microcomb makes it possible to shrink the atomic clock system significantly while maintaining its extraordinary precision," study co-author Victor Torres Company, professor of photonics at Chalmers, said in the statement. "We hope that future advances in materials and manufacturing techniques can further streamline the technology, bringing us closer to a world where ultra-precise timekeeping is a standard feature in our mobile phones and computers."

LAS VEGAS — Not only have tens of thousands of people descended on Las Vegas for CES 2025, but numerous robots of all shapes and sizes are at the international tech event too. From therapeutic machines to robot dogs and everything in between, CES 2025 proved that robotics has come on in leaps and bounds in recent months.

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and engineering advancements, all kinds of cute, amusing, helpful, unusual — and terrifying — machines are now emerging. These are the highlights that Live Science picked out at this year's show.

1. Pixar-looking robotic lamp

If you crossed the iconic Pixar lamp with a stylish, wooden side table, you might get something that looks a bit like Mi-Mo. Developed by Jizai, Mi-Mo is the first iteration of the company's general-purpose customizable AI robot, with standard and pro models available. We spotted the little robot waving using one of its wooden legs and rotating its lamp face — but it can do so much more, thanks to several layers of AI software that enable the machine to adapt to its surroundings. Later this year, Jizai will release a toolkit to enable developers to build apps and software for the bot, before the company begins releasing customizable hardware. But it will set you back around $30,000 for the more advanced version.

2. A droid that can help at home

We are beginning to see more and more robots that are designed to perform tasks at home, and R2D3 is among the most advanced we've encountered to date. This droid includes AI that enables the robot to learn over time; different hardware that can be swapped, added and removed; as well as sensors that help the robot adapt to its surroundings.

3. Pool-cleaning robot that returns home to charge

Although there are plenty of intriguing pool-cleaning robots out there, the Wybot S2 Pro model is the first that's configured to return to its dock and charge wirelessly. The dock can be fitted onto the side of your pool, with the Wybot attaching itself to the unit when required. When its battery level dips below 20%, the roving robot automatically searches for its charging dock and begins to recharge — filling its battery tank up in three hours and lasting 3.5 hours between charges.

4. A spherical drone that can roll (and also fly)

Unlike most small commercial drones, which generally have four propellers in a particular arrangement above the body, HAGAMOSphere is a device with eight propellers mounted on a cubic frame and placed in a spherical chassis. The drone not only flies horizontally and vertically in any direction, but it can also roll and rotate on the ground. Its creators hope to see it deployed in various disaster-recovery scenarios in the future.

5. A humanlike android that wants to get to know you

Meet Aria — a humanlike, AI-powered android that's designed specifically to get to know you and become a companion. RealRobotix engineers used several layers of proprietary AI, combined with hardware designed to make the android as human-like as possible, to create a robot they think can bridge the gap between humanoid robots and humans. Although not quite an artificial general intelligence (AGI) agent, Aria is designed to be context-aware and can learn more about you over time — making it ideal either for commercial usage in customer-facing roles or as a romantic companion, representatives told Live Science.

6. The robot vacuum with so much under the hood

You could be forgiven for thinking this is just another robot vacuum cleaner at first glance, but popping out from the center are robot appendages — and even a display that disguises itself as the robot's face — that enable it to do so much more. The SwitchBot K20+ Pro can perform multiple tasks in the home thanks to its robotic arm and finger grips — from cleaning up trash to serving as a humidifier.

7. The robot turtle that wants to clean up the ocean

BeatBot, the creator of pool-cleaning robots, unveiled its robotic turtle concept at CES 2025. The bot can be released into vast bodies of water to help purify them and to conduct research. The solar-powered robotic turtle is a relatively small unit — around the size of a robot vacuum cleaner — and is designed to help resolve ecological challenges.

8. Samsung's Star Wars-style home droid

It's hard to believe that Ballie — the concept AI-powered robot that looks a bit like a Star Wars droid — is already five years old. But the bright yellow, rolling smart home companion is finally getting released commercially this year, Samsung representatives announced during a press conference at CES. Responding to "Hey, Ballie," the robot comes with plenty of sensors, a projector and AI features that are designed to help you complete daily tasks, such as giving you directions. It also has a 2K camera on its rear and a 4K camera on its front.

9. Unitree's backflipping quadruped

The maker of one of the fastest humanoid robots in the world came to CES 2025 in Las Vegas to showcase its latest models, including a rather eerie quadruped robot — commonly known as a "robot dog" — that impressed crowds with its acrobatics and agility. In one trick, the robot stood up on its hind legs like a meerkat and scuttled around the show floor surveying the gathered attendees.

10. A tiny robot dog that can teach you coding skills

This robotic canine looks more like a dog than other eerie quadrupeds we've seen, but it's so small you can hold it in the palm of your hand. The tiny robot caught our eye dancing in response to voice commands, but it is also fully programmable, company Davy Robot says, and could be a way to teach youngsters how to code.

11. A fantastical android with an animated face

The Mirokaï, a 4.3 foot-tall (1.3 meters) robot that moves using a rollable ball rather than legs, is among the most eye-catching robots at CES — not only for its bright colors but also its interactive, cartoonish face. The unusual design incorporates a digital rather than physical face, and its creator Enchanted says it can navigate a space autonomously and become familiar with new people and environments.

12. A robot created with your smartphone

The engineers at Tangible Future who created LOOI say this robot is a "visitor from a distant galaxy" — and its cheery expression, using just two eyes to communicate different moods, evokes a similar charm to Disney's WALL-E. You can connect your smartphone to this device to be its main user interface, and the built-in ChatGPT engine lets you interact with it and play games.

13. A furry creature that hooks onto your bag

This adorable (or slightly unsettling) miniature robot can cling onto your bag and interact with people around you. Mirumi resembles a sloth and uses a built-in measurement unit and distance sensor to blink its googly eyes and rotate its head, depending on who is near.

14. A robotic coffee machine

This robotic all-in-one coffee machine did impress us initially — especially its ability to examine any photo and translate it into intricate coffee art. But the whole process, from choosing your drink to taking your first sip, takes a long time, and the machine malfunctioned during the demo when it ran out of water. So a good old coffee machine — or even just relying on a barista — is probably a safer bet if you don't mind a more classic design on your cappuccino.

15. ADAM — the robotic mixologist

The robotic bartender ADAM uses AI to mix the perfect drink, scientists at Richtech Robotics say. It can be configured to make coffee or boba tea (or bubble tea) too. This is thanks to its software that includes an extensive drinks library. It also interacts with customers, company representatives say, and provides drink recommendations.

16. An autonomous wheel that transforms objects into robots

Although technically not a robot, this moving box caught our eye as it rolled through the halls at CES 2025. This was all made possible thanks to wheel.me — the world's first autonomous wheel, which is capable of turning any object into a robot. All you would need to do is choose an object, mount the wheels, configure the robot with software and set it loose.

17. Arobot that can beat you at chess (and other games)

This chess-playing robot is considerably smaller than Deep Blue — the huge AI supercomputer that famously beat Garry Kasparov in 1996. But this AI-powered game-playing robot can master chess, Go and checkers (depending on the model). Its maker, SenseRobot, hopes to mass produce its mobile game-playing robots for kids who want to learn or as a training partner for professionals. The robot's Apex Duel mode puts users up against an opponent with an ELO3200 skill level in chess — higher than all world champions, with no human going above 3,000 ELO points.

What's bright, flying and reportedly swarming the night skies over northern New Jersey?

The answer, apparently, is "drones," but no one seems to know — or, at least, to be able to disclose — much more than that.

The past several weeks have seen surging reports of strange unidentified aircraft — some allegedly as large as a car — over parts of the Garden State. Eyewitnesses and videos suggest that some are rotorcraft and others are fixed-wing. Some purportedly fly solo and erratically, while others seem to operate in an orderly formation. All, however, seem to show no signs of stealth; they've been described as conspicuously bright lights. And, according to a Dec. 5 social media post by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, the spate of sightings is being seriously investigated — but "there is no known threat to the public at this time."

Many of the reports initially clustered in New Jersey's Morris County — where strange objects were seen apparently maneuvering over major waterways, municipal reservoirs and even sensitive military facilities such as the U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal — but some of the latest sightings are from other surrounding counties and stretch as far south as the outskirts of Philadelphia. The activity comes amid fresh reports of alarming drone activity elsewhere, including at four U.S.-used military bases in the U.K. in recent weeks, and around Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in December 2023.

The uptick in reports in New Jersey has spurred a patchwork of responses from local, state and national authorities. About 20 elected officials in Morris County signed and sent a letter to relevant federal agencies, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily banned drone flights over Picatinny Arsenal and the Bedminster, New Jersey golf club owned by President-elect Donald Trump. Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced it was probing the matter, issuing a statement alongside the New Jersey State Police and the state's Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, seeking information related to the drone sightings. In its advisory, the FBI asked that eyewitnesses submit their reports via the "Call FBI" hotline (1-800-225-5324) or an agency website.

Related: 32 sci-fi technology predictions that came true

In the interim, many eyewitnesses have instead turned to local news organizations, as well as to Enigma Labs, a New York City-based startup that allows users of its smartphone app to submit geolocated reports and recordings of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). According to Christine Kim, Enigma Labs's head of marketing, the company processes thousands of sightings each month, and has received dozens of related reports (including some with video) from users in the region in the last three weeks, with 16 percent of its U.S. submissions in that time related to the NJ drones.

"This is an active investigation where what's needed is more eyes on the sky," Kim says. "For us, this is like a 'stress test' of getting our users to film and report on what they're seeing, so that we can crowdsource this and investigate together. … We don't have clear answers yet, but by getting more data we can try to find and figure out patterns in what we're seeing."

So far, Kim notes, the content and quality of the reports is so variable that certainty is elusive. "One person wrote they saw a large triangular craft with three lights on its corners, not flying high or fast, shining too bright to be a conventional aircraft. Another one reported seeing several craft night after night, flying really fast, with different ranges of brightness and looking relatively small next to other helicopters and planes. … Some of the photos I've seen floating around out there, we're like, 'Yeah, that's what a plane looks like in the clouds.' So we're sort of debunking some of these ourselves, too."

Writing on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday in response to the sightings, UAP skeptic and investigator Mick West posted a smartphone video of a supposed "drone" he had recorded near his California home, noting that it was in fact an ordinary aircraft passing overhead as confirmed by flight-tracking data. Many of the New Jersey sightings, his post suggests, are likely to be similar cases of mistaken identity — in large part because of how poor most smartphone optics are, and how easy it is for even experienced observers to misgauge the sizes, distances and motions of objects in the sky.

Even so, to attribute all these latest sightings and the wealth of recordings to mere mass hysteria seems implausible, especially given the resulting responses from multiple echelons of law enforcement. Something strange is indeed in the air over northern New Jersey — but what, exactly, remains to be seen.

This article was first published at Scientific American. © ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved. Follow on TikTok and Instagram, X and Facebook.

A new computer vision system inspired by cats' eyes could enable robots to see the world around them more accurately than ever before.

Robots, drones, self-driving cars and other autonomous systems are becoming more common, but they still struggle to see well in all environments and conditions. For example, self-driving cars perform poorly in rain or fog because these conditions affect the car's sensors and cameras.

Now, scientists have designed a new vision system that uses advanced lenses and sensors modeled on the structure of a feline's eye, leading to enhanced object detection and recognition. They outlined their computer vision system in a study published Sept. 18 in the journal Science Advances.

They chose a cat's eye for inspiration because our furry friends have great vision in both light and dark environments. During the day, a cat's pupil is a vertical slit-like shape that filters out light and reduces glare, helping a cat to focus. The pupil then widens to let in more light at night — with a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum enhancing their vision by reflecting visible light back through the retina and increasing the light available to photoreceptors.

Similarly, the new system includes a slit-like aperture that helps to filter out unnecessary light and single out key objects in bright conditions, and then uses reflective layers like those found in cats' eyes to improve visibility in low-light conditions.

Related: Watch this eerily silent vision of the future — where offices are filled with weird, AI-powered robots

"Robotic cameras often struggle to spot objects in busy or camouflaged backgrounds, especially when lighting conditions change. Our design solves this by letting robots blur out unnecessary details and focus on important objects," study lead author Young Min Song, professor of electronic engineering at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in South Korea, said in a statement.

And because the computer vision system relies on a specialized lens rather than hefty computer processing, it is more energy-efficient, Song added.

When the researchers tested their system, they found it successfully blurred background objects while maintaining a focus on the target object. They also used a neural network — a collection of machine learning algorithms designed to process information in a similar way to the human brain — to help the system better perceive important objects.

They added that for the system to be deployed in practical and commercial settings, they would need to improve the pixel resolution of the field of view. But it could, in the future, be integrated into robots and other machines, including military drones and surveillance robots, the scientists said.

In particular, the technology could be proficient enough to let the robots detect, track and recognize targets in constantly changing environments where it may be very difficult to see.

Science fiction, be it in the form of a book, movie, game or comic, is often a rich vein to tap for predictions of what technology could be on the horizon, or a sign as to where existing tech could go next. But you may be surprised to know that a good swath of what may seem like sci-fi actually exists in one form or another today. 

Sure, we’ve yet to find ways to jump to hyperspace or have robots take care of our every whim, but there’s a lot of technology available right now that would have seemed like the fever dream of an impassioned fiction writer only a handful of years ago. 

So here are 32 science fiction technologies that exist today — many of which you can try out for yourself.

3D printing

Star Trek’s replicator gave sci-fi fans the idea of creating things quickly out of some mystery energy/genetic material, with Captain Jean-Luc Picard barking "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."

Once total fantasy, 3D printers have made it possible to make a lot out of base polymers or even 3D print food. Modern 3D printers can create all manner of products out of polymers, metal and resin in a matter of hours, from car and vacuum cleaner components to toys, guns, models and more. And food can even be 3D printed by making use of paste-like foodstuffs such as gels and doughs.

Electric cars

The idea of cars powered by anything other than gasoline — and steam in the late 19th century — used to feel like a fantasy, with 1910’s Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout; Or, The Speediest Car on the Road envisioning an electric car that could travel 300 to 400 miles (480 to 640 kilometers) on a single charge and hit speeds of 100 mph (160 km/h). But what was fantastical 100-plus years ago is now a stone-cold reality. 

Driven forward by the likes of Tesla, modern electric cars can go hundreds of miles on a single charge and hit top speeds well in excess of 100 mph, with instant torque delivered via battery-powered motors offering huge acceleration. The only real limits to EVs are a still fledgling charging infrastructure and concerns over the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries.

Video calls and conferences

The idea of long-distance visual communications has been a staple in sci-fi for years, arguably iconified in Star Trek’s barking command of “on screen” resulting in a ship's forward window becoming a video feed of an often disgruntled alien. Fast forward a handful of decades and video calling has become commonplace in all manner of jobs where the need to be in an office or set location is no longer paramount.

The likes of Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams surged in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, not only facilitating remote working amid lockdowns and stay-at-home directives, but also providing a social outlet for people isolated at home. 

Of course, before that the rise of smartphones and Apple’s FaceTime had already made video calling seem only moderately novel, with rapid adoption by other phone brands and technology companies democratizing video communication and conferencing for pretty much anyone with an internet connection and even a basic smartphone.

Creative AI and virtual assistants

JARVIS in Marvel’s Iron Man and Samantha from Her cemented the idea of AI-powered virtual assistants that can aid their users in everyday life; be it creating a new element or simply being around to discuss one’s love life in natural, spoken language.

With ChatGPT, Claude 3, Google Gemini and other multimodal generative AI systems, we now have smart tools that can intelligently create things rather than simply seek out existing information. This can manifest itself in asking ChatGPT to come up with a haiku based on alliteration or create images of a dog on a moon, via simple commands spoken or written in natural language. Such AIs can still be a bit hit and miss, but they open a whole new avenue to creating content even if you don’t have the requisite art or Photoshop skills, or providing a virtual friend for times when one feels lonely.

4D movies

The creepily named “Feelies” of Aldous Huxley’s 1932 Brave New World conjured up the idea of movies that are not just seen and heard, but also felt and smelt via physical feedback through the arms of a seat and via a "Scent-Organ" producing smells relating to what’s on-screen. 

Roll on 52 years and we got the first 4D movie with The Sensorium, which released scents into the theater and used bodysonic seats to provide some physical sensations. Such 4D movies and cinemas haven’t taken over from the more traditional 3D viewing experience, but improvements in sound, lighting and haptics have made them more convincing. And immersive cinema experiences from the likes of Secret Cinema can incorporate people into a movie setting in a blend of film and live action, adding an extra dimension again to the watching experience.

Driverless cars

The original Total Recall featured a taxi driven autonomously by sporting a robotic driver. What seemed fanciful in the 1990s is now a reality. No, there aren’t robot taxi drivers, but there are driverless cars. Some of these are at the trial stage, in that they are used in restricted areas for full autonomous driving. Others offer autonomous driving so long as there’s a person behind the wheel to deal with the unexpected maneuvers of fallible humans. 

Legalization and insurance hurdles are the main roadblock to a driverless car future. But with a lot of work being done in everything from autonomous driver aids to full driverless systems, the future of cars may kill the idea of an enthusiastic motorist. 

Jetpacks

An iconic moment in the James Bond film Thunderball was when Sean Connery’s Bond uses the Bell Rocket Belt to escape a villain's chateau and get to his Aston Martin DB5. Such compact jetpacks are also a dime a dozen in all manner of far-future sci-fi, but while these have yet to be created, there are some real-world jetpacks that use clusters of small-scale turbo jet engines that can be vectored to provide some form of flight. Their major limitation is fuel consumption, with flight times limited to mere minutes. 

For those with an affinity for the sea, there are jetpacks like the JetLev that use jets of high-pressure water sucked up from the sea to provide a form of flight. These aren't exactly the tools one would want at hand for escaping a building full of murderous mercenaries, but they show that jetpacks aren’t completely limited to sci-fi.

Cloning

From A Brave New World to Blade Runner and beyond, clones or replicated humans are a regular fixture in science fiction. Human cloning has yet to happen, but cloning animals is very much a reality, first established with Dolly the sheep in 1996. 

Technical obstacles — it took 270 trials to get Dolly — and ethical concerns mean directly cloning a human, called reproductive cloning, remains in the realms of fiction, and even researching techniques for doing so is illegal in many nations. However, therapeutic cloning, whereby stem cells with the same DNA as the donor are created to aid with regenerative medicine such as bone marrow transplants, is an active area of science and is being researched in nations like the U.K., Australia and China.

Humanoid robots

Robots have been around in manufacturing industries for decades, but humanoid robots that can provide a convincing human-like impression, such as those in 2004’s I, Robot, remained very much in the realms of sci-fi until recently, 

Now with Engineering Arts’ Ameca, the so-called “world’s most advanced robot” powered by generative AI, there exists a humanoid robot that can interact with people in a — mostly — near-natural manner, and pull convincing facial expressions thanks to its intricately articulated joints and a flexible, skin-like coating on a robotic skeleton. Having seen Ameca in action, the robot’s ability to create human expressions is almost uncanny. 

Robotic limbs

Many a cyberpunk novel, comic or game has explored the idea of robotic limbs as a form of human augmentation. The Deus Ex games stand out in particular, with robotic limbs being used for both curative surgery, as well as elective replacement of inferior flesh and bone body parts. 

Human augmentation hasn’t reached cyberpunk levels yet, but there are now robotic arms and hands that can carry out far more dexterous movements than prosthetics of the previous few decades. As medical science and robotics advance, we’re likely to see robotic limbs become just as capable as their biological counterparts — maybe even more so. 

Talking cars

Think about talking cars and your mind’s eye will surely think of KITT from Knight Rider. But talking cars are a reality… sort of. 

Thanks to the integration of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto into many modern cars, you can access virtual assistants like Siri and Google Assistant to respond to voice commands in natural language — modern car infotainment systems have some voice control but aren’t as sophisticated as the dedicated assistants in iPhones and Android phones. Meanwhile, chipmaker Qualcomm has its Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, designed to bring generative AI into cars and let people have discussions with an AI about where to eat nearby and what problem a warning light on the dashboard is indicating. 

Holodecks via virtual reality

Star Trek: The Next Generation conjured up the idea of a Holodeck where the crew of the USS Enterprise could go into an expansive room that would realistically replicate all manner of settings, though commonly the crew would go back into 20th century settings or earlier. While true Holodecks have yet to arrive, University College London has the Immersive VR Lab, which lets people explore a virtual setting without the need to wear a virtual reality headset. 

But that’s more for experimental purposes. In the consumer world, a form of Holodeck exists via virtual reality headsets, ranging from simple ones that use mobile-grade chipsets to provide virtual experiences and games, such as the Meta Quest 3, to advanced headsets like the Valve Index and PlayStation VR 2 that can deliver high-fidelity virtual reality games, complete with room-scale VR, eye-tracking and advanced haptic feedback to simulate things like climbing a mountain or the tension of a taut bowstring. Such headsets can effectively turn a room into a form of Holodeck, albeit with a few limitations such as cables.

Virtual worlds

Building upon the concept of Holodecks is the idea of virtual worlds — think the simulated Earth in The Matrix. Thankfully we’ve yet to build AIs that enslave humanity as biological batteries and control them in a virtual take on the late 20th century, but we do have some fairly advanced virtual simulations. 

Games like Second Life provide virtual communities, with people exploring them via avatars and interacting with real humans. Second Like has grown to support some one million players at its peak and has seen people foster real friendships and even relationships that have resulted in real-world marriages. 

Elsewhere, sci-fi space massively multiplayer games like Eve: Online have bloomed into virtual economies with a real-life monetary value — this has seen virtual corporate wars, conspiracies and theft at a massive scale, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars of virtual assets. And the now venerable World of Warcraft gives people a vast and evolving fantasy world to explore with interwoven quests and storylines.

Food in pills

Food in pill form is a classic staple of space-based sci-fi, but even Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured a gum that could impart the flavors and feeling of a roast dinner. 

That level of tech remains the stuff of fiction, but food supplements and the ability to create meals by simply adding hot water to a dried food mix are the real-world parallels. And appetite suppression pills are arguably one way to help people feel full without ever taking a bite out of anything solid.

Rebreathers

Another iconic moment in Thunderball was when Bond was thrown into a shark tank and managed to escape with the assistance of a pair of tiny oxygen tanks connected to a mouthpiece. And in the maligned Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Jedis Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi use similar devices to dive down into the underwater cities of the Gungan.

Such tiny tanks and rebreathers are still fiction, with their size unlikely to provide much more than a few breaths in a real-world application. However, compact oxygen tanks with a mounted mouthpiece are used as emergency backups when a SCUBA aqualung runs out of air or malfunctions. Furthermore, air scrubbing and recycling can act as a form of rebreather on the International Space Station, and in the Extravehicular Mobility Units (spacesuits) used by Space Shuttle astronauts when spacewalking. 

Exo-skeletons

Powered exo-skeletons have featured in sci-fi for years, with some popular examples being the P-5000 Powered Work Loader in Alien, which Ellen Ripley uses to battle a Xenomorph queen, and more recently the exo-skeleton battle suits in Edge of Tomorrow and Elysium. 

But they exist in the real world too. Notably, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Warrior Web program developed prototype exo-skeletons to enable soldiers to carry heavy loads. And Lockheed Martin’s Human Universal Load Carrier allows soldiers to carry loads of up to 200 pounds (91 kilograms) thanks to the use of titanium legs and onboard computers to mimic human movements.

Nuclear-powered vehicles

In 1914, H.G. Wells’ The World Set Free envisioned vehicles running on atomic power, and more recently the Fallout game and TV series ran with his idea, with an alternative history that saw the Atomic V-8 car powered by a nuclear fusion engine. 

Now, while nuclear fusion-powered cars are theoretically possible, safely shrinking a reactor to car engine size is a technical challenge that humans have yet to overcome. However, we do have nuclear-powered vehicles in the form of nuclear submarines and ships. For example, the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier that operated up until 2012 was powered by an unprecedented eight nuclear reactors. And the U.K.’s Royal Navy's Vanguard Class submarines make use of a Rolls-Royce PWR 2 reactor. Unlike their land-based equivalents, these marine reactors use a metal-zirconium alloy rather than ceramic uranium dioxide as fuel, with the goal of having a long core life, so that refueling is only needed after 10 years or more.

Living in space

OK, so the ideal of living in space under giant domes or in vast space stations such as Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine are far from reality. But humans have been living in space for decades, notably with the International Space Station. 

A joint effort between the space agencies of the U.S., Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, the ISS can support astronauts and scientists living in the zero gravity of space while orbiting Earth. Solar panels harvest energy, while supply runs via space shuttles and unmanned rockets keep people in the ISS alive. Resistance training is needed to keep muscles from atrophying in zero-g and the space station is far from self-sufficient, but the ISS does provide a gateway to living in space.

Railguns

Featured a lot in so-called hard sci-fi, railguns can be found mounted on spaceships like The Expanse’s Rocinante, the Daedalus in Stargate, and a lot more. Also known as gauss guns or mass drivers — such as the mass accelerator guns in BioWare’s space opera games Mass Effect — railguns work around the idea of using electromagnetism to accelerate a slug along twin rails, bypassing the need for a combustible accelerant like gunpowder. In fiction, these weapons are generally line-of-sight, firing unguided tungsten rounds at targets within a range where the shot can’t be easily dodged. 

Actually first conceived in 1879 as an electric cannon, functional railguns didn't become a reality until 2010, when BAE Systems developed one capable of firing a 7 lb (3.2 kg) projectile at 3,390 m/s. This used the same concept as the sci-fi equivalents, and saw the U.S. Navy flirt with railgun development until 2021, when it shelved the project. 

Other nations like Japan are also looking into developing rainguns. However, the biggest drawback is the huge energy needed to accelerate a slug. As such, gunpowder-based shells with large caliber guns are still used for close-quarters ship combat. Equally, there are consumer railguns that use electromagnets to accelerate small metal discs. Again, the charge they deliver doesn’t make them effective combat weapons; instead they are more niche guns for casual target practice. 

Space tourism

Exploring the stars is likely the fantasy of many people who’ve looked up at a star-studded sky on a clear night. But with a lack of an efficient fusion engine or faster than light travel, the sci-fi idea of space tourism — adventures to spa facilities on Titan or the joys of Starfield’s Neon city — are still stuck in fiction.

But a form of space tourism does exist, in the guise of Virgin Galactic, whereby a specially-designed ship can take a handful of people to the sub-orbit of Earth — near enough space with low gravity and all. Just be aware you need a spare $450,000 and likely a direct line to Sir Richard Branson.

Stealth tech

Star Trek’s Klingons and their Bird of Prey ships are iconic for their ability to cloak and avoid detection by the likes of the USS Enterprise. The idea here is that the ship can bend light around it to become invisible. In more realistic sci-fi, stealth is less about being invisible than about hiding a ship’s heat signature and radar profile, as seen in Mass Effect’s Normandy stealth frigate and the angular Anubis class stealth frigates in The Expanse. 

Currently, humanity has no spacefaring stealth ship, but stealth ships and craft are very much real. The U.S. navy’s experimental Sea Shadow (IX-529) used an angular design to give it a low-radar profile in order to avoid detection, while the French frigate Forbin has a faceted appearance to reduce its radar cross-section. 

Stealth aircraft work in a similar way, with passive low observable features to minimize their radar profile, while they also use surfaces that can absorb radar energy, preventing it from being bounced back to a receiver.

Smartwatches

Dick Tracey and the likes of Thunderbirds introduced the idea of being able to speak into a watch, even one with video displayed, while the Seiko G757 Sports 100 watch in James Bond film Octopussy, could display messages from MI6 on a small digital display. 

These days this all seems very basic, thanks to smartwatches, led by the Apple Watch. Not only can calls be handed via these watches, the latest smartwatches can track your health metrics, intelligently assess your physical performance, act as an organizer of daily life, control smart home gadgets and more. In the nine years since the original Apple Watch was launched, smartwatches have evolved from phone accessories into wearable computers that arguably eclipse even much of what sci-fi envisioned.

Smartphones

The idea of handheld, do-everything computing devices is a staple in sci-fi, with the likes of Star Trek’s Tricorders purportedly being the inspiration for flip phones. But the hand terminals of The Expanse series are smartphones that have the ability to spool through cross-solar system news feeds and alert people to take specific medication. 

Modern smartphones are arguably rather sci-fi devices in themselves, as they’re basically computers in slim, pocketable, rectangular form. Even budget phones are now capable of putting nearly any information you can imagine at your fingertips, as well as being a portable camera, video editing suite, games console, streaming device, media player, smart tech controller, productivity tool, home for an AI and a lot more. And now some of them fold.

Real-time translation

Universal translators, up to and including the Babel Fish in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, have long been a way for sci-fi to handwave away the problems of communication between “advanced” extraterrestrial lifeforms. However, thanks to Google Translate and now AI-powered translation apps and tools, we are approaching a reality where universal real-time translation is a district possibility. 

Right now, translation tools in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 can provide two-way audio translation of speech in select languages. We still need to discover extraterrestrial life before we can have the universal translators of sci-fi, but we have the rudiments of the technology. 

Targeted advertising

Minority Report envisioned targeted advertising dynamically adjusting ads to suit your interests back in 2002. Around a decade later, it became a reality. As you read this very article you’ll have likely encountered so-called cookies that can scrape what you’ve searched for on your computer or phone’s browser and serve up adverts that are (or should be) relevant to your browsing. 

This has evolved with apps like Google Maps serving up places you might be interested in visiting based on your trips and wandering, while algorithms in streaming services like Netflix and Spotify work to flag content they think is relevant to your tastes.

Sometimes today’s targeted advertising can be uncanny, with the feeling that a conversation you’ve had with friends about a holiday suddenly results in adverts about vacation services popping up on Instagram. However, there's no evidence of such apps being quite that advanced — and users can, thankfully, opt out of targeted advertising. 

Drones

1974’s Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy featured what was basically a drone, in the form of a tiny flying device packed with sensors that could be flown remotely. Now, some 40 years later, consumer drones are very popular, used to take photos and videos that would have previously needed a helicopter, or simply piloted around for fun. Furthermore, drone racing is a legitimate sport and drones can be had in all sizes. 

On the more sinister side, drones are used for military purposes, not only to deliver explosive payloads in a form of a bootstrapped pilotable bomb, but also as dedicated unmanned aerial vehicles armed with cutting-edge guns and missiles that well-equipped militaries can send into a battle zone without the need to risk manned aircraft. With drones being considered for delivery of goods and not just offensive payloads, expect drone use only to expand as this decade marches forward.

Mass surveillance

George Orwell’s 1984 envisioned a dystopian world where people could be watched by the governing powers in their own homes. While this has yet to happen in daily life, U.K. TV show Big Brother borrows from Orwell’s overseeing antagonist and puts willing contestants into a house where they are isolated from the outside world and are constantly monitored by the all-seeing-eye “Big Brother,” who also directs them to do various, often humiliating tasks.

This is entertainment, but mass surveillance also happens in a very real way in daily life. We now live in cities with interconnected surveillance cameras feeding into hub systems. Currently used predominantly as a crime prevention and law enforcement tool, as well as a way to monitor footfall, this level of surveillance can easily track suspicious people from street to street, acting as an eye-in-the-sky guide for police and security. Beijing and London are two of the most-surveilled cities in the world, with the latter having some 67 CCTV cameras per 1,000 people. 

Flying cars

The Jetsons seeded the idea that flying cars are the future, but while electrification of power trains was explored in the past few decades, the idea of flying cars had seemed pie-in-the-sky. 

Yet in recent years more concepts for short-range, electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) taxis and cars have popped up, with many looking set to become a reality this decade. We currently have the technology for somewhat efficient flying cars, but safety, legal and insurance hurdles currently stand in the way, though nations like the U.S. and China are working on establishing guidelines for safe, legal flying cars in the next decade. 

Wireless earbuds and communication

From Star Trek’s ComBadge to James Bond gadgets, the idea of wireless communication via a form of wearable device, mostly earbuds, permeates a lot of sci-fi. But the advent of Apple’s AirPods wireless earbuds galvanized not only cable-free audio but also wireless, hands-free communication. 

The latest iterations of wireless earbuds and headphones contain all manner of smart technology, from active noise cancellation to touch-sensitive controls and movement detection. And now we have bone conduction audio that allows one to receive audio via devices like smart glasses without the need for in- or over-ear headphones. 

World Wide Web

While the concept of the internet existed before William Gibson’s 1984 Neuromancer, the novel is credited with popularizing the term “cyberspace” and envisioned a global network of connected computers transferring information in a graphical interface. If this sounds familiar it’s because that’s the premise of the World Wide Web we have today, though back in the 80s when personal computers were a novel idea, the concept of such linked technology and information highways was science fiction. 

That really started to change in the 1990s, when the Web opened to the public. It has since blossomed to become the place where one can access pretty much the sum total of human knowledge, masses of entertainment, content both pure and sordid, and a whole lot more. Tim Berners-Lee’s invention may have seemed like sci-fi but has changed the way information is consumed, and economies and even societies are influenced at an unprecedented scale and pace; often for the better, but at times for ill.

Synthetic and plant-based meat

Both Bethesda’s Starfield space-exploration epic and the hard sci-fi of James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse series feature synthetic meat, with the idea being that getting fresh, real beef or pork out in deep space would be a logistical nightmare. 

But the idea of using either cultured meat proteins or alternative proteins to replicate meat is very much a reality today. Impossible Foods made waves in recent years by creating a beef burger out of soy protein that mimics the look, feel and flavor of real beef, with many people swearing they can’t tell the difference. 

And vegan food company Beyond Meat makes readily available, plant-based products that aim to replicate the flavor of their real meat counterparts, though discerning palates can still taste the difference between the real and fake. 

While we may hit a limit to how closely vegan foods can replicate real meat, lab-grown meat is being explored as an alternative to the traditional rearing and slaughtering of animals. This process grows meat from real animal cells, thus producing real meat — just without killing a pig or cow. Companies like Eat Just already sell cultured meat, but the problem is producing it at scale at an affordable price; expect things to develop over the next decade.

Household robots

Robot butlers and house-based bots are a staple of science fiction; a recent example being the Codsworth robot in the Fallout TV show and games. While we’ve yet to get humanoid robots to serve us martinis at leisure, many of us do have robots in our homes right now. 

Mostly, these come in the form of robot vacuum cleaners and grass mowers, many of which have advanced tracking and automation regimes so that you can simply leave them to their tasks. But there are also robot pets, most notably Sony’s AIBO robot dog, which can respond to voice commands and sense when it’s being petted. And Amazon’s Astro aims to be an automated home monitoring robot, complete with Alexa built-in to respond to natural language commands.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, but this year was a breakout for the spooky technology, with OpenAI's ChatGPT creating accessible, practical AI for the masses. AI, however, has a checkered history, and today's technology was preceded by a short track record of failed experiments. 

For the most part, innovations in AI seem poised to improve things like medical diagnostics and scientific discovery. One AI model can, for example, detect whether you're at high risk of developing lung cancer by analyzing an X-ray scan. During COVID-19, scientists also built an algorithm that could diagnose the virus by listening to subtle differences in the sound of people's coughs. AI has also been used to design quantum physics experiments beyond what humans have conceived.

But not all the innovations are so benign. From killer drones to AI that threatens humanity's future, here are some of the scariest AI breakthroughs likely to come in 2024.

Q* — the age of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)? 

We don't know why exactly OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was dismissed and reinstated in late 2023. But amid corporate chaos at OpenAI, rumors swirled of an advanced technology that could threaten the future of humanity. That OpenAI system, called Q* (pronounced Q-star) may embody the potentially groundbreaking realization of artificial general intelligence (AGI), Reuters reported. Little is known about this mysterious system, but should reports be true, it could kick AI's capabilities up several notches.

Related: AI is transforming every aspect of science. Here's how.

AGI is a hypothetical tipping point, also known as the "Singularity," in which AI becomes smarter than humans. Current generations of AI still lag in areas in which humans excel, such as context-based reasoning and genuine creativity. Most, if not all, AI-generated content is just regurgitating, in some way, the data used to train it. 

But AGI could potentially perform particular jobs better than most people, scientists have said. It could also be weaponized and used, for example, to create enhanced pathogens, launch massive cyber attacks, or orchestrate mass manipulation.

The idea of AGI has long been confined to science fiction, and many scientists believe we'll never reach this point. For OpenAI to have reached this tipping point already would certainly be a shock — but not beyond the realm of possibility. We know, for example, that Sam Altman was already laying the groundwork for AGI in February 2023, outlining OpenAI's approach to AGI in a blog post. We also know experts are beginning to predict an imminent breakthrough, including Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, who said in November that AGI is in reach within the next five years, Barrons reported. Could 2024 be the breakout year for AGI? Only time will tell. 

Election-rigging hyperrealistic deepfakes 

One of the most pressing cyber threats is that of deepfakes — entirely fabricated images or videos of people that might misrepresent them, incriminate them or bully them. AI deepfake technology hasn't yet been good enough to be a significant threat, but that might be about to change. 

AI can now generate real-time deepfakes — live video feeds, in other words — and it is now becoming so good at generating human faces that people can no longer tell the difference between what's real or fake. Another study, published in the journal Psychological Science on Nov. 13, unearthed the phenomenon of "hyperrealism," in which AI-generated content is more likely to be perceived as "real" than actually real content. 

This would make it practically impossible for people to distinguish fact from fiction with the naked eye. Although tools could help people detect deepfakes, these aren't in the mainstream yet. Intel, for example, has built a real-time deepfake detector that works by using AI to analyze blood flow. But FakeCatcher, as it's known, has produced mixed results, according to the BBC.

As generative AI matures, one scary possibility is that people could deploy deepfakes to attempt to swing elections. The Financial Times (FT) reported, for example, that Bangladesh is bracing itself for an election in January that will be disrupted by deepfakes. As the U.S. gears up for a presidential election in November 2024, there's a possibility that AI and deepfakes could shift the outcome of this critical vote. UC Berkeley is monitoring AI usage in campaigning, for example, and NBC News also reported that many states lack the laws or tools to handle any surge in AI-generated disinformation. 

Mainstream AI-powered killer robots 

Governments around the world are increasingly incorporating AI into tools for warfare. The U.S. government announced on Nov. 22 that 47 states had endorsed a declaration on the responsible use of AI in the military — first launched at The Hague in February. Why was such a declaration needed? Because "irresponsible" use is a real and terrifying prospect. We've seen, for example, AI drones allegedly hunting down soldiers in Libya with no human input. 

AI can recognize patterns, self-learn, make predictions or generate recommendations in military contexts, and an AI arms race is already underway. In 2024, it's likely we'll not only see AI used in weapons systems but also in logistics and decision support systems, as well as research and development. In 2022, for instance, AI generated 40,000 novel, hypothetical chemical weapons. Various branches of the U.S. military have ordered drones that can perform target recognition and battle tracking better than humans. Israel, too, used AI to rapidly identify targets at least 50 times faster than humans can in the latest Israel-Hamas war, according to NPR. 

But one of the most feared development areas is that of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) — or killer robots. Several leading scientists and technologists have warned against killer robots, including Stephen Hawking in 2015 and Elon Musk in 2017, but the technology hasn't yet materialized on a mass scale. 

That said, some worrying developments suggest this year might be a breakout for killer robots. For instance, in Ukraine, Russia allegedly deployed the Zala KYB-UAV drone, which could recognize and attack targets without human intervention, according to a report from The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Australia, too, has developed Ghost Shark — an autonomous submarine system that is set to be produced "at scale", according to Australian Financial Review.  The amount countries around the world are spending on AI is also an indicator — with China raising AI expenditure from a combined $11.6 million in 2010 to $141 million by 2019, according to Datenna, Reuters reported. This is because, the publication added, China is locked in a race with the U.S. to deploy LAWS. Combined, these developments suggest we're entering a new dawn of AI warfare. 

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is spending millions on research to use artificial intelligence (AI) in strategic battlefield decisions.

The military research agency is funding a project — called Strategic Chaos Engine for Planning, Tactics, Experimentation and Resiliency (SCEPTER) — to develop AI technology that will cut through the fog of war. The agency is betting that more-advanced AI models will simplify the complexities of modern warfare, pick out key details from a background of irrelevant information, and ultimately speed up real-time combat decisions.

"A tool to help fill in missing information is useful in many aspects of the military, including in the heat of battle. The key challenge is to recognize the limitations of the prediction machines," said Avi Goldfarb, Rotman chair in artificial intelligence and health care at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and chief data scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab. Goldfarb is not associated with the SCEPTER project.

Related: AI's 'unsettling' rollout is exposing its flaws. How concerned should we be?

"AI does not provide judgment, nor does it make decisions. Instead, it provides information to guide decision-making," Goldfarb told Live Science. "Adversaries will try to reduce the accuracy of the information, making full automation difficult in some situations."

AI support could be especially useful for operations that span land, sea, air, space or cyberspace. DARPA's SCEPTER project has a goal of progressing AI war games beyond existing techniques. By combining expert human knowledge with AI's computational power, DARPA hopes military simulations will become less computationally intensive, which, in turn, could lead to better, quicker war strategies.

Three companies — Charles River Analytics, Parallax Advanced Research, and BAE Systems — have received funding through the SCEPTER project.

Machine learning (ML) is a key area where AI could improve battlefield decision-making. ML is a type of AI where the computers are shown examples, such as past wartime scenarios, and can then make predictions, or "learn" from that data.

"It is where the core advances have been over the past few years," Goldfarb said.

Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the University of New South Wales AI Institute in Australia, and advocate for limits to be placed on autonomous weapons, agreed. But machine learning won't be enough, he added. "Battles rarely repeat — your foes quickly learn not to make the same mistakes," Walsh, who has not received SCEPTER funding, told Live Science in an email. "Therefore, we need to combine ML with other AI methods."

SCEPTER will also focus on improving heuristics — a shortcut to an impractical problem that will not necessarily be perfect but can be produced quickly — and causal AI, which can infer cause and effect, allowing it to approximate human decision-making.

However, even the most progressive, groundbreaking AI technologies have limitations, and none will operate without human intervention. The final say will always come from a human, Goldfarb added.

"These are prediction machines, not decision machines," Goldfarb said. "There is always a human who provides the judgment of which predictions to make, and what to do with those predictions when they arrive."

The U.S. isn't the only country banking on AI to improve wartime decision-making.

"China has made it clear that it seeks military and economic dominance through its use of AI," Walsh told Live Science. "And China is catching up with the U.S. Indeed, by various measures — patents, scientific papers — it is already neck and neck with the U.S."

The SCEPTER project is separate from AI-based projects to develop lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs), which have the capacity to independently search for and engage targets based on preprogrammed constraints and descriptions. Such robots, Walsh noted, have the potential to cause catastrophic harm.

"From a technical perspective, these systems will ultimately be weapons of mass destruction, allowing killing to be industrialized," Walsh said. "They will also introduce a range of problems, such as lowering barriers to war and increasing uncertainty (who has just attacked me?). And, from a moral perspective, we cannot hold machines accountable for their actions in war. They are not moral beings."

Aerial drones equipped with lasers have revealed the secrets of the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and bloodiest battle fought by the U.S. in World War II. 

The drones revealed 941 traces of the battle, including dugouts and bomb craters, according to a study published Tuesday (Aug. 15) in the journal Antiquity. 

Officially known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, the Battle of the Bulge took place between December 1944 and January 1945 in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg, according to the Imperial War Museum in London. Despite being such a huge WWII battle, dense forests in the region shrouded much of the archaeological evidence left behind.

"Although this is a 'high-profile' battlefield, studied intensively by military historians and the subject of significant attention in museums and the popular media, little has been published on its material remains," study lead author Birger Stichelbaut, an archaeologist at Ghent University in Belgium, said in a statement.

Related: World War II 'horror bunker' run by infamous Unit 731 discovered in China

To uncover remnants from the battle, scientists outfitted drones with a remote sensing technology called lidar (light detection and ranging), which uses pulsed lasers to form digital maps of the landscape. They surveyed between the city of St. Vith and the village of Schönberg — an area that was once the central zone of the Battle of the Bulge — and discovered various traces of the war, including artillery platforms, trenches and foxholes (small forts to protect soldiers from enemy fire).

"This [lidar technique] allowed for traces of the battle to be observed on a scale not known until now," Stichelbaut said.

After discovering these features on the virtual map, researchers visited the sites, which helped them identify three distinct phases of the Battle of the Bulge. During the first phase, before the offensive, the Allies maintained a steady front line using U.S. field artillery battalions positioned a few miles west of the area. The researchers surveying this area found artillery fuses, artillery platforms and field fortifications that they believe can likely be attributed to this pre-offensive phase.

During the second phase, at the start of the German offensive, more than 200,000 German troops and nearly 1,000 tanks launched an attack on Allied soldiers. This mayhem left behind field fortifications and German objects at American artillery banks, which likely means that German forces used abandoned American fortifications during the battle, the study's authors wrote.

The final phase was the turning point of this battle, marked by "numerous extant bomb craters," which "indicate that the Allied air forces were able to establish tactical dominance once the weather improved," they wrote. However, the researchers added that some of these craters may have been from earlier points in the battle.

"This paper highlights the wide range of new technology, including LiDAR and drones, that is now being employed by [conflict] archaeologists," James Symonds, a professor of historical archaeology at the University of Amsterdam who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. He added that this research shows how contemporary archaeology can shed new light on "well-known historical events from the recent past."

Moving forward, this technique could be applied to other forested areas of Europe, thereby growing our understanding of different battlefields, the study's authors said. It could also help protect valuable heritage sites, according to Symonds.

"It is significant as it highlights the need to devise cultural heritage strategies to safeguard future heritage, while at the same time demonstrating the difficulties of recovering traces of mechanised and highly mobile modern warfare," he said.

Dead birds are getting a second chance at flying by being transformed into drones.

Researchers think that by creating avian drones using taxidermy birds, they can not only learn about flight but eventually use the drones to monitor wildlife.

"I originally got the idea to do this in 2011, but when I tried making [a bird drone] using artificial materials, I found that the wings weren't as efficient as real birds wings since they weren't flapping at the same angle," Mostafa Hassanalian, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology who led the project, told Live Science. "Flexibility of the wings is important, since they create lift and thrust."

When a bird flaps its wings downward, it causes it to lift; when it flaps its wings upward, it causes thrust, propelling the bird forward.

"Actual bird wings also contain bones," Hassanalian said. "We've found that artificial materials don't have the same efficiency."

Related: Juvenile bird accidentally breaks record for longest non-stop flight on its first attempt

Through trial and error, the researchers learned that this experiment could work only with real bird wings, so the team obtained materials from web retailers such as Amazon and Etsy, which sell bird wings, and also acquired whole birds from taxidermists. Then, they attached parts of the taxidermy birds to electric motors.

"We never hurt any birds while working on this project," Hassanalian said. "We want to help nature, not hurt nature."

By using real wings, the researchers "could reverse engineer the birds," Hassanalian said. Through their experiments, they've gotten a better understanding of how birds conserve energy in flight, such as by flying in V-shaped patterns; they think this information could eventually be applied to the aviation industry and help with saving energy and fuel.

In agreement with earlier research, "we discovered that when birds are flying in a flock, those in the middle section preserve their energy more than in the front," Hassanalian said. "Their efficiency improved by 44%."

So far, the researchers have tested their taxidermy bird models inside cages in the lab as well as around campus. Right now the avian drones can sustain up to 20 minutes of flight; the team uses computer software to simulate wings' flapping motion.

"The technology we're developing will let us fly with the flock," Hassanalian said.

Currently, scientists worldwide use nonbird drones to monitor wildlife, but in many cases, these helicopter-looking devices can spook the animals. However, Hassanalian is hopeful that his team's more lifelike and quieter drone will "blend in" with its surroundings.

"The biggest challenge we have now is that we don't know how living birds will react," Hassanalian said.

The team presented their research at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech 2023 Forum earlier this year.

Have you ever counted sheep to fall asleep? If so, you'll probably find it very relaxing to watch a recent viral video showing a mesmerizing aerial time-lapse of more than 1,000 sheep grazing in grassy meadows.

In the footage, recorded by a drone hovering high overhead, the sheep's tiny bodies swirl, ebb and flow as the flock moves through gates and over fields and pastures. Drone photographer Lior Patel captured the footage in Peace Valley near Yokne'am, a town in northern Israel, and the sped-up time-lapse video quickly went viral after he shared it on Facebook on June 26. 

Over seven months, Patel observed and shot drone video of the herd — which ranged in size from approximately 1,000 to 1,700 sheep — as the sheep traveled about 4 miles (7 kilometers) from their winter enclosure to a summer pasture, he told Live Science.

Related: Drone catches Arecibo Observatory's last moments

The project began Jan. 2, when Patel sat down with the flock's shepherd, whom Patel identified by the single name Mustapha, to talk about filming the sheep with a drone, Patel said. The sheep inhabited winter pastures until the weather got too warm and the grass dried up, whereupon they moved to the summer pastures. 

"I started coming there once every two weeks," Patel said.

The first few times Patel visited, he was observing the flock, figuring out the elasticity of the herd "and how it spreads and contracts," he said. Once Patel was ready to start shooting, the shepherd would indicate the direction in which the flock was likely to move, and Patel would then send his drone into the air and wait for the sheep to pass underneath, monitoring the drone camera through an app on his iPad.

But trying to predict exactly where the sheep would go was often hit-or-miss, Patel told Live Science.

"At the beginning, it was very hard; I assumed they'd go left, and they went right. I didn't see the logic in the sheep movements," he said.

Drone videos can detect landscape features that hide long-hidden ancient structures, such as a Stonehenge-like mound in Ireland and 2,000-year-old desert carvings, both discovered in 2018. Drones also capture astonishing views of natural phenomena that are too dangerous for people to approach closely, such as the eruption of Iceland's Fagradalsfjall volcano in March. 

Footage from drones has even enabled scientists to identify radiation hotspots in Chernobyl by pinpointing locations with high levels of contamination that weren't yet identified on official maps, Live Science previously reported.

Researchers have also used drone footage like Patel's — overhead views of large herds on the ground — to better understand how animals behave collectively. Scientists studying migrating caribou in Canada recorded the animals from the air to observe how social interactions between individuals affected overall herd movement, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

"New technologies, like the drones and computer vision we used in our study, are really exciting because they give us the ability to collect movement data on every single individual in a group simultaneously," said Andrew Berdahl, co-author of the 2018 study. (Berdahl, an assistant professor at the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, was a postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico at the time of the study.) "That means we can now unravel the important role that social interactions play in guiding migratory movements," Berdahl said in a statement in 2018.

In fact, data from Patel's sheep footage could be applied to scientific research someday, he told Live Science.

"As a videographer, I did this just for the beauty of it," he said. "But there's interest in the raw footage as data. When you play the footage at a normal speed, you can find specific patterns of movement within the herd itself.

"I wasn't aware of that when I shot it," he added, "but now I understand why people are interested in it as data, not only as a so-called beautiful video."

Originally published on Live Science.

With an estimated 300 active volcanoes on Earth, the challenge is how to monitor them all to send out early warnings before they erupt. Measuring volcanic gas emissions is also no easy task.

Now researchers have designed specially-adapted drones to help gather data from an active volcano in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The drones could help local communities monitor nearby volcanoes and forecast future eruptions. Their measurements could also tell us more about the most inaccessible, highly active volcanoes on the planet and how volcanoes contribute to the global carbon cycle.

The Manam volcano is located on an island just 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide that sits off the northeast coast of PNG. The island is home to over 9,000 people and Manam Motu, as it's known locally, is one of the most active volcanoes in the country. In 2004, a major eruption from Manam forced the entire island to evacuate to the mainland and devastated people's crops and homes.

Scientists have a few ways of forecasting when a volcano is going to blow. They can monitor earthquake activity in the area to detect tremors which almost always precede eruptions, and look out for bulging in the volcano's sloping walls as magma builds up underneath.

When clear skies allow, satellites can also rapidly detect and measure volcanic emissions of gases such as sulphur dioxide (SO2). Changes to these gas emissions can signal more activity in the volcano below.

"Manam hasn't been studied in detail but we could see from satellite data that it was producing strong emissions," said volcanologist Emma Liu from University College London, who led the research team of earth scientists and aerospace engineers.

"We [also] wanted to quantify the carbon emission[s] from this very large carbon dioxide emitter," added geochemist Tobias Fischer, from the University of New Mexico.

Although volcanoes emit just a fraction of the carbon emissions humans do, researchers still want to be able to estimate what carbon dioxide (CO2) they do emit, to factor this into the carbon budget we have left to limit the effects of climate change.

Traveling to PNG, the international team set about testing two types of long-range drones equipped with gas sensors, cameras, and other devices during two field campaigns on Manam Island, in October 2018 and May 2019.

Manam's steep slopes make it incredibly dangerous to even contemplate collecting gas samples on foot whereas the drones could safely fly right into the billowing plumes, helping the research team measure its volcanic gas emissions more accurately.

The drones flew over 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) high into Manam's highly turbulent volcanic plumes and some 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) away from their launching pad, well out of sight of their pilots. 

On each flight, the drones took images of Manam and its two craters, measured the gas composition right above the rising plumes and collected four bags full of extra gas for rapid analysis when the aircraft touched down.

Aerial images from the drone fly-overs showed that degassing at Manam's southern crater intensified between October 2018 and May 2019. In fact, the volcano soon erupted in June, just one month after the researchers' second field trip. 

But rising volcanic emissions are not alone a reliable indicator of whether an eruption is imminent or likely, so the researchers also looked at the ratio between different gases, namely CO2 and SO2, in Manam's plumes.

This can help detect the ascent of hot magma to the surface and expulsion of CO2-rich emissions that reportedly precede big eruptions. 

However, the researchers found that the mixture of gases emitted from Manam was much the same during both field trips.

Integrating their drone measurements with satellite data, the researchers were able to show that Manam ranks among the top 10 strongest degassing volcanoes in the world, emitting an estimated 3,700 tons of CO2 and roughly 5,100 tons of SO2 each day – higher than previous estimates. 

The team also deduced that most of Manam's emitted carbon is likely derived from the upper mantle, and not sediments from Earth's shallower crust, which they figured out by analyzing different carbon isotopes in the gaseous mix.

"Our novel approach - that is, long-range and high-altitude [drone] operations enabling in situ measurements - is presently the only feasible means by which we can characterize gas chemistry at steep, hazardous, and highly active volcanoes like Manam," the research team concluded in their paper.

Future research will take more diligent work from scientists and flying time from drones, since the measurements from this study spanned just 10 days.

With enough funding for equipment and training for local scientists, the strategy could be used elsewhere to monitor other dangerously inaccessible volcanoes, such as Mayon in the Philippines, and Sinabung in Indonesia.

The research was published in Science Advances. 

This article was originally published by ScienceAlert. Read the original article here.

A drone camera caught a close encounter between a surfer and a white shark off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, last week.

The surfer and the great white shark seemed mutually spooked by their brush with each other — though in the surfer's case, the shock came after he swam ashore and saw the drone footage. He would have otherwise never known that a 4.9-foot (1.5 meters) shark came within inches of his legs.

"I was surfing out the back at Sharpes Beach and just cruising on my own and I heard a splash and a noise and looked around and couldn't see anything," Matt Wilkinson, a pro surfer, said in a statement. "Then the drone came down and told me that there was a dangerous shark in the area, return to the beach."

Related: Surfer's Monster, 80-Foot Wave Came from a Hidden, Underwater Canyon

Swimming with sharks

The drone is operated by Surf Life Saving NSW, an organization that monitors 34 popular beaches in New South Wales by unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to alert surfers and swimmers to the presence of large sharks. The program is part of the $8 million NSW Government Shark Management Strategy. The goal is to prevent shark attacks by getting people out of the water when large sharks are present. When a shark is spotted, the drones broadcast a pre-recorded message warning beachgoers to head to shore.

In the drone video, the shark swims toward Wilkinson, seemingly curious. As he paddles on the board, the shark approaches from behind, then seems to nose the tow rope on the surfboard. Suddenly, it darts away and out of sight. 

"I've been surfing with sharks my whole life, and I understand they're there and know enough about them to know they have not too much interest in humans. I'm just glad today the shark reconsidered at the last second," Wilkinson said.

Nevertheless, Wilkinson said he felt "a bit weird" after the encounter. "I realized how close it came without knowing it was there," he said. 

Related: Photos: Tiny waves frozen in their tracks

In 2015, Wilkinson was competing at a surfing event in J-Bay, South Africa, in which fellow surfer Mick Fanning had a close encounter with a great white shark. The shark did not bite Fanning, but swam close by him, knocked him off his surfboard and severed the leash attaching his ankle to his board. The encounter was captured on video.

Risk management

Shark attacks, especially fatal shark attacks, are rare. According to the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File, there were 64 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2019 and 41 attacks after a swimmer or diver harassed a shark. Only five of the attacks were fatal, four of them unprovoked. On average, there are four fatal shark attacks a year worldwide, according to the museum. 

Australia, however, has a relatively high number of shark-human encounters, because sharks, surfers and swimmers tend to ply the same waters. In 2019, the country was behind only the United States in number of unprovoked shark attacks, with 11 total. 

After two years with only one shark attack death in Australia, 2020 has been a dangerous year, with six deadly shark attacks so far. The most recent was on Sept. 8, when a 46-year-old man died after a shark bit his leg near Greenmount Beach in Queensland, according to CNN. A 57-year-old diver was killed in Western Australia in January, and a 23-year-old wildlife ranger died in April after a shark attack at the Great Barrier Reef. A 36-year-old man was attacked and killed in July while spearfishing off the coast of Queensland. And there have been two deaths in New South Wales: a 60-year-old surfer who died in June after a shark bite to the leg, and a 15-year-old surfer attacked in July. 

Beside the drone surveillance, the New South Wales risk-reduction program also uses underwater listening stations and nonlethal SMART drumlines, which use baited lines to capture sharks near busy beaches. When a shark is snagged, the drumlines send a signal to a nearby fishing boat. If the captured shark is a great white — the species responsible for all fatal shark attacks in Australia since 2000 — it is tagged before its release farther from shore. Data from the tags is intended to determine whether this catch-and-release program reduces interactions between sharks and swimmers. 

Wilkinson said the drone program made him feel better about sharing space with large great white sharks.

"It's nice to know the drones go up and down the beach and can see what we can't and it makes you feel more comfortable," he said. "It makes other people aware that there are sharks out there but usually with no intention. It's nice to know if there's a big one around you can just come in and let them go by." 

Originally published in Live Science.

Blowing bubbles at the dinner table is generally considered to be very bad manners by human standards. But for humpback whales, it's a necessary part of trapping their dinner; humpbacks blow streams of spiraling bubbles to form "nets" of air around groups of the tiny marine creatures that the whales eat. 

Recently, researchers captured rare footage of this incredible sight, using cameras flying overhead and attached to feeding whales in waters near southeastern Alaska.

Airborne drone cameras hovering over humpback whales peered down at bubble trails as they rose up through the water, producing circular pens. At the same time, cameras worn by the whales showed what the net-building looked like from below the water's surface. As the whales exhaled bubbles, the animals swam in circles around their prey, creating an enclosing bubble wall to trap small fish and crustaceans, representatives of the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa said in a statement.

Related: Beastly Feasts: Amazing Photos of Animals and Their Prey

Once a bubble net surrounded the prey, the whale would swim through the net's center and gulp down anything caught inside.

"The footage is rather groundbreaking," said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at UH. "We're observing how these animals are manipulating their prey and preparing the prey for capture," he said in the statement. 

Using suction cups, the researchers equipped whales with tags that held a video camera and accelerometer — instruments that measured the whales' acceleration — for gathering data about the movements in the whales' bubble-producing ballet. Together with the drones, the cameras provided the scientists with exceptional views of the whales as they generated prey-trapping bubble nets.

"The drone's perspective is showing us these bubble nets and how the bubbles are starting to come to the surface and how the animals come up through the bubble net as they surface, while the cameras on the whales are showing us the animal's perspective," Bejder said. "So, overlaying these two data sets is quite exciting."

Every summer, approximately 3,000 humpback whales in Hawai'i migrate around 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) north to Alaska, to gorge themselves where food is plentiful. Months later, at summer's end, the sated whales travel back to waters near Hawai'i, where the females give birth and nourish their offspring, the researchers said in the statement.

Scientists said they anticipate that findings from this mesmerizing bubble-blowing behavior will provide insights on how whales interact with their habitats. The footage and data could also reveal how humpbacks may be affected as climate change drives shifts in prey distribution and abundance, the researchers said. In addition, their observations could help explain why some humpback populations may already be declining, according to the statement. 

• In Photos: Tracking Humpback Whales
• Whale Album: Giants of the Deep
• Images: Sharks & Whales from Above

Originally published on Live Science.

Near ground zero of the catastrophic 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, aerial drones recently revealed radioactive hotspots that aren't on official maps.

An interdisciplinary team flew special drones over Ukraine's Red Forest, one of the most radioactive spots in the world, which is located 0.3 miles (500 meters) from the Chernobyl complex, University of Bristol (UB) representatives announced in a statement.

Using data from the drone observations, the UB scientists, who are part of the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR), created the most detailed map to date of radiation in the forest. They also pinpointed previously unsuspected locations where contamination was unusually intense, according to the statement. [See Images of Chernobyl, Frozen in Time]

The researchers deployed fixed-wing drones, flying 50 missions over the forest over 10 days and mapping a grid over an area measuring about 6 square miles (15 square kilometers). First, drones used a remote-sensing method called lidar — light detection and ranging — to create 3D maps of the terrain. Then, lightweight gamma spectrometers scanned for signatures of radioactive decay.

Radiation contamination in the Red Forest was already known to be higher overall than in any other natural site on Earth. Nevertheless, the scientists found that radioactivity there was unevenly distributed. While radiation had subsided in some areas, others maintained contamination levels that were dangerously high, project leader Tom Scott, a professor at the UB School of Physics, told British television network ITV.

They detected one unexpected hotspot in the ruins of a facility that performed soil separation during cleanup efforts after the accident, the BBC reported. Spent nuclear fuel in the abandoned building was emitting so much radiation that exposure for just a few hours would dose a person with as much radiation as is normally absorbed over an entire year, Scott told the BBC.

And certain radioisotopes that were identified in the Red Forest have very long half lives (the time required for half of their atomic nuclei to decay), "so they're going to be around for a long time," Scott told ITV.

For decades after the accident, the Chernobyl exclusion zone — an area about 1,660 square miles (4,300 square km) around the nuclear complex — was so toxic that nearly all of it was strictly off-limits to people (though wildlife continued to thrive there). But as the radioactivity dissipated, parts of the zone have been opened to tourists, ITV reported.

The recent expedition to the Red Forest was the first in a series of surveys that NCNR will conduct in Ukraine over the next year, and the new maps it is making will help officials to prevent risks to visitors, according to the statement.

• Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster 25 Years Later (Infographic)
• The Top 10 Ways to Destroy Planet Earth
• Fire and Fury: How to Survive a Nuclear Attack

Originally published on Live Science.

When your plane begins making its final descent from 30,000 feet (9,000 meters), you think the worst is over. Then, mere minutes before reaching the landing strip, the whole plane shudders as something heavy smashes into the wing. It's not a bird; it's not another plane. It's a drone — a tiny but nevertheless powerful object that can turn from a toy or a tool to a piece of devastating midair shrapnel in seconds.

Luckily, such a collision has not happened, yet. But according to Kevin Poormon, group leader at the University of Dayton Research Institute's impact physics lab, it's only a matter of time before an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) causes significant damage to a manned aircraft. When that day comes, Poormon wants aviators to know exactly how much damage they can expect their aircraft to sustain — which is why Poormon and his colleagues simulated a collision by launching a small quadcopter out of a cannon at 238 mph (383 km/h) directly into a small airplane's wing earlier this year. [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Planes]

The results… were striking.

 "While the quadcopter broke apart, its energy and mass hung together to create significant damage to the wing," Poormon said in a statement.

As you can see in the high-speed video Poormon and his team recorded, the tiny, 2-lb. (0.9 kilogram) drone disappears into the wing like a bullet into butter (yeah, we googled it). The shattered drone ripped open the wing's leading edge, burrowed inward and damaged the wing's spar — a key structural element that keeps the wing stable. In comparison, when the team shot a fake bird made of pink gel out of their cannon, it ruptured a wider hole in the wing's leading edge, but left the spar untouched.

"All the weight of the aircraft is suspended on the spars,"Poormon told Wired. "If you damage the spar enough on that side, you would not survive. The aircraft would crash."

The wing in Poormon's impact experiment came from a Mooney M20 aircraft — a small, general use airplane that seats about four people (including the pilot). While these relatively small craft aren't built with the same safety specifications of a large passenger jet, the thickness and structure of Mooney wings are pretty similar to those on a larger commercial plane, Poormon said.

And as drones become more and more mainstream, the chances of a disastrous collision occurring grows ever greater. According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report, pilots reported coming in close proximity to nearly 800 unmanned aerial vehicles between April and June 2018 alone. Those sightings have resulted in a few close calls, and at least one significant collision; In New York last year, a civilian quadcopter flying at about 300 feet (91 m) smashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter, obliterating the drone and denting the helicopter's rotor.

While the FAA has rules about where and when you can fly a drone legally, most accidents — including the Black Hawk collision — probably occur because drone pilots are unaware that they're breaking these rules. Increased UAV regulation could help prevent future accidents, Poormon said, as could an effort to manufacture drones in such a way that makes them more likely to shatter on impact.

Originally published on Live Science.

A solar-powered drone designed to take on the multimillion-dollar market for satellites in space has set a  record by staying in flight at high altitude for nearly 26 days. Airbus has plenty of plans for its so-called pseudo-satellite, including possible military reconnaissance and monitoring the spread of wildfires, among other activities.

The European aerospace consortium Airbus announced that the latest model of its Zephyr drone had landed near Yuma, Arizona, late last week, after staying on the wing continuously for 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes, and breaking a world record for long-endurance flight.

The drone was driven by electric power from solar panels on its wings during daylight, when it flew at altitudes above 70,000 feet (21,300 meters), Airbus spokesman Alain Dupiech told Live Science.

At night, the drone used stored battery power, dropping to around 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) by morning — well above any clouds and bad weather, and higher than regular air traffic, except military spy planes, Dupiech said. [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Airplanes]

Previously, the endurance record was held by an older prototype of the Zephyr drone, which stayed airborne 14 days in 2014.

Airbus hopes the latest Zephyr drone will take on some of the commercial market for satellite launches into Earth orbit, by carrying out tasks like high-altitude photography and environmental monitoring for weeks or months at a time.

"It's pretty encouraging," Dupiech said. "We're demonstrating that the first production series unit is a lot better than the prototype."

High-altitude pseudo-satellite

Airbus calls its Zephyr drone a HAPS, or high-altitude pseudo-satellite.

A typical rocket launch to put satellites into Earth orbitcan cost tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, and Airbus thinks that high-flying long-endurance drones like the Zephyr can do a better job at many tasks than satellites, and at much lower costs.

HAPS can also be refitted on the ground and redeployed on different missions – but satellites are usually committed to only one task, such as communications or environmental monitoring, and typically carry out the same task for many years.

The Zephyr project manager for the Airbus consortium, Sophie Thomas, told Live Science in an email that one of the key applications for the drone would be in providing internet connectivity to users on the ground.

Airbus faces competition in that potential market, from high-altitude balloon-based internet experiments like Project Loon from the X lab at Alphabet (formerly Google).

Thomas said high-flying drones like Zephyr could be much more maneuverable and flexible in Earth orbit than either high-altitude balloons or satellites.

"[Zephyr] can be re-tasked instantly to operate over a different location," she said. "We can land and swap out the payload to undertake different missions, or to take immediate advantage of technology upgrades for the payload."

The altitudes that the Zephyr drone can fly at also made it more suitable than satellites in a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) — which orbit Earth much higher up — for many applications, Thomas said.

"It operates at around 20 kilometers [12 miles] from the Earth, compared to GEO satellites at around 36,000 km [22,000 miles]," she said. "This means we can capture much higher-resolution imagery and video for applications such as disaster management. It also means we have a lower latency for communications."

Weight breakthrough

Thomas said that one of the technical breakthroughs of the latest Zephyr drone was bringing down the total weight of the aircraft. [5 Surprising Ways Drones Could Be Used in the Future]

Although it has a wingspan of more than 80 feet (25 m), the Zephyr weighs only about 150 pounds (75 kilograms), including a 15-pound [7.5 kg] payload, and it is light enough to be launched by hand.

The new batteries on the latest Zephyr means it could stay in flight for more than 100 days; it also has a more efficient solar array and a more efficient propulsion system than the 2014 prototype, Thomas said.

"We have secured improvements across the whole design, and it is the combined effect which gives us such a capable system," Thomas said.

Airbus has already put the latest model of the Zephyr drone into production in the U.K., and its first customer is the British Ministry of Defence [MOD], which runs the country's armed forces.

The Defense News website reported in July that the MOD was paying around 13 million pounds ($17 million) for the first three Zephyr drones, which will be operated on their behalf by Airbus.

Although the military won't say what their Zephyrs will be used for, their capabilities for reconnaissance and communications have been noted by the news media.

Thomas said that while the military market for Zephyr drones was very important, "we see civilian applications as the largest potential market for Zephyr."

They include civilian tasks that might be unaffordable using satellites in orbit, or impractical with other high-altitude technologies, she said, such as monitoring the spread of wildfires and oil spills or recording the world's changing environmental landscape.

Originally published on Live Science.

Drones hovering and darting over the mountainous landscape of Peru have spied some amazing ancient "artwork": previously unknown and sprawling geoglyphs called Nazca Lines that were likely made by the Nazca people and their predecessors, some as long as 2,500 years ago.

The approximately 50 newfound geoglyphs (Greek for "Earth carvings") give more evidence that the giant designs have a long history in the region and weren't just the brainchild of the Nazca culture, which flourished from A.D. 200 to 700.

"[This discovery] is really quite exciting," said Charles Stanish, executive director of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment at the University of South Florida. "I've been working there for 30-some years, so it was fun to see something new," said Stanish, who visited the newly discovered lines last week but isn't involved in the new research. [Amazing Photos of the Mysterious Nazca Lines]

The newly identified ground markings are long and skinny — merely inches across and as long as a football field — and they were likely made by the Paracas and Topará cultures, which prospered from about 500 B.C. to A.D. 200, according to National Geographic, which broke the story. (The National Geographic Society funded the research.)

Ancient lines

Modern researchers have known about Peru's Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines since 1927, when Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe came across them on foot. Soon after, the area became a tourist hotspot as airplane pilots began to purposefully fly over the etchings, giving their passengers a bird's-eye view of the geometric shapes and ancient figures, including those of a spider, a hummingbird, a monkey, a lizard and even a pelican, Live Science previously reported.

It's unclear why the Nazca made these lines, but some theories put forth by archaeologists suggest that the lines may represent constellations in the night sky, that perhaps they played a role in pilgrimage or that the lines were part of water-based rituals for the Nazca, who had figured out how to irrigate the dry desert, Live Science has reported.

Archaeologists found the "new" lines in Peru's Palpa province. The seeds to the discovery were planted in December 2014, when the environmental organization Greenpeace placed a huge sign calling for renewable energy next to the Nazca hummingbird design, National Geographic reported. Greenpeace didn't have permission to enter the World Heritage Site and ended up damaging it.

Following the incident (for which Greenpeace later apologized), Peru received a grant from the United States to help restore its archaeology by hiring Peruvian archaeologist Johny Isla, the Nasca Lines' chief restorer and protector, National Geographic said. Given that not all of Peru's archaeological sites have been mapped from the air, Isla and Peruvian archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, who co-discovered the new glyphs, partnered with Sarah Parcak, a space archaeologist and founder of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to do so.

Parcak uses aerial photography from drones and satellites to discover and examine archaeological sites. For instance, satellite imagery helped Parcak and her colleagues find potential Viking sites in Newfoundland, Canada, in 2016, Live Science previously reported.

In Peru, Parcak's team used drones, which took images in 2017 that helped the archaeologists discover the new lines.

Human figures

Many of the newly found markings portray human figures, including warriors, and are a bit smaller than other Nazca lines, Stanish told Live Science. [Gallery: Aerial Photos Reveal Mysterious Stone Structures]

Moreover, "the Nazca Lines are all on the flats, and most of the Paracas ones seem to be up in the hilly parts," Stanish said. Perhaps, people in towns below these hills could see them, he said.

The Paracas culture, which emerged about 800 B.C., was ruled by priests, Johny Isla, who is also the head of Peru's Ministry of Culture in Ica province, previously told Live Science. The Paracas also constructed pyramids and made key advances in the production of ceramics and textiles.

In 2015, Isla rediscovered a Paracas geoglyph of a killer whale that had originally been found in the 1960s but couldn't be found again until Isla began researching it.  

Archaeologists hope to preserve all of the Peruvian geoglyphs, including the newfound ones, as more people move to the area.

"The lines are being destroyed," Stanish said. "Peru has a booming economy."

Original article on Live Science.

A drone pilot appears to have flown an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the path of a passenger jet.

Video of the incident first appeared in a Facebook group called 1% FPV, posted by a user called "James Jayo Older," according to PetaPixel. The photography website reports that the video was captioned "Found the SD card.. 1%ers only."

The short video, shot from the perspective of the drone in question, begins with a view of the landscape surrounding McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Then the camera twists and tips downward revealing a Frontier Airlines passenger plane rapidly approaching. The UAV then dives toward the plane, which swells to briefly fill the field of view before passing narrowly below. It's unclear from the video just how close the drone came to the jet.

Drone pilots and enthusiasts quickly shared and condemned the video outside the group.

Online publication for the airline industry, Air Transport World, reported on the video, writing, "By all appearances, this is clearly and explicitly an illegal and reckless flight by a drone. The unmanned aircraft is above 400 ft., it is near an airport, and it is above another, manned aircraft — all gross violations of the rules that govern unmanned aviation."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits private drone operators to a height of 400 feet (122 meters).

Air Transport World noted that several drone industry groups have condemned the pilot, and that the FAA has said it's aware of the incident and investigating.

Originally published on Live Science.

Robotics Beneath the Waves

Aerial drones have buzzed their way into almost every aspect of the modern world, from photography and television news coverage, to environmental monitoring and archaeology.

And many of the concepts developed for aerial drones are being adopted and adapted to work in a very different environment — underwater.

Here's a look at 23 of the many ways that drones are being used beneath the waves, by oceanographic scientists, archaeologists, militaries, commercial divers, photographers and undersea explorers.

Shipwreck Search

Concepts developed in aerial drones, such as greater levels of autonomy, are finding new expression underwater. Autonomy — the ability to take action without direct control &mash; makes a drone more like a true robot and less like a remote-controlled device.

Although they lack ofcomplete autonomy, very advanced remote-operated underwater vehicles, known as ROVs, have become a mainstay of scientific and commercial underwater operations, from undersea oil drilling projects to scientific research in the most extreme environments in the ocean.

The most celebrated ROV team are Argo, ANGUS and Jason Junior (shown here) which were used by the US research ship Knorr to discover the shipwreck of the Titanic in 1985 – after they had completed a top-secret mission to inspect the remains of a lost US Navy nuclear submarine, the USS Scorpion.

Robot ROVs

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 resulted in a gathering of the world's largest robotic underwater armada, as about a dozen large "work-class" ROV's struggled for months to stem the oil gushing from a shattered wellhead on the seafloor beneath 5,100 feet (1,600 meters) of water.

Among the lessons learned: making ROVs more autonomous, even while they remain tethered by an umbilical cable to a control ship on the surface. Advanced ROV's — like the Schilling UWD shown here above a test pool — already use pressure gauges, compasses and doppler sonar to keep themselves oriented; automating ROVs further could help to refine their awareness of what surrounds them, a feature that might have been useful navigating cables and moving gear in the Gulf.

Diving Buddy

Thanks to miniaturization, you don't need a support ship to operate an ROV. The electrical conductivity of saltwater makes radio communication very difficult underwater, so ROVs are connected directly to an operator by long umbilical cables to carry out expert tasks like underwater inspections.

A commercial example is the Deep Trekker drone shown here, which is controlled by a video-link handset that can be operated from the surface or by a diver in the water. When fitted with a multibeam sonar system that can "see" in dark or murky waters, the drone has been used by scuba divers to search for shipwrecks in Lake Huron, and to explore inside the protected wreck of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Yellow Submarine

Fully autonomous underwater drones offer advantages that are already being put to work by the oil and gas industry. Lockheed Martin's yellow Marlin drone submarine has been used to inspect offshore rigs and underwater pipelines, a sector that costs up to a billion dollars a year in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Marlin can take operate at depths of up to 1,000 feet (300 m) and keep going for up to 16 hours. An updated version of the drone, the Marlin Mk2 shown here, featured in a U.S. Navy technology demonstration that included launching a Lockheed Martin Vector Hawk aerial drone.

Deep Divers

Underwater drones have been used to explore the most extreme depths of the world’s oceans. The Nereus was a hybrid of an autonomous drone and a remote controlled ROV built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to explore Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench near Guam, the deepest surveyed point of the world’s oceans, at a depth of 35,768 feet (10,902 m).

Nereus successfully reached the bottom of Challenger Deep in May 2009, but the vessel was lost in 2014 while exploring the Kermadec Trench near New Zealand, at a depth of 32,500 feet (9,900 meters), when it imploded due to high pressures as high as 16,000 lbs. per square inch (psi).

Wave Gliders

The most travelled drones on the planet are Wave Gliders, developed by California tech firm Liquid Robotics, which have covered more than 1.4 million miles of ocean so far. Each drone consists of a surfboard-sized "float" and a wing-shaped "sub" that hangs up to 26 feet (8 meters) under the water. The drones use wave motion and solar power to travel thousands of miles at sea without fuel, with applications in environmental monitoring, defense and maritime surveillance, and offshore oil-and-gas operations.

Ocean Gliders

Autonomous ocean gliders, or underwater gliders, like the Slocum glider shown here, can convert small changes in buoyancy into forward motion. They are used extensively for scientific research at sea, such as remote water sampling, environmental monitoring, or acoustical surveillance over months and thousands of miles of ocean.

In 2016, ocean gliders equipped with microphones recorded the mysterious "Western Pacific Biotwang," which researchers think may be the never-heard-before call of a minke whale.

Underwater Mapping

Experts eventually foresee a fleet of underwater robots mapping the floors of the oceans, lakes and rivers — much like Google has mapped the streets.

Underwater drones have already been used to map underwater sites of importance. In 2015, the Sirius AUV, shown here, was used to map the Antikythera Mechanism were found, along with other treasures.

Fly and Dive

A drone that can fly and dive may seem like a cool gimmick at first, but there are numerous applications for such a unique talent. The 'Naviator' drone is being developed by a team at Rutgers University School of Engineering, who see it being used to inspect bridges both above and below the water, for search and rescue operations, and the evaluation of seaborne environmental incidents, like oil spills or algae blooms.

A fly-and-dive drone could also be used for research into wildlife species like whales that spend time both above and below the waves.

South China Sea Drone Drama

In December 2016, a Chinese warship seized an underwater autonomous drone deployed by a US Navy oceanographic research vessel, the USS Bowditch, in the contested South China Sea region.

According to news reports, crew of the Bowditch were about to recover the drone after its mission when it was picked up by a Chinese warship instead.
returned the drone to the US Navy a few days later.

Underwater warriors

In September this year the US Navy created its first dedicated underwater drone unit: Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron One, or UUVRON 1 for short. The US Navy sees underwater drones eventually being used in "every spectrum" of naval operations, from mine hunting and surveillance to humanitarian assistance and scientific research.

This image shows civilian contractors for the US Navy securing a Kingfish underwater vehicle, which can use side scan sonar to search for and investigate suspected naval mines and other objects of interest floating or on the sea floor.

Experimental Naval Drone

The US Navy's Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) has developed its Manta unmanned underwater vehicle as a modular test bed for autonomous underwater drone technologies.

The Manta UUV is over 30 feet long and carries a payload of up to five tons, which can include additional smaller underwater drones, for which it acts like a mother ship, and torpedo weapons.

Mantabot

The US Navy is also funding research into advanced underwater drone concepts like the swimming "Mantabot" developed at the University of Virginia, which uses silicone fins for swimming based directly on the cow-nosed ray, a species related to mantas.

The streamlined shape and swimming technique allows the drone to move quickly and quietly through the water using relatively little energy – a useful feature for underwater drones that would let them stay at sea for long periods without recharging.

Naval Drone Swarms

A recent briefing paper for the UK Parliament as it considered whether to modernize or scrap its Trident nuclear missile subs warned that advances in drone technology could soon make submarine warfare obsolete.

The report warned that swarms of cheap robot sub-hunters could blanket the oceans with acoustical and other sensors that could negate a submarine's ability to travel undetected underwater.

The US Navy has also experimented with autonomous boat drones to guard US ships and swarm enemy vessels.

Science Swarm

The world’s navies are not the only ones interested in swarms of underwater drones – scientists are too. Researchers at the University of Ganz in Austria have developed the CoCoRo swarm of more than 40 underwater bots to research how they can act together to accomplish various tasks underwater.

The autonomous drones in the CoCoRo swarm come in three different types, depending on their function, and use flashes of light to communicate.

Plankton Mapping Swarms

Scientists have also used swarms of underwater drones to investigate environmental events like plankton mating.

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego build a swarm of 16 autonomous underwater drones and dropped them off the coast.

The drones were told to stay at a depth of 33 feet, and to drift with and map the "internal waves" that enable by plankton species to mate.

Floating Sensor Networks

Tech start-up Hydroswarm wants to build thousands of pumpkin-shaped underwater drones to map the oceans and act as a surveillance system for everything from oil pollution to illegal fishing to drug smuggling.

The EVE underwater drone – standing for Ellipsoidal Vehicle for Exploration – was developed by Sampriti Bhattacharyya, a mechanical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bhattacharyya says the EVE drone is designed to be used independently or as part of a swarm of underwater drones that could create a Google Maps for the oceans.

Underwater Robot Miners

Underwater robots designed to work in hazardous flooded mines were tested at a china-clay pit in the UK in October this year.

The EU-funded VAMOS project (Viable Alternative Mine Operating System) is developing three types of underwater drones to extract minerals from abandoned, flooded mine sites considered too dangerous or costly to access.

Mines deeper than the local water table usually fill with water unless it is pumped out – eventually they are abandoned and flood completely. The developers say it makes more sense to reopen an existed mine with robot miners, rather than excavate a new pit.

Drones Under the Ice

Underwater drones are used by scientists to explore some of the most remote regions of the oceans – including the coldest waters on earth, beneath Antarctica's ice shelves, where the temperature is a few degrees below the normal freezing point because of the salinity of the seawater.

Researchers have deployed torpedo-shaped drones from holes cut into the ice, equipped with radiometers to measure the light absorbed by clumps of ice algae growing on the bottom of the ice shelf.

Based on the drone measurements, scientists are able to estimate the total amount of algae growing on the ice – an important source of food in the ecosystems beneath the ice shelves.

Wartime Wreck Search

Underwater robots have also been used to search for the downed wrecks of American warplanes from World War II, as part of an effort to discover the final resting places of their crew.

"Project Recover" uses a variety of new underwater technologies, including autonomous underwater drones equipped with sonar and cameras, to make a thorough and regular search of the ocean floor for wartime plane wrecks, which are often very hard to spot.

In 2014, Project Recover divers using drones found two World War 2 warplanes in the islands of the Republic of Palau in the Western Pacific Ocean, and in 2016 they found two lost B-52 bombers near Papua New Guinea.

Anti-Lionfish Drones

A non-profit group called Robots in Service of the Environment (RSE) is developing an underwater drone to hunt down and terminate Asian lionfish, which have become a serious threat to coral reef systems in the Western Pacific, where they have no natural predators.

The deep-diving drone is guided by controllers at the surface to track and close on the invasive fishy enemy, before sucking them into a containment tube and stunning them with an electrical charge – one drone can humanely dispatch up to ten lionfish before returning to the surface with its catch.

Manta Ray Drone

The BOSS Manta Ray is an autonomous underwater drone developed by German robotics company Evologics, which specialises in aerospace and maritime robotics.

The drone is designed to mimic the manta's flexible body, which gives it the ability to control its depth very precisely with its large wings, while its "flapping" mode of swimming is very energy efficient. It is also equipped with jet thrusters to give it a high-speed mode.

Robotic Jellyfish

Like Evologics, some other underwater drone makers technology companies are also looking for ideas from nature – a concept known as biomimicry.

German engineering company Festo has developed its Aquajelly underwater robots to mimic the swimming motions of jellyfish. They can also communicate with each other – something real jellyfish probably can't do – to coordinate their behaviour.

This story was updated Dec. 11 at 11:40 a.m. EST.

Ancient rock art isn't always easy to reach, but a researcher in Venezuela has solved this challenge with a bit of modern technology: A camera-equipped drone that zipped across a rocky, watery landscape to photograph ancient artwork depicting people, cultural rituals and animals, a new study reports.

The drone-recorded engravings, in addition to more accessible rock art along the Orinoco River in western Venezuela, are some of the largest rock engravings found anywhere in the world, the researcher said. One panel is more than 3,200 square feet (304 square meters) and has 93 engravings. Another engraving portrays a 98-foot-long (30 m) horned snake.

The engravings appear to date to pre-Columbian (before 1492) and colonial times (1492 to the 19th century), said the study's author Philip Riris, an archaeologist at University College London in the United Kingdom. Some may be up to 2,000 years old, he noted. [In Photos: The World's Oldest Cave Art]

"This represents a major step towards an enhanced understanding of the role of the Orinoco River in mediating the formation of pre-conquest social networks throughout northern South America," Riris wrote in the study. (Pre-conquest refers to the time before the Norman conquest of England in 1066.)

Scientists found the petroglyphs (in Greek, "petra" means "rock" and "glyph" translates to "carving") on rock faces around the Atures Rapids (Raudales de Atures), a place where the mighty Orinoco River flows through a narrow passage filled with granite boulders. Some of the petroglyphs were discovered because of historically low water levels in the Orinoco River in February 2015, Riris said.

In all, he found eight groups of petroglyphs on five islands, including on exposed bedrock outcrops within the rapids, Riris said.

It's not entirely surprising that the Atures Rapids are filled with ancient petroglyphs. According to myths from the Piaroa, indigenous people who live in the middle Orinoco Basin, the rapids are seen as the birthplace of the sun and of Wahari, a mythological figure.

Some of the petroglyphs appear to illustrate myths from the various cultures of the regions. For instance, the elongated horned snake may be from a "myth describing the slaying of a monstrous serpent by the son of the creator deity and culture hero Wahari," Riris wrote in the study.

Other petroglyphs show a flute player surrounded by other human figures. This scene likely depicts an indigenous rite of renewal, he said. It's possible that this rite coincided with a seasonal emergence of the engravings during harvest time just before the wet season, when the islands were easier to reach, Riris said.

The newfound petroglyphs are similar to rock art in Brazil and Colombia, and will help researchers understand the ancient cultures of the Orinoco River and how they may have influenced cultures farther inland, Riris said.

However, petroglyph discoveries haven't always been greeted with such acclaim.

In 1691, when Jesuit missionaries visited an "oracle" in the Atures region, they saw a number of the so-called pagan petroglyphs high on a hillside.

"When our missionaries came to this place, Satan was silenced at once, and the Devil disappeared from there, the diabolical responses ceasing henceforth with the astonishment and admiration of the pagans […] whom before had treated with the demon so easily," the missionares wrote. "With this, the infidels knew the power of God, and the force and efficacy of the ministries against the powers of Hell."

In contrast to this nearly 330-year-old account, Riris said that the newfound petroglyphs will help researchers learn more about these ancient cultures. "These engravings are embedded in the everyday — how people lived and traveled in the region, the importance of aquatic resources and the seasonal rhythmic rising and falling of the water," he said in a statement. "The size of some of the individual engravings is quite extraordinary."

The study was published online Dec. 6 in the journal Antiquity.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to fix an error about the petroglyph snake's length. It is 98 feet (30 m) long, not 305 feet (93 m) long.

Original article on Live Science.

It's harvest season in many parts of the world, but on one farm in the United Kingdom, robots — not humans — are doing all the heavy lifting. 

At Hands Free Hectare, an experimental farm run by researchers from Harper Adams University, in the village of Edgmond in the U.K., about 5 tons (4.5 metric tons) of spring barley have been harvested from the world’s first robotically tended farm. Everything from start to finish — including sowing, fertilizing, collecting samples and harvesting — has been done by autonomous vehicles on the farm, according to the researchers.

The team behind the project thinks that robotic technology could improve yields in agriculture, which is necessary if the world's growing population is to be fed in coming years. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

The researchers tackled this problem by using commercially available agriculture machines and open-source software that is used to guide hobbyists’ drones.

"In agriculture, nobody has really managed to solve the problem of autonomy," said Jonathan Gill, mechatronics researcher at Harper Adams University, who led the project."We were like, Why is this not possible? If it's possible in drone autopilots that are relatively cheap, how come there are companies out there that are charging exorbitant amounts of money to actually have a system that just follows a straight line?"

The researchers purchased several small-size agricultural machines, including a tractor and a combine, a machine for harvesting grain crops. They then fitted the machines with actuators, electronics and robotic technology that would allow them to control the machines without the presence of a human operator.

"The first stage was to make it radio controlled," Gill said. "This was our first step towards autonomy. From that point, we moved on to preprogram all the actions that need to be performed into the autopilot system."

Gill's collaborator, Martin Abell, who works for Precision Decisions, an industrial agricultural company that partners with the university, explained that the system follows a certain trajectory with preprogrammed stops to perform certain actions.

"The vehicles navigate entirely based on the GPS, and they are just essentially driving towards targets that we predetermined," Abell said. "At different GPS targets, there are different actions designed to be carried out."

Abell said the researchers struggled to make the machines follow a straight line, which initially resulted in quite a lot of crop damage. However, the scientists think they will be able to fix the problem in the coming years and will eventually achieve better yields than a conventionally maintained farm of the same size could produce.

To monitor the field and take samples of the plants, the researchers developed special grippers attached to drones. As the drone flies above the field, the grippers can cut off some samples and deliver them to the researchers.

The scientists said that the robotic technology could enable future farmers to more precisely distribute fertilizers and herbicides, but could also lead to improvements in soil quality. Currently, to achieve all the required tasks in a reasonable amount of time, farmers rely on very large and heavy machines. In the future, they could use flocks of smaller robotic tractors and harvesters, the researchers said.

The farmer would, for example, be able to apply fertilizer only to the plants that are doing poorly and wouldn’t waste it on those that don't need it, the researchers explained.

"At the moment, the machines used in agriculture are large, they operate quickly, they cover large areas of ground quickly, but with it comes inaccuracy," Abell said. "Small machines working with smaller working widths would provide a means to bring the resolution down. Instead of a 100-foot (30 meters) sprayer, you would have a 20-foot (6 m) sprayer, and that’s just the beginning of making things smaller."

The Harper Adams team plans to use the robotically harvested spring barley to make a limited batch of "hands-free" beer that will be distributed to the project’s partners as a token of thanks.

In the coming years, they want to focus on improving the precision of the procedures and quantify the effects of the robotic technology on the yields.

Original article on Live Science.

In Los Angeles last night (Sept. 14), people looking skyward over Dodger Stadium witnessed an illuminated display celebrating a comic book superhero. But it wasn't the Bat Signal sending out a distress call for Batman — it was a fleet of 300 lit-up drones performing choreographed maneuvers to spell out Wonder Woman's trademark "W" symbol.

The dynamic light show was produced by Warner Bros. in partnership with Intel's drone team, for the "Wonder Woman" film's U.S. release on Blu-ray, scheduled for Tuesday (Sept. 19), Syfy Wire reported.

Intel's LED-carrying "Shooting Star" drones were the stars of the aerial performance. Shooting Star drones were also used to dramatic effect during singer Lady Gaga's 2017 Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 5, TechCrunch reported. [Beyond Wonder Woman: 12 Mighty Female Warriors]

The spectacular shapes the drones produced in the sky included Wonder Woman's belt — in 3D — as well as the Wonder Woman "W" and an outline of Wonder Woman kneeling with her sword.

"Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins shared footage of the event in a tweet, showing members of Intel's "drone team" preparing the Shooting Stars and calibrating the software that controlled their coordinated flight patterns.

Footage of a computer screen in use by the drone team displayed animated models of the Shooting Star fleet as the aircraft moved into position — a sight that was mirrored overhead by the real drones as they flew up into the night sky.

Shooting Star drones are lightweight quadcopters that are built from foam and plastic, and weigh about 12 ounces (330 grams). Intel designed them to carry LEDs and perform light shows, with the possibility of generating more than 4 billion color combinations based on combinations of red, green, white and blue, according to an Intel fact sheet.

The accompanying proprietary software and animation interface enable users to not only coordinate hundreds of these drones at once but also do it quickly, thus making it possible to design a complex aerial light show much more quickly than was possible in the past, according to Intel.

In 2016, Intel set a world record for the number of drones controlled by a single pilot with a laptop, choreographing 500 Shooting Star drones in a fireworks-like display over a sports field in Krailling, Germany.

Original article on Live Science.

Researchers are developing a tiny, gliding drone that can be dropped from airplanes to gather data directly from hurricanes, and these teensy machines share a name with a noisy spring-emerging insect.

Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft MK5, or CICADA, is "essentially a flying circuit board," an autonomous, GPS-controlled drone so inexpensive to make that it would be considered disposable after a single use, representatives of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) said in a statement.

Unlike its noisy insect namesake, CICADA is exceedingly quiet — with no motor, it is silent and virtually undetectable in the air, NRL officials said in 2015. CICADA's latest prototype, with a flattened wing and body design, make it easy to stack the individual "micro" aircraft, so that large numbers of CICADAs could be deployed at the same time from an airborne vehicle. This would enable scientists to distribute sensors and collect data across large areas of the sky, according to the NRL. [8 Ways Animal Flight Inspires Drone Designs]

The craft's design lends it a glide ratio of 3.5 to 1, which means that it flies forward 3.5 feet (1.1 meters) for every foot (0.3 m) of descent, the NRL reported. Each CICADA "micro" drone weighs about 1.2 ounces (35 grams), and along with its circuit board and a sensor payload, they incorporate GPS technology to help them navigate to within 15 feet of a destination on the ground. Once on the ground, antennas built into their wings transmit the data back to a home base, reported IEEE Spectrum.

Production costs for CICADAs are about $250 per drone. The NRL is currently testing a delivery system capable of stacking 32 CICADAs into a single container — think of a tube of Pringles, except stuffed with miniature drones — and then dispatching them simultaneously, according to IEEE Spectrum.

Video demonstrations posted to YouTube on Tuesday (July 25) showed the drones performing in a series of tests, dropping from different altitudes in different locations, from as much as 8,000 feet (2,438 meters).

The tube and its drones could be carried and deployed by balloons, or from a manned or unmanned aircraft, or even guided missiles, NRL aerospace engineer Daniel J. Edwards said in a statement. After their airborne release, a group of drones, each with its own sensor and a different GPS-guided destination point, would sample data during descent — such as chemical or meteorological information — which could offer scientists a broader view of how hurricanes and tornadoes behave, Edwards said.

Original article on Live Science.

The world's first laser weapon — one that can "kill" threatening, airborne drones — is ready for action, according to news sources.

The laser, known as the Laser Weapons System (LaWS), may seem as though it were pulled straight from a James Bond movie, but it's entirely functional and can shoot with stunning accuracy, the U.S. Navy told CNN. The LaWS is currently deployed aboard the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, in the Persian Gulf.

"Operationally, it works just like a laser pointer," Lt. Cale Hughes, a LaWS officer, told CNN. "There's a chamber inside with special materials that release photons." [7 Technologies That Transformed Warfare]

The LaWS laser beam is completely silent and invisible. It's also fast: The laser travels at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second, or about 300,000 kilometers per second), meaning it's about 50,000 times the speed of an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile, such as the one North Korea is testing, the Navy told CNN.

The $40 million system requires a team of three to operate it and a small generator to power its electricity supply, according to the Navy.

However, each blast is relatively cheap. "It's about a dollar a shot," Hughes told CNN.

In addition to being able to take down threats in the air, the LaWS can hit and disable objects in the water. The laser's accurate blasts, heated to thousands of degrees, might even mean fewer casualties in combat, Inez Kelly, a U.S. Naval Forces Central Command science adviser, told CNN.

For instance, if the laser is aimed at an enemy boat, operatives can "take out exactly the engine, and not necessarily damage anything else," Kelly said. "That type of precision weapon work is something that you don't really get with conventional weapons, because there tends to be more collateral damage."

Under Geneva Convention rules, armed forces are not allowed to use laser weapons directly against people, reported Optics.org, a site that tracks the photonics industry. The U.S. will abide by that protocol, Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research, said in 2014 at a news conference in Washington, D.C., according to Optics.org.

The U.S. Navy is already developing second-generation systems that might be able to target threats other than drones and water vessels. These missions are classified, but when asked whether the LaWS could shoot and destroy missiles, USS Ponce Capt. Christopher Wells said "maybe" and smiled, according to CNN.

Original article on Live Science.

Whether they're swooping in to deliver packages or spotting victims in disaster zones, swarms of flying robots could have a range of important applications in the future, a new study found. The robots can transition from driving to flying without colliding with each other and could offer benefits beyond the traditional flying-car concepts of sci-fi lore, the study said.

The ability to both fly and walk is common in nature. For instance, many birds, insects and other animals can do both.

Robots with similar versatility could fly over impediments on the ground or drive under overhead obstacles. But currently, robots that are good at one mode of transportation are usually bad at others, study lead author Brandon Araki, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and his colleagues said in their new study. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created]

The researchers previously developed a robot named the "flying monkey" that could run and fly, as well as grasp items. However, the researchers had to program the paths the flying monkey would take; in other words, it could not find safe routes by itself.

Now, these scientists have developed flying cars that can both fly and drive through a simulated city-like setting that has parking spots, landing pads and no-fly zones. Moreover, these drones can move autonomously without colliding with each other, the researchers said. "Our vehicles can find their own safe paths," Araki told Live Science.

The researchers took eight four-rotor "quadcopter" drones and put two small motors with wheels on the bottom of each drone, to make them capable of driving. In simulations, the robots could fly for about 295 feet (90 meters) or drive for 826 feet (252 meters) before their batteries ran out.

The roboticists developed algorithms that ensured the robots did not collide with one another. In tests in a miniature town made using everyday materials such as pieces of fabric for roads and cardboard boxes for buildings, all drones successfully navigated from a starting point to an ending point on collision-free paths.

Adding the driving apparatus to each drone added weight and so slightly reduced battery life, decreasing the maximum distances the drones could fly by about 14 percent, the researchers said. Still, the scientists noted that driving remained more efficient than flying, offsetting the relatively small loss in efficiency in flying due to the added weight.

"The most important implication of our research is that vehicles that combine flying and driving have the potential to be both much more efficient and much more useful than vehicles that can only drive or only fly," Araki said.

The scientists cautioned that fleets of automated flying taxis are likely not coming anytime soon. "Our current system of drones certainly isn't robust enough to actually carry people right now," Araki said. Still, these experiments with quadcopters help explore "various ideas related to flying cars," he said.

The scientists detailed their findings on June 1 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Singapore.

Original article on Live Science.

If Amazon's package-carrying drones ever become a reality, they may one day pick up deliveries from beehive-shaped buildings strategically placed in cities around the world, according to a patent application filed by the company.

The patent, published online on June 22, describes something called the "multi-level fulfillment center for unmanned aerial vehicles," demonstrating how Amazon plans to take package delivery to the next level.

These days, Amazon's warehouses "are typically large-volume single-floor warehouse buildings," located on the outskirts of cities, the company wrote in the patent, which was filed in 2015. However, "these locations are not convenien[t] for deliveries into cities where an ever-increasing number of people live," Amazon said. [9 Totally Cool Uses for Drones]

If these warehouses could be built in cities, it would decrease delivery time for Amazon customers who live and work there, the company said. But, because real estate is limited in downtown areas, Amazon proposed a work-around: It could build a futuristic high-rise that would store retail items and serve as a base and airport for drones delivering customer orders.

The patent describes how the building would have multistoried platforms for drone landings and takeoffs. Just in case a drone ran out of power or malfunctioned, the company would place an "impact dampener," such as foam or a net, in strategic areas, Amazon said.

The company would stock the beehives' shelves the old-fashioned way — that is, by arranging freight delivery via trucks, rail or ships. Then, human personnel and robotic devices would unload and then later package orders, according to Amazon.

Moreover, if customers were to have time to stop by the center, they could access their orders at self-service locations, including lockers or staffed pickup rooms, according to the patent.

But the building's main reason for existing — for drone takeoff and delivery— steals the show. After an order is packaged, an "internal transport robot" — which could be a robot, elevator, conveyer belt or some sort of lifting mechanism — would move one of the drones from a holding area to a platform used for charging and takeoff, the patent said.

This step is key: It brings the drone to a higher location for liftoff, which saves the drone power because it takes energy to ascend to cruising altitude, according to the patent. The high takeoff platform will also take the constant "whirring" sound of drones away from street level, somewhat reducing noise pollution for pedestrians, the patent said.

But the patent design isn't perfect. According to The Verge, "Who’s going to want to live near a drone delivery tower if it makes so much noise? And what if drones start falling out the sky, making impromptu, and possibly fatal, deliveries?"

The Verge noted that Amazon has proposed putting "sound dampening treatments" on the drones' rotors, which could help reduce noise pollution even more, the company said.

Besides filing this patent, Amazon is hard at work on its drone endeavors. The company's unmanned aircrafts delivered two lightweight orders — a bag of popcorn and a TV streaming stick (a USB-like device) — in Cambridge, England, in December 2016, according to The Guardian. Amazon has also filed patents for flying warehouses, parachute-aided package delivery and mega delivery drones.

Original article on Live Science.

Flying a drone can be a lot of fun, but pick a drone that's too advanced and flying it could wind up being a major drag.

The TobyRich Moskito was designed for first-time pilots who want a drone they can fly immediately after unboxing. Although it normally costs $60, it's on sale for $44.99.

Buy the Tobyrich Moskito Drone >>> 

After downloading the free Moskito app, first-time pilots can attach the included joystick to their smartphone's screen for a natural, gamepad-like experience controlling the propeller-based plane. Alternatively, it can be controlled without the joystick and by simply tilting your handheld.

The Moskito features a crash-resistant design, so it can withstand impact and minimize any damage to objects around you.

The drone charges in 20 minutes and offers up to 12 minutes of flight time. It comes with a spare propeller should the included one get damaged.

Narwhals are sometimes known as the "unicorns" of the ocean because of the long "tusks" that protrude from the animals' heads, but scientists have long been stumped about the function of this mysterious appendage — until now.

Drone footage of wild narwhals has revealed that the whales use their tusks to hunt fish. The tusk is actually a tooth that spirals out of the upper jaw on male narwhals, and can extend to about 10 feet (3 meters) long, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada. While scientists think the tusk's primary function relates to selecting a mate, these new observations show narwhals have another use for the tusks.

Researchers from WWF-Canada worked with a team of scientists from multiple organizations to capture this first-of-its kind footage, which was part of a pilot project to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) to study narwhal behavior in Tremblay Sound in Nunavut, Canada. [Whale Album: Giants of the Deep]

The drone-enabled observations provide the first conclusive scientific evidence of the narwhal using its tusk, WWF-Canada officials said in a statement.

"This footage, while also stunning to watch, will play a significant role in the future of narwhal conservation," David Miller, president and CEO of WWF-Canada, said in the statement. "As the Arctic warms and development pressure increases, it will be important to understand how narwhal are using their habitat during their annual migration. With this information in hand, we can work to minimize the effects of human activities on narwhal."

Previous research on the narwhal tusk found that the animals also use this tooth to help "see" via echolocation. Without a hard enamel to protect it, the tooth is highly sensitive and gives narwhals "an evolutionary advantage" over other echolocating species, scientists reported in a 2016 study published in the journal PLOS One.

Though scientific research on the whale has advanced, and there is a wealth of traditional Inuit knowledge about the species, the narwhal is still difficult to study, because the animals live in a challenging environment, said Nigel Hussey, a researcher at the University of Windsor in Canada. Drones could help with this, added Hussey, who was involved in the recent observations.

"These data prove the value of direct observation to understand animal behavior and ecology, but also highlight the important role of technology in modern science," Hussey said. "Uniting observations of animal behavior from traditional knowledge, unmanned vehicles and statistical modeling of tracking data now provide a comprehensive toolbox to better manage these iconic aquatic species."

Original article on Live Science.

"Drones" exhibit takes off

"Drones: Is the Sky the Limit?" at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, is the first exhibit to explore the ongoing story of drones — their origin and history, how their forms and uses have changed over time, and how we might deploy them in the future. [Read more about the drone exhibit at the Intrepid museum]

Early target drone

Historic photo of the WW2-era radioplane TDD, an early target drone.

A military workhorse

The Gyrodyne QH-50 Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH) was developed in the 1950s and was used by the military for 43 years to drop bombs capable of neutralizing submarines.

DASH in action

Crew members of USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) load a practice torpedo onto a QH-50 DASH. The DASH carried two Mk 44 torpedoes weighing 425 pounds (193 kg) each.

Boeing Insitu ScanEagle

The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle was the first drone approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial use beyond line of sight, where the operator can’t see it. Fishermen use the ScanEagle to locate schools of fish.

Rescue mission

The ScanEagle, on display in the exhibit, played a key role in the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips by U.S. Navy SEALs during the 2009 hijacking of Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates.

RQ-2 Pioneer

The RQ-2 Pioneer, developed jointly by the United States and Israel, was derived from an Israeli design called the Mastiff. The Pioneer was the first highly successful surveillance drone of the modern era.

Military might

Drones were first engineered and used exclusively by the military, and many drones in use today were originally designed for military purposes.

Cormorant UAV

The Cormorant Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, designed by the Israeli firm Tactical Robotics, is still in the early stages of development, and could be used to transport supplies in military zones.

Scientific research

Drones play an important role in scientific research, enabling scientists to gather data from locations that were previously inaccessible.

eBee drone

The eBee drone surveys 4.6 square miles (12 square km) in a single automated flight, making it an ideal tool for tracking large groups of moving animals.

Drones

NASA may one day use unmanned flying vehicles to augment ground traversing rovers in the exploration of extraterrestrial bodies. In order to function properly, these aircraft will need to have some atmosphere, such as on Mars.

Drones and the arts

Visitors to the exhibit may be surprised to learn that artists are increasingly finding uses for drones, such as the flying quadrocopter lampshades designed by Cirque du Soleil for their stage performance

Virtual flight

In the digital interactive "Take Control of a Drone," users guide a drone through airspace over New York City, collecting tokens and avoiding "no-fly zones."

Future designs

Drones may one day be robust enough to easily transport people. Engineers are currently developing designs for autonomous flying cars that could safely carry commuters. [Read more about the drone exhibit at the Intrepid museum]

NEW YORK — Drones have come a long way since the clumsy, balloon-driven models that first took to the air during the 19th century.

Over the past few decades, and particularly in recent years, technology has rapidly improved to make drones smaller, faster, more robust and more maneuverable. Meanwhile, enterprising engineers and designers continue to push the limits for how drones can take on myriad tasks for military, industrial, scientific and personal purposes.

A new exhibit here at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, "Drones: Is the Sky the Limit?", is the first to explore the ongoing story of drones — their origin and history, how their forms and uses have changed over time, and how we might deploy them in the future. [See Photos of the Drone Exhibit at the Intrepid Museum]

"The exhibit's a fabulous vehicle — no pun intended! — for the interplay of all these big ideas: science, technology, history and the arts," exhibit co-curator Elaine Charnov, senior vice president of exhibits, education and programming at the Intrepid Museum, told Live Science.

There are plenty of actual drones on display, representing a wide range of sizes and uses — from the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle, which is launched from a catapult and was instrumental in a Navy SEAL rescue operation against Somali pirates in 2009, to Volantis, the "drone dress" co-designed and worn by Lady Gaga in 2013.

One drone, which hangs from the exhibit ceiling, was used by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to capture data from hurricanes, Joseph Cione, a research meteorologist at NOAA, told Live Science.

Drones are particularly well-suited for investigating the area in a hurricane where the ocean and the atmosphere meet, Cione said. This zone is too low for scientists to explore in an aircraft, but it is vital for understanding hurricane dynamics, because "that's where the energy exchange comes from," he explained.

Scientists had previously studied this region by dropping sensors attached to parachutes, but those provide only isolated snapshots of information, Cione said. However, a device like a drone — which is in continuous motion as it gathers data, and can stay aloft for up to 2 hours — can provide a more complete picture of what's happening inside a hurricane.

And more data helps researchers build better computer models, which, in turn, improves forecasting and can help to protect people and property, Cione said.

Scientists are even using drones in ways their designers may not have intended. For example, some marine biologists conduct DNA research on whales by deploying petri-dish-carrying drones that collect phlegm expelled from the whales' blowholes, according to Adam Lisberg, head U.S. spokesperson for drone-maker DJI.

"I promise you, DJI never imagined that as a use case when we were developing the drones," Lisberg told Live Science. "But it provides a huge advantage for the ability to monitor the health of whales without disturbing them."

"From scientists to construction firms to rescue services, they're putting our products to use in ways that we never even imagined," Lisberg said. [9 Totally Cool Uses for Drones]

Video screens at the exhibit display a variety of drones in action, while a "Drone Arts Theater" presents footage and still images shot by drones, showcasing the unique perspective that they capture by transporting cameras to otherwise inaccessible places. A kiosk with an array of touch screens offers the opportunity to explore predictions for possible future uses of drones — as pet sitters, dinosaur-fossil hunters or defense against disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Visitors can also peer through goggles that give them a drone's-eye view of a racecourse, or try their hand at flying a virtual drone. With the digital interactive tool "Take Control of a Drone," users navigate an aircraft over New York City, collecting tokens and avoiding the red "no-fly" zones. Those who are feeling especially adventurous can even take control of an actual tiny drone inside a net enclosure, and guide it through a series of obstacles.  

Some of the drone technology described in the exhibit, such as flying cars, isn't quite ready for prime time just yet. But "we're closer than we've ever been" to these tantalizing visions of the future, said exhibit co-curator Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University in North Carolina.

"That's not to say it's going to be here tomorrow," Cummings told Live Science. "But the technology does exist, so it's only a matter of time before these things get cheaper and easier to fly. And the regulatory environment will be more friendly to drones in the future."

By presenting the past and present successes and challenges of drones, the exhibit could spark eye-opening conversations among visitors about how drones might inhabit our lives in the years to come, Charnov told Live Science.

"We hope this will prompt people to get more familiar with the range of possibilities that drone technology provides," she said.

"Drones: Is the Sky the Limit?" will be on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum from May 9 through Dec. 3, 2017.

Original article on Live Science.

'Star Wars' Droids

It's safe to say that the robots from the "Star Wars" movies have left a huge cultural impact. Even people who aren't diehard fans will likely remember C-3PO, R2-D2 and many of the other mechanical creatures that lived in George Lucas' rich universe.

These sci-fi creations provided a glimpse of how robots could be used in the future, but how close is the world to making its own R2-D2 a reality?

Actually, several "Star Wars"-like technologies already exist. From medical bots designed to keep you healthy to drones for hunting down "Rebel scum" to artificial intelligence that can drive a car or fly a plane, robots are no longer just the stuff of science fiction. [Science Fact or Fiction? The Plausibility of 10 Sci-Fi Concepts]

Here are some of the most memorable bots from "Star Wars," and their real-life counterparts:

Driving Droids

What's the difference between a droid and a robot? Besides "droid" being a term trademarked by George Lucas, droids, as portrayed on film, have far more independence and intelligence than most robots that exist today. While some robots have a limited artificial intelligence that allows them to make lower-function decisions, most require direct commands from a human in order to work.

While many researchers are trying to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that can handle more-complex problem solving and can adapt to different environments, the world is still a long way from having a robot with the same level of intelligence as R2-D2.

Still, the field of robotics has made significant gains. If you were one of the millions who rode the "Star Tours" ride at Disneyland before 2011, you may remember RX-24, the pilot droid tasked with flying riders to the forest moon of Endor. However, things go awry during the ride after RX-24 gets caught in a fight between the Rebels and the Empire.

While RX-24 was a terrible pilot, developers are currently working on creating a robot that can actually handle the perils of driving and flying. For example, Google is testing a self-driving car that can operate safely and autonomously in regular traffic. The vehicle uses laser technology and a system of sensors to generate a 3D map of its environment, which enables the car to drive itself.

The AI is a work in progress, and Google's driverless car still requires a "backup" human driver to ride along and make sure nothing goes wrong. But if tests go well, self-driving cars could rule the streets in the near future.

In another case, a South Korean tech developer has taken a small humanoid robot (known as the Bioloid Premium) and programed it so that it can fly a plane, reported IEEE Spectrum. The modified robot (dubbed PIBOT) uses visual sensors to track GPS location, airspeed and other factors necessary for flying properly. The robo-pilot has been tested on a flight simulator, and passed with flying colors, IEEE Spectrum said. Footage of the simulated flight will be presented at an upcoming robotics conference. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created]

Scout probes

If it weren't for a so-called probe droid, the Rebels may have been able to keep their base in the Hoth system safe in "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back." At the beginning of the film, Darth Vader releases a fleet of Viper-series probesacross the galaxy. One drone lands on the planet Hoth and discovers a power generator, which leads to the discovery that Rebels have established a base on the distant planet. Vader and his armada lead a heavy assault against the Rebels' base to wipe them out.

While the hover tech on the Viper-series drone is more advanced than that of drones are available today, the sci-fi bot shares some similarities with real-life robotic flyers. Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the military and commercial market offer many of the same reconnaissance features as Vader's scouts. Most drones are flown by pilots remotely, but have limited AI for tasks like landing or tracking subjects.

While many developers are trying to make drones more self-sufficient, many academicsand industry commentatorshave argued against installing drones with any form of advanced AI. Many of these experts worry that an advanced AI for military drones would increase civilian casualties, as well as remove the moral costs of war, thus increasing the potential for countries to invade without worrying about casualties. It's possible the world could see smarter drones in the near future, but it's uncertain whether the military would actually use them.

Medical droids

In "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back," a 2-1B medical droid nurses Luke Skywalker back to health by keeping him in a tank full of a substance that can rapidly heal wounds. While this material, called "bacta" in the film, and the 2-1B droid are not real, advancements in medical technology are introducing robots into doctor's offices and hospitals.

For example, engineers at École Polytechnique de Montréal  have been working on creating "microbots" that can roam the human body and perform delicate tasks, such as clearing arteries, sealing wounds and exploring the artery system.

In the movie, the 2-1B has an independent artificial intelligence, meaning it can function much like a human doctor. While existing robots do not have sophisticated AI that enables them to stand in for real physicians, many devices have been built to allow doctors to attend to patients remotely. The Robotic Nursing Assistant, for instance, helps physicians use extremely accurate tools to treat their patients, while the other telemedicine assistants let doctors virtually care for their patients, even across great distances.

There are also some attempts to use AI in hospitals. At the Mayo Clinic, IBM's world-renowned AI Watson, the computer that famously won the quiz show "Jeopardy!", is being used to search through medical databases to find people with particular conditions to take part in medical trials.

Astromech droids

Who doesn't love R2-D2? In the "Star Wars" universe, this small, cylindrical robot has more functions than a Swiss Army knife, and more personality than a robot that speaks only in "beeps" and "boops" should have. R2-D2 is known as an astromech droid, which is a type of multifunctional robot that can respond to a diverse range of problems. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

While it's easy to build a working replica of R2-D2, there are no R2 units that truly function as they were imagined in the "Star Wars" films. The closest thing is a bot developed by NASA in 2006 to perform maintenance in microgravity. The so-called SPHERE(short for Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) is a bot that helps astronauts with docking operations, along with satellite servicing, assembly and emergency repairs. The bot resembles the training droid that Luke Skywalker fights in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," but has the functionality of an R2 unit.

Protocol droids

R2-D2 never goes anywhere without his neurotic friend C-3PO.

This robot is a protocol droid, which is a humanoid-esque machine designed to break down communication barriers and act as servant, translator or companion. Unlike R2, C-3PO is designed for the explicit purpose of understanding humanoids and communicating with them.

The most famous real-life humanoid bot is Honda's Asimo, a bipedal robot designed to move similarly to humans and resemble them in other ways. Asimo can physically respond to human actions as well as respond to human voices. The robot performs a variety of functions, including playing soccer, gesturing, reading faces and moving around in its environment. Asimo has limited language abilities, and can only respond to audible commands with short phrases and physical gestures.

If you want something with more "conversational" ability, look to Japan's Otonaroid. This android is one of two bots that have been "hired" to work in Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Otonaroid will be able to converse directly with visitors, while her "sister" android, Kodomoroid, will continuously read aloud world news reports. The robots don't generate their own voices, though; the bots are simply the mouthpieces for human operators. Similar tech is used to control "Crush the Turtle" at the "Turtle Talk with Crush" attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot theme park.

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Forget plane-pulled banners ― there may be a new way to advertise in the sky.

The Japanese telecom company NTT DOCOMO recently revealed what it claims is the "world's first spherical drone display." Although it appears to be a solid, globe-shaped screen while in flight, the display is actually an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or drone) inside a spherical frame with curved LED strips. The LEDs spin rapidly during flight, creating the illusion of a spherical screen. The drone display was showcased April 29-30 during the Niconico Chokaigi conference, a festival of Japan's internet culture.

Though the technology is not yet ready for commercial use, the company said it should be available by March 2019. These flying screens could be used for advertisements during a sporting event, or to display information at a concert, according to DOCOMO. [Photos from Above: 8 Cool Camera-Carrying Drones]

"Going forward, the company will explore potential entertainment and messaging solutions for event venues, including stadiums and concert halls," company officials wrote in a statement.

Previously, it was challenging to equip a drone with a spherical display because it  interfered with the airflow of the drone's propellers, according to DOCOMO. In addition,  the display's weight tended to drag down the aircraft. The telecom company solved these issues by using a mostly hollow display, which allows for better airflow and is lightweight.

The spherical frame surrounding the drone has a maximum diameter of about 35 inches (88 centimeters), and the display measures 144 pixels high by 136 pixels wide. The entire device, drone and display, weighs just 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilograms). Since it's relatively small and light, the drone display is highly maneuverable and, according to DOCOMO, could be operated virtually anywhere.

Original article on Live Science.

Drones can do more than capture high-flying footage, and researchers recently put the unmanned vehicles to work studying a volcano as it erupted.

During a research trip to Guatemala, a team of volcanologists and engineers used customized drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) to investigate Volcán de Fuego.

Fuego is known for its near constant low-level activity, with smoke escaping from its top daily. However, the summit vent is difficult to access — the volcano has an elevation of 12,346 feet (3,763 meters) — and scientists have not been able to collect accurate gas measurements. [5 Surprising Ways Drones Could Be Used in the Future]

Using drones outfitted with a range of sensors, researchers were able to collect data directly from the volcano's ash clouds.

"These sensors not only help to understand emissions from volcanoes, they could also be used in the future to help alert local communities of impending eruptions – particularly if the flights can be automated," Emma Liu, a volcanologist from the University of Cambridge, said in a statement.

The researchers flew the drones beyond their visual line-of-sight, up to an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, into the volcano's ash clouds. A so-called multiGAS sensor gathered data on carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, and another sensor collected samples of the ash. The drones also had thermal and visual cameras attached to observe the volcanic activity.

While these initial flights served as a proof-of-concept, the drones have already provided the researchers with new information about the volcano. For instance, the drones captured Fuego's changing summit topography. This showed the scientists that the volcano is erupting from two vents and not one, as was previously thought.

"Initial analysis of the sensor and flight data tell us that we will be able to automatically identify when we are in volcanic emissions," said Ben Schellenberg, a first-year doctoral student in aerospace engineering at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

 "I can’t wait to return to test out this hypothesis," he said.

Original article on Live Science.

What would happen if a drone got caught in an electrical storm?

That's the question YouTuber Tom Scott asked when he brought two DJI Phantom 3 drones to the University of Manchester’s High Voltage Laboratory. The British university's lab can generate lightning on command, thanks to an impulse generator that can create a bolt of more than 1 million volts. The drones were no match for the lightning, and were fried when caught in the middle of the bolt.

For the first experiment, a drone was tethered to the ground (to ensure it wouldn't fly out of the bolt's path) and shocked with more than 1 million volts of electricity. Slow-motion video of the shock showed that the lightning strike went through the drone, and the robotic flyer came crashing down. [Electric Earth: Stunning Images of Lightning]

"The electricity passed straight through, flowing from one of the propellers to exit through the foot of the drone," Enna Bartlett, digital coordinator for the university, described in a blog post. "Surprisingly there were no visible marks on the outside of the drone, but that doesn’t mean that the insides got away unscathed; as it turns out, the electricity took the path of least resistance and fried all the sensitive internal electronics."

Electrical engineering researchers Vidyadhar Peesapati and Richard Gardner, who carried out the experiments to answer Scott's question, thought they'd try to protect the other drone in the second experiment. Rather than tether the done as is, the researchers added a lightning rod made of copper tape to act as a lightning conductor.

Though the copper tape was intended to attract the lightning atthe highest point on the drone, the propellers were still equally as tall (and attractive) to the bolt of electricity. In that experiment, the drone was more severely damaged than the first experiment. The researchers said the propellers were explosively pulled away from the drone due to the sheer force of the strike.

The tests made for an electrifying video on Scott's YouTube channel, but also added to scientists' understanding of how aeronautics interact with lightning.

"With our understanding of how airplanes behave in thunderstorms and how to provide protection for them," Bartlett wrote, "this knowledge could be applied to drone technology to ensure the drone and its pilot stays safe should they fly in adverse weather conditions."

Original article on Live Science.

A specially designed wind tunnel for birds could help scientists learn the secrets of avian aerial abilities and translate them into drones that are masters of flying through rough-and-tumble conditions.

Unmanned aircraft called drones are unreliable in heavy turbulence, said David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University. Birds, meanwhile, seem to sail through such conditions with ease.

"We thought, why not look at animals that have no problem doing this," Lentink told Live Science. "If we can figure out which principles they are using, we should be able to turn those principles into engineering design rules that we can apply in our robots. That's our goal." [Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature]

Solving the issue of flying in high turbulence will be crucial before the much-talked-about drone deliveries can go ahead in cities, Lentink said.

Making a wind tunnel

Designing and constructing the facility has taken Lentink more than five years. Trained as both a biologist and an engineer, his lab investigates animal flight and uses its findings to create advanced flying robots.

The wind tunnel is unique as it can recreate both the smooth airflows that occur high in the sky and the turbulent ones typical of forests and urban  canyons, where tall buildings channel air through narrow streets. It can also generate  gusts of wind.

The walls surrounding the test section of the wind tunnel, where the bird or drone is flying, can also be removed. In that way, the researchers can use

high-speed stereo fluoroscopy, a type of X-ray video, to image the movements of the bird’s skeleton at 1,000 frames per second within the wind "tunnel," or airflow. This is the first high-quality wind tunnel for animals to enable such high-speed video, Lentink said. He added that the technology will allow them to map how birds' joints move as they are buffeted by turbulence.

Bird-like drones

The facility is described in a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science yesterday (March 29) that includes its performance on key metrics like turbulence and acoustic properties. Lentink says sharing these details is vital so that experiments done in different animal wind tunnels can be more easily compared.

Lund University in Sweden has an animal wind tunnel with an incline that allows scientists to simulate gliding and climbing bird flight. And Western University in Canada has one that allows humidity and pressure to be altered to simulate the high-altitude flight of migratory birds.

Lentink said he didn't want to duplicate the efforts of these facilities, but to complement them. This facility, rather than aiming to simply understand animal flight, was designed to also help engineers use this knowledge to craft more efficient flying robots.

"An engineer asks very different biological questions than a biologist," he said. "We always have an application in mind."

Dario Floreano, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne who works on aerial robots, said the ability to switch between calm and turbulent airflow could be extremely useful for drone designers.

"Sudden wind gusts and turbulent air can destabilize small drones and make them fall or deviate from the intended trajectory," Floreano told Live Science.

The wind tunnel "could be very useful for improving drone autopilot software and also for helping the design of new drones partly made of soft, sensorized and compliant materials that could match birds' amazing flight capabilities in a large variety of air conditions," said Floreano, who was not involved in the current study.

It could be some time before the lessons learned from the wind tunnel are applied by engineers, though. Developing animal experiments and training birds to fly in the wind tunnel are no easy tasks, Lentink said.

"They're not robots," he said.

The new wind tunnel is described online March 29 in the open-access journal Royal Society Open Science.

Original article on Live Science.

The U.S. military is developing a fairy-tale-inspired "Gremlin" program that aims to launch and retrieve drones in midair.

"Gremlins" are a swarm of drones that can be deployed from a manned aircraft, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. military charged with developing new and innovative technologies for the nation's war fighters. The Gremlin program will allow aircraft pilots to launch the drones as needed, and call them back to the transport plane while both are still in flight.

DARPA announced the Gremlin concept in 2015, when the agency called for proof-of-concept designs for the first phase of the project.

Now, DARPA is moving on to the second phase, which will see the continued development of two ideas, according to Scott Wierzbanowski, DARPA program manager. [Humanoid Robots to Flying Cars: 10 Coolest DARPA Projects]

"The Phase 1 program showed the feasibility of airborne [drone] launch and recovery systems that would require minimal modification to the host aircraft," Wierzbanowski said in a statement. "We’re aiming in Phase 2 to mature two system concepts to enable ‘aircraft carriers in the sky’ using air-recoverable [drones] that could carry various payloads — advances that would greatly extend the range, flexibility, and affordability of [drone] operations for the U.S. military."

Phase 2 research will focus on completing designs for full-scale Gremlin drone demonstrations. The program will eventually move to Phase 3, which will result in one full-scale system demonstration that includes the airborne launch and recovery of multiple Gremlins.

DARPA is currently scheduled to conduct flight tests for the program in 2019.

Original article on Live Science.

If you pilot a drone long enough, sooner or later, you're likely to smash it into a building, a wall, a tree, or the ground.

And often enough, when drones crash, they break.

Flying insects, however, knock into plants, walls, and windows all the time. And, so long as they're not being swatted, or smashed against the grill of a speeding car, they're often fine.

So a team of researchers in Switzerland looked at insects to design a new type of frame for a drone that might survive a crash without suffering serious damage. Insects, they found, have exoskeletons and remain rigid enough for flight — but also flexible enough to absorb the energy of an impact.

The result of their work is a prototype that's stiff up in the air, but safely collapses upon collision, said one of the drone's inventors, Dr. Stefano Mintchev, by phone from Lausanne, Switzerland.

"The solution we found was in the wings of insects, which revert from a stiff state to a soft state during collisions" said Mintchev, who works at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL. "Wasps and bees employ this interesting biomechanical strategy to avoid damage."

A drop-test comparison of the prototype versus a conventional, fully-rigid drone showed the new design was twice as good at dissipating the energy of a collision as the regular model, Mintchev said.

The design also avoids drawbacks associated with other approaches to mitigating damage.

Some drones feature protective cages or shields that act like bumpers. But those add weight and wind resistance, dampening performance.

Building a drone out of material that's soft enough to better handle a crash typically means it will also be too floppy to fly well, and may buckle under aerodynamic pressure. Such a drone will likely also have trouble carrying an additional payload.

Mintchev and his colleagues designed a frame that is fundamentally flexible, but is also stiffened with magnetic joints that buckle upon impact — similar to an electrical fuse that burns out during a power overload.

That frame fits around a central case, which holds batteries and electronics.

"During a collision, the magnetic joints behave like 'mechanical fuses' that disengage the frame from the central case and let it freely deform without failure," Mintchev and two co-authors wrote in a recently-published paper describing their work.

RELATED: Your Brainwaves Could Soon Be Correcting Robots' Mistakes

This isn't the first time Mintchev and one of his co-authors on that paper, Dr. Dario Floreano, have turned to the animal kingdom for inspiration in designing innovative drones.

The pair have also looked at vampire bats in order to build a drone that's capable of both flying and then walking after it lands. Such a drone could be useful in a disaster zone, Mintchev said, by flying quickly into an area before landing and performing reconnaissance, or, in the case of a nuclear accident, taking samples that might determine whether or not an area is safe for humans.

Another drone designed by Mintchev and Floreano uses bird-like, retractable feathers to give the drone extra maneuverability in flight, as well as added resistance in high winds.

WATCH: The Future Of Warfare: Laser Cannons & Drone Armies

Originally published on Seeker.

George Jetson can eat his heart out. A new flying-car concept can do more than just take to the skies. In fact, the futuristic vehicle takes more cues from "Transformers" than "The Jetsons" in imagining how humans might get around in the future.

Meet the Pop.Up.

This "multimodal transportation concept" is a passenger capsule that can transform into different modes of transit, by attaching to wheels for driving, connecting to propellers for flying or joining a train-like transit system such as the high-speed transit concept known as the Hyperloop.

The futuristic capsule was envisioned by aerospace company Airbus and design and engineering firm Italdesign. The companies say the Pop.Up could unite aerospace and automotive technologies for a new kind of urban mobility. [Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas]

Airbus and Italdesign revealed their transforming-car concept March 7 at the Geneva International Motor Show, and described it as entering the "third dimension" of transportation systems.

"Today, automobiles are part of a much wider ecosystem: If you want to design the urban vehicle of the future, the traditional car cannot alone be the solution for megacities; you also have to think about sustainable and intelligent infrastructure, apps, integration, power systems, urban planning, social aspects, and so on," Italdesign CEO Jörg Astalosch said in a statement. "In the next years, ground transportation will move to the next level — and from being shared, connected and autonomous, it will also go multimodal and moving into the third dimension."

There are three layers to the Pop.Up concept system, according to Airbus. The passenger capsule is one layer, with its ability to be coupled with electrically propelled ground and air transport (such as a car base or a drone top). The capsule can also be linked to a public transit system (such as trains or a Hyperloop).

The Pop.Up is designed to run on an artificial-intelligence platform, the second layer, that can choose the best route — by ground or air — to the passenger's destination. The capsule will then autonomously travel the selected route, according to Airbus.

A video of the Pop.Up in action shows the system's user interface, or the third layer, which offers passengers an interactive virtual environment. For instance, in one clip, a display in the capsule offers information regarding a museum the passenger is flying over.

The companies did not announce a time frame for developing the project, but they did note that traffic congestion is expected to become increasingly worse. The companies say Pop.Up offers a solution to growing transportation challenges for urban commuters.

Original article on Live Science.

Ever wonder what it might feel like to be stalked by a tiger? New drone footage from China will give you a thrill, though the backstory might bring you back down.

Footage released by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV shows Siberian tigers at the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, a city in northeast China, sprinting after an airborne drone in the February snow. According to CCTV, park officials use the drones to exercise the big cats and help them drop the pounds they pack on over the cold winter.

When a swipe of a paw finally brings down the electronic quarry, the tigers gnaw on it before getting spooked by its smoking innards. [Iconic Cats: Photos of All 9 Subspecies of Tigers]

The video has gone viral, but the story behind the tiger park is not all fun and games. The park has been accused of not being a true tiger sanctuary, but rather a "tiger farm" — a breeding site where dead tigers are eventually harvested for their pelts and bones, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine to make wine.

In 2014, a reporter from the McClatchy news agency visited the Harbin park and found that many of the tigers held there were kept in small cages, "visibly rolling in their excrement." Bottles of wine were for sale that employees said were made from tiger bone, which is officially a banned product in China.

The drone video is "a distraction from quite a sinister and dark reality," said Debbie Banks, head of the Tigers Campaign at the London-based wildlife advocacy group Environmental Investigation Agency. "Those tigers are going to end up being turned into tiger bone wine or made into tiger skin rugs."

There are only about 360 Siberian tigers living in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as endangered. News reports peg the number of Siberian tigers at the Harbin park alone at between 500 and 1,000. 

Tiger farming and selling farmed tiger pelts is legal in China, said Banks, while trade in the bones has been banned since 1993. Still, the system sees its share of abuses.

"We've met with a taxidermist, for example, who was legally buying skins from zoo tigers, and when the consignment was delivered to him, it was actually the entire tiger," Banks told Live Science. The same taxidermist offered customers a discount on pelts if they returned the official certificate that accompanies legal hides to him after the purchase, she said. He would then reuse the certificate for illegally traded hides.  

The Chinese government claims that parks like the one in Harbin and another large park called Xiongsen in the city of Guilin are for the purposes of conservation, Banks said, but the animals are often inbred and could never survive outside the parks. As the drone video shows, the tigers are kept in large groups, despite the fact that they are largely solitary in the wild.

"They're kept in unnaturally large groups of tigers, which is again another indicator that they're not being raised in an environment where they could ever subsequently be released into the wild," Banks said. [In Images: Tigers Thrive in India National Park]

A 2013 report by the EIA argues that rather than protecting wild populations, tiger farming stimulates the market for tiger products, which in turn encourages poaching, because it's cheaper to kill a tiger in the wild than it is to raise one in captivity.  

Conditions at tiger farms may not live up to high standards of animal husbandry. Numerous reports from people who visited the Harbin park tell of visitors buying live chickens and hunks of meat to throw to the tigers. In 2011, the driver of a tourist bus at the Harbin park was mauled to death by a tiger after leaving his vehicle when it got stuck during a tour, according to news reports. In 2016, a reporter from the South China Morning Post magazine visited Xiongsen and photographed emaciated tigers in featureless enclosures.

Housing tigers communally is probably stressful for them, said Brian Aucone, senior vice president for animal care and conservation at the Denver Zoo, which is in the process of opening a new tiger habitat. The enclosure in the video looks fine — for a single tiger, Aucone said. The drone chase may also be a source of stress, he said.

"It seems a bit teasing to them, from my perspective," he said. The end of the chase doesn't come with a food reward, he said. Instead, it's a potential health risk for the big cats.

"You've got battery material that they could easily bite into that's toxic, so the fact that they are able to get ahold of the drone is certainly concerning," Aucone told Live Science.

There are probably between 5,000 and 6,000 captive tigers in China, Banks said, and there are many living conditions that are worse than those found in the Harbin and Xiongsen parks, which tend to attract international criticism and media attention due to their size. Thailand, Laos and Vietnam are also home to "safari" parks linked to the illegal trade of tiger bones, Banks said.  

"Many, many of the tigers in captivity across China are seen in concrete enclosures," Banks said. "There is no habitat enrichment whatsoever."

Original article on Live Science.

Think of it as half drone, half motorcycle: A new hoverbike prototype aims to make flying as simple as riding a bike.

Hoversurf, a Russian drone startup, recently unveiled its Scorpion-3 hoverbike in a test- flight video — making it the first manned quadcopter that has undergone testing, reported Futurism, a science and technology news website.

The Scorpion-3 combines quadcopter-drone technology with a traditional motorcycle design, resulting in an electric-powered hoverbike that can lift itself and a pilot into the air. According to Hoversurf's website, the hoverbike can be flown by both professionals and amateurs, because the bike's custom software allows for both manual and automated control. [Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas]

"[The] Scorpion platform is the next step in accessible amateur flying developed to inspire athletes, engineers, scientists and inventors around the world," Hoversurf officials said on the company's website. "[It] is equipped with a safety system powered by state of the art flight controllers, special logical programing and passive elements with computer aided speed and altitude limiting."

While the Scorpion-3 could offer new mass transportation options, like Dubai's recently announced passenger drone, Hoversurf said it designed the hoverbike with extreme sports in mind. A compact dirt bike inspired the hoverbike's sport-utility frame, and the pilot's uniform (seen in the video and on the website) is reminiscent of a motocross driver. The company describes the hoverbike's ride as "surfing through the air."  

Scorpion-3 is not the only hoverbike to take to the skies. Beyond the autonomous "taxi drone" that is scheduled to launch in Dubai, there are both private and public prototypes of similar high-tech modes of transportation in the works. According to Futurism, the U.S. military partnered with Malloy Aeronautics to build a hoverbike that could help soldiers in the field.

Aerofex, a California-based aerospace engineering company, is also developing a passenger drone. The company's so-called Aero-X is described as "a hovercraft that rides like a motorcycle," Live Science has reported, and can fly at 45 mph (72 km/h) up to 10 feet (3 meters) off the ground.

Original article on Live Science.

Commercial drones just got a big upgrade: A fleet of passenger-carrying quadcopters could be flying around the city of Dubai by this summer, according to news reports.

The city's new transportation option is an egg-shaped, single-passenger drone in the traditional quadcopter style seen in many commercial drones, the Associated Press reported. The Chinese-made Ehang 184 can carry one passenger weighing up to 220 lbs. (100 kilograms) and a small suitcase, according to the AP.

Mattar Al Tayer, head of Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, said during the World Government Summit this week that the city plans to have the drone regularly traversing the city's skies in July. [Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas]

"This is not only a model," Al Tayer told the AP. "We have actually experimented with this vehicle flying in Dubai's skies."

The drone was unveiled in a flight over Dubai's Burj Al Arab, the sail-shaped luxury hotel that is the fourth-tallest hotel in the world, the AP reported.

Once the passenger is buckled in and selects a destination, the drone automatically flies off. A control room will monitor the drones remotely via 4G mobile internet, according to the AP. With a battery that lasts for up to 30 minutes of flight and a range of up to about 30 miles (50 kilometers), the passenger-carrying drone can offer commuters an alternative to Dubai's notorious traffic. Though the drone can reach up to 100 mph (160 km/h), authorities said the drone's average operating speed will be about 60 mph (100 km/h), the AP reported.

Passenger-carrying drones are just the latest step in Dubai's vision for a technologically advanced transportation future. In April, the AP reported about United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's announcement that 25 percent of Dubai's commuters will be carried by driverless vehicles in 2030.

Following up on that claim, the city agreed to study the potential implementation of a "Hyperloop," a transportation system first envisioned by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, according to the AP. In theory, the Hyperloop would move levitating pods through low-friction pipes to transport people at speeds as fast as 760 mph (1,220 km/h). For this project, Dubai partnered with Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One, which is not affiliated with Musk or his companies, to assess the possiblity of using a Hyperloop system to connect Dubai with Abu Dhabi.

Original article on Live Science.

Whether they're swooping around to catch dinner or delicately hanging upside down to sleep, bats are known for their acrobatic prowess. Now, scientists have created a robot inspired by these flying creatures. Dubbed the "Bat Bot," it can fly, turn and swoop like its real-life counterpart in the animal kingdom.

Since at least the time of Leonardo da Vinci, scientists have sought to mimic the acrobatic way in which bats maneuver the sky. Someday, robotic bats could help deliver packages or inspect areas ranging from disaster zones to construction sites, the researchers said.

"Bat flight is the Holy Grail of aerial robotics," said study co-author Soon-Jo Chung, a robotics engineer at the California Institute of Technology and a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Pasadena. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created]

Learning from animals

Bats may possess the most sophisticated wings in the animal kingdom, with more than 40 joints in their wings that enable unparalleled agility during flight, likely so that they can pursue equally nimble insect prey, the researchers said.

"Whenever I see bats make sharp turns or perch upside down with elegant wing movements, I get mesmerized," Chung told Live Science.

Previous work has developed a variety of flying robots biologically inspired by insects and birds. However, attempts to build robots that mimic bats have been met with limited success because of the complexities of bats' wings, such as their multitude of joints, the researchers said.

Now, Chung and his colleagues have developed the "Bat Bot," or B2, a robot that can fly, turn and swoop like a bat. The aim is "to build a safe, energy-efficient, soft-winged robot," Chung told Live Science.

The researchers said previous bat robots followed the skeletal anatomy of these flying creatures too closely, resulting in bots that were too bulky to fly. Instead, the scientists figured out which components were key to the beating of a bat's wing — the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints, and the side-to-side swish of their thighs — and used only those in their robot.

Whereas conventional flapping-wing robots used rigid wings, the Bat Bot has thin, elastic wings. "When a bat flaps its wings, it's like a rubber sheet — it fills up with air and deforms," said study co-author Seth Hutchinson, a robotics engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the downward stroke, "the flexible wing fills up with air, and at the bottom of the downstroke, it flexes back into place and expels the air, which generates extra lift," he explained. "That gives us extra flight time."

Meet the Bat Bot

The Bat Bot's wings are made of bones of carbon fiber and ball-and-socket joints composed of 3D-printed plastic, all covered with a soft, durable, ultrathin, silicone-based skin only 56 microns thick. (For comparison, the average human hair is about 100 microns thick.)

The robot flapped its wings up to 10 times per second using micro-motors in its backbone. The Bat Bot weighed only about 3.3 ounces (93 grams) and had a wingspan of about 18.5 inches (47 centimeters) — measurements similar to those of Egyptian fruit bats, Chung said.

In experiments, the Bat Bot could fly at speeds averaging 18.37 feet per second (5.6 meters per second). It could also carry out sharp turns and straight dives, reaching speeds of 45.9 feet per second (14 m/s) while swooping down.

The researchers said their robot's softness and light weight make it safer for use around humans than, for example, the quadrotor drones that are popular commercially. For instance, the Bat Bot would cause little or no damage if it were to crash into humans or other obstacles in its environment, they said. In contrast, quadrotors spin their rotor blades at high speeds of up to 18,000 revolutions per minute, which could result in dangerous interactions, Chung said.

"The high-speed rotor blades of quadrotors and other craft are inherently unsafe for humans," Chung said. "Our Bat Bot is considerably more safe."

The safer, more agile nature of the Bat Bot could enable a wide range of applications. For instance, Bat Bots could serve as "aerial service robots at home or in hospitals to help the elderly or disabled by quickly fetching small objects, relaying audio and video from various distant locations without requiring hard-mounting of multiple cameras, and becoming fun, pet-like companions," Hutchinson told Live Science.

Multitasking robots

Another potential application for Bat Bots would be "to supervise construction sites," Hutchinson said. "The need for automation in construction through advances in computer science and robotics has been highlighted by the National Academy of Engineering as one of the grand challenges of engineering in the 21st century," he noted.

The dynamic and complex nature of construction sites has prevented the deployment of fully, or even partially, robotic and automated solutions to monitor them. "Keeping track of whether a building is put together in the right way and at the right time is an important problem, and it's not a trivial problem — a lot of money gets spent on that in the construction industry," Hutchinson said. Instead, Bat Bots could "fly around, pay attention and compare the building information model to the actual building that's being constructed," he added.

Bat Bots could also help inspect disaster zones and other areas. "For example, an aerial robot equipped with a radiation detector, 3D camera system, and temperature and humidity sensors could inspect something like the Fukushima nuclear reactors [in Japan], where the radiation level is too high for humans, or fly into tight crawl spaces, such as mines or collapsed buildings," Hutchinson said. "Such highly maneuverable aerial robots, with longer flight endurance and range than quadrotors have, will make revolutionary advances in monitoring and recovery of critical infrastructure such as nuclear reactors, power grids, bridges and borders."

Moreover, the Bat Bot could shed light on some of the mysteries of bat flight. Currently, researchers analyze how bats fly with video, but with the Bat Bot, researchers could develop better models of the aerodynamic forces that bats experience "beyond what can be observed with just the eyes," Hutchinson said.

The researchers noted that the Bat Bot cannot carry heavy objects yet, but future versions of the robotic bat could lead to "drone-enabled package delivery," Chung said.

Future research could achieve other aspects of bat flight, such as hovering or perching right side up or even upside down, the researchers said. Perching is more energy-efficient than hovering, "since stationary hovering is difficult for quadrotors in the presence of even mild wind, which is common for construction sites," Chung said.

The scientists detailed their findings online today (Feb. 1) in the journal Science Robotics.

Original article on Live Science.

A 56-hour, nonstop, unrefueled flight has set a new world record for endurance.

The VA001, a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone made by Vanilla Aircraft, stayed in the air for more than two days and two nights, setting the record for the craft's weight and power class. After taking off Nov. 30 from New Mexico State University’s Unmanned Air Systems Flight Test Center, the drone flew at an altitude of between 6,500 and 7,500 feet (1,980 to 2,286 meters) and averaged 65.6 mph (105 km/h) before landing on Dec. 2.

The drone project is backed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's research arm. Drones already play an important role in military efforts, with functions ranging from surveillance missions to equipment delivery, DARPA said. Vanilla's VA001 is designed to stay aloft for up to 10 days of nonstop flight, carrying a 30-lb. (14 kilograms) payload, DARPA said. [Humanoid Robots to Flying Cars: 10 Coolest DARPA Technologies]

Vanilla's record-breaking flight was actually cut short by several days, due to incoming bad weather. When the drone landed, more than half of its fuel was still on board, according to DARPA officials. The agency said the VA001 could set more world records for drones in future flights.

"This record-breaking flight demonstrated the feasibility of designing a low-cost UAV able to take off from one side of a continent, fly to the other, perform its duties for a week and come back — all on the same tank of fuel," Jean-Charles Ledé, DARPA program manager, said in a statement.

Potential applications of the Vanilla aircrafts include UAV-based communications and intelligence gathering, Ledé said. UAVs not only allow for stealth, Ledé said they also reduce personnel and operating costs.

DARPA is working on several drone projects as the technology has continued to advance, the agency said. The "Gremlin" program aims to build swarms of small drones that can be deployed from manned aircrafts to gather intelligence. Another project focuses on the monitoring of small-drone activity in cities. This so-called "Aerial Dragnet" would help the continuous surveillance of drones.

Original article on Live Science.

What happens when you connect a flock of flying drones? You get a "collective unmanned aerial vehicle" that's capable of lifting heavier burdens and flying greater distances than smaller drones can, according to a patent recently granted to online retailer Amazon.

The Amazon Technologies Inc. patent describes a large and robust flying drone made up of numerous smaller drones, designed to make long-distance flights or to carry heavy packages.

According to the patent, filed Feb. 19, 2015, and granted Dec. 29, 2016, individual modules could detach from the collective drone body once they were no longer required, and operate independently to deliver smaller burdens. [5 Surprising Ways Drones Could Be Used in the Future]

Collectively, a group of drones might outperform a single drone by sharing resources, such as power and navigation capabilities, in order to operate more efficiently. In addition, the size of a linked drone array would be more visible, thereby allowing aircraft and air traffic controllers to spot them more easily, Patent Yogi reported.

The patent description explains that a collective aerial drone would be capable of transporting "virtually any size, weight, or quantity of items," and would also be able to travel longer distances.

By comparison, the average quadcopter drone — a design that incorporates four propellers — can typically fly continuously for up to 30 minutes and transport up to 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), according to Patent Yogi.

And this isn't the only patent that Amazon acquired in 2016.

Can you imagine a flying warehouse? Amazon can. The company received a patent on April 5, 2016, for "an airborne fulfillment center ("AFC") and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles ("UAV") to deliver items from the AFC to users." The vehicle could be a high-altitude airship cruising at 45,000 feet (13,716 kilometers), dispatching flying drones to make their deliveries far below, according to the patent description.

Another patent, received Dec. 20, 2016, addresses countermeasures to protect airborne drones against threats from hackers and from "malicious persons" armed with bows and arrows.

Amazon is even investigating the possibility of subterranean deliveries, with a patent granted Nov. 29, 2016, for "dedicated network delivery systems" conveying packages underground. According to the description, items "may be driven by or along one or more conveyors or rails, and may comprise one or more pressure-controlled carriers within a vacuum environment or among any type of fluid, including liquids or gases."

In recent years, drones have certainly become more visible, capturing photos and video selfies and competing in races. Some are even helping scientists monitor Arctic ice or transport medical samples from remote villages in Madagascar.

Flying drones bearing packages may not be landing on our doorsteps just yet, but Amazon's patents suggest that the company has big plans for the future of airborne robotic deliveries.

At this point, however, it remains to be seen whether Amazon will be able to get this technology off the ground — or under it.

Original article on Live Science.

Flight of the drones

How do scientists build better flying robots? They look to the natural world for inspiration, investigating the adaptations that allow winged animals to efficiently navigate through the air, even under difficult conditions.

Today's aerial drones are more sophisticated than ever, and will likely continue to improve in performance as scientists uncover more of the secrets to insects', bats' and birds' flying success.

Here are some examples of the latest discoveries in animal flight research and bio-mimicking drones, from studies published Dec. 16, 2016, in the journal Interface Focus.

Diver down

Many flying robots soar to great heights, but a new type of drone can also plunge into water from midair, just like certain water birds do. The Aquatic Micro Air Vehicle (AquaMAV) has morphing wings that fold up when it dives. Weighing a mere 7 ounces (200 grams), AquaMAV can fly to flooded or aquatic destinations to conduct brief data-gathering forays in water, and then blast its way back into the air using jet propulsion to return to home base.

Power-napping

During migration, some birds can fly for days or even months at a time without taking a break, and how they sleep during these long flights is a question that has long puzzled scientists. It was formerly thought that far-flying frigate birds rested one cerebral hemisphere at a time — literally sleeping with one eye open. But a new study conducted the first brain scans of these birds during their extended migratory journeys, finding that at times they were fully asleep while still in flight, but very briefly and only during soaring and gliding maneuvers.

Silent flight

Scientists took a closer look at owl wings to understand how these avian predators can fly without making a sound. Biologists, mathematicians and engineers investigated owls' aerodynamic performance; they found that many wing features combine to produce noiseless flight. They discovered that owls' large wing size allows them to fly at slower speeds, reducing the amount of noise they make, while interlocking feather structures and a velvety surface texture also dampen sound, as does fringe trailing from the wing's edge.

Damage control

Even the most robust drones can be damaged, and scientists are investigating how the flying machines might recover; they are studying how animals compensate for injured wings and are still able to fly — even when damage to the wing membrane is considerable.

Researchers tested the flight performance of fruit flies that were missing part of one wing, using high-speed videography to reveal that the flies adjusted midair by modifying their wingbeats and rolling their bodies toward the wing that had been compromised.

Steady on

Unpredictable wind gusts can disrupt flying for both animals and robots, but scientists found that bees persevere with foraging flights, even when conditions are extremely windy. To understand how bees navigate through turbulence, researchers placed the insects in wind tunnels and recorded their flying movements. They found that the bees used different responses to adjust midair, including changing the frequency and amplitude of wing beats, and varying the symmetry of their flapping. By mimicking these techniques, flying robots could improve their ability to steer through turbulent air.

One direction

Birds that fly close to the ground are navigating a cluttered course that requires swift processing of visual input, and rapid flight adjustment to dodge whatever might stand in their way. To find out how birds maintain forward momentum while maneuvering through gaps between objects, researchers tracked pigeons as they flew through different arrangements of obstacles, recording their movements in three dimensions. They discovered that the pigeons selected gaps that closely aligned with the direction they were flying, and by doing so they could navigate faster and with fewer adjustments to their wing beats.

Right-side up

Sometimes researchers can learn about flight by studying insects that don't fly at all. Tiny stick insect nymphs are wingless; but when they fall, they can right themselves in midair, even without the assistance of wings. Scientists observed that when the insects were dropped, they rapidly rotated to turn themselves right-side up by coordinating leg movements with airflow, turning completely around within 0.3 seconds. The researchers explained in their study that this technique may have been used by insects that were in the early stages of flight evolution, and it could improve drones' midair agility.

Mind the gaps

Imagine soaring through the clouds in an airplane that was missing bits and pieces of its wings. That sounds unthinkable, but flying with wings that are less than complete is what most birds do when they molt.

Seasonal molting is how birds replace their feathers as they wear out, and yet birds must still somehow keep flying, regardless of how their wings might be compromised. Researchers looked at the aerodynamics of flight in a jackdaw, a bird in the crow family, during different molt stages. The study authors found that the bird's flight efficiency was reduced during molting, but the bird adjusted its wing posture to make up for gaps in its wings where feathers were missing, a strategy that could also benefit aerial drones that sustain wing damage during flights.

From navigating turbulence, to sleeping midflight, to soaring without a sound, animals' flight adaptations are helping scientists design better flying robots.

Airborne drones and the animals they mimic are featured in 18 new studies published online Dec. 15 in the journal Interface Focus. This special issue is intended "to inspire development of new aerial robots and to show the current status of animal flight studies," said the issue's editor, David Lentink, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University in California.

Though humans have been building flying machines since the 18th century, these new studies revealed that there is still much to be learned from looking closely at how birds, insects and bats take flight, keep themselves aloft and maneuver to safe landings. [Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature]

Flying drones are rapidly becoming a common sight worldwide. They are used to photograph glorious vistas from above, snap selfies and even deliver packages, as online retail giant Amazon completed its first commercial delivery by drone in Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, on Dec. 7, the BBC reported.

But improving how these robots fly isn't easy, experts said. Fortunately, there are plenty of flying animals that scientists can turn to for inspiration. About 10,000 species of birds; 4,000 species of bats; and well over 1 million insect species have evolved over millions of years to spread their wings and take to the air, and most of these species' flight adaptations haven't been studied at all, Lentink told Live Science.

"Most people think that since we know how to design airplanes, we know all there is to know about flight," Lentink said. But once humans could successfully design planes and rockets, they stopped looking as closely at flying animals as they had in the past, he added.

Now, however, growing demand for small, maneuverable flying robots that can perform a variety of tasks has sparked a scientific "renaissance" and is driving researchers to investigate many open questions about animal aerodynamics and biology, Lentink said.

For example, how are owls able to fly so silently? One team of scientists explored adaptations in owls' wings that could muffle noise, finding that the animals' large wing size and the wings' shape, texture and strategically placed feather fringes all work together to help owls glide soundlessly.

Another group of researchers wondered how frigate birds — a type of seabird that can fly without stopping for days at a time — could sleep "on the wing" during long migrations. The scientists collected the first recordings of in-flight brain activity for these birds, discovering that the animals were able to "micro nap" to rest both brain hemispheres at the same time.

Some scientists puzzled over how fruit flies were able to stay aloft even if their wings were damaged, learning that the insects compensated for missing pieces in wing membranes by adjusting their wing and body movements, enabling the bugs to fly even if half a wing had been lost.

Other studies described new robot designs that can plunge into watery depths from midair, flap their way through buffeting winds or bend their wings like a bird, for better control.

Silent flight, energy conservation and renewal, adapting to turbulent conditions, and the ability to self-correct for wing damage are all features that could significantly improve current models of flying drones, Lentink told Live Science.

"They need to become more silent," Lentink said of drones. "They need to be more efficient, and they need to fly longer. There's a lot of engineering that still needs to happen. The fact that the first steps are being made right now is really exciting and shows that there is a great future in this."

Original article on Live Science.

Instead of extending your arm or using a selfie stick to snap shots of you and your crew, you could use a new pocket-size drone — dubbed the "AirSelfie" — to help you remotely capture aerial photos and videos.

The AirSelfie is the brainchild of Italian entrepreneur Edoardo Stroppiana, who came up with the idea in 2014. "AirSelfie is specifically designed and produced for people who used to think drone cameras are extremely complicated to use — too expensive and bulky," Stroppiana said.

The AirSelfie is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera that can shoot full high-definition (HD) 1080p video, as well as a 4GB microSD card. Using the AirSelfie, people, groups and companies can take pictures of themselves, their backgrounds and their projects from distances, heights and angles that they never could using their arms or a stick, Stroppiana said. [5 Technologies for the Selfie-Obsessed]

The drone's four rotors help it fly up to 65 feet (20 meters) in the air. The flying camera measures only about 3.72 by 2.65 by 0.42 inches (9.45 by 6.73 by 1.07 centimeters) — "smaller than a smartphone," Stroppiana said — and weighs 1.83 ounces (52 grams).

The drone uses sonar to measure its altitude and keeps itself stable with the help of a tiny extra camera to monitor its surroundings for signs of jitter. It is also equipped with gyroscopes, barometers and geomagnetic sensors that help it navigate as it flies, said AirSelfie Holdings Ltd. in London, the company that Stroppiana co-founded in 2016 to manufacture the drone.

The AirSelfie is controlled via a free iOS or Android app. The app can make the drone take off; adjust its height and direction; let it hover autonomously; and help users take an HD aerial shot or video with just a push of a button. Users can also activate a 10-second timer, giving people enough time to hide their phones so they don't appear in the picture or video. The drone can take up to eight consecutive shots, the company said.

The AirSelfie uses Wi-Fi to send photos and videos wirelessly to smartphones. The app also allows users to post photos and videos taken with the drone immediately on social media.

After snapping photos, the drone can return to its departure point automatically with the touch of a button. Users can also guide the AirSelfie back manually, and its manufacturers said it is safe for the drone to land on a person's open hand, or even for people to grab the drone while it is still hovering in midair.

A rechargeable lithium polymer battery gives the AirSelfie a flight time of 3 minutes, according to the company. An accessory known as the Power Bank slips over the AirSelfie like a smartphone case, and can recharge the drone in 30 minutes. The Power Bank can hold 20 such charges before it needs to be recharged, the company said. Users can also recharge the AirSelfie directly with a micro-USB cable.

The company said it developed a fully functioning prototype in August. On Nov. 17, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign to make the AirSelfie available via preorder, and it met its $47,714 goal in less than three days. The campaign, which is scheduled to end Dec. 24, has raised more than $500,000 from more than 2,300 backers. In addition, the company has received $3 million from private angel investors in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and China, Stroppiana said.

The first preordered drones are scheduled for delivery in March. The drone is expected to hit the market in 2017 for a retail price of $300.

Original article on Live Science.