Gizmodo
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drones
Boeing Goes The Marvel Route With Naming Of New Stealth Drone
Boeing's experimental unmanned "Phantom Ray" drone is scheduled for testing in 2010. Either Boeing is out of military-sounding code names or it, too, is caught up in the comic book craze that's seized Hollywood. More »
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By Jack LoftusComment by frigg: When they show it at air shows, do clowns spill out of the hole in the front, thrilling crowds at... 3 Responses | Other threads
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design
Weapons Designers Spending Too Much Time Watching Star Wars, Transformers
This is the Future Protected Vehicle, a British Army infantry transport/light tank/awesome thingie which has a built-in reconnaissance drone. The drone can be launched to detect enemies and guide missiles to destroy them. [DOD]
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By Jesus DiazComment by Monty: My favorite is not the pin point accuracy of the bomb, but the fact that the explosion is strong enough... 7 Responses | Other threads
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Spy Drones
The Draganflyer X6 UAV Police Edition
The Draganflyer X6 has been around for a bit now, but only recently have Canadian law enforcers begun using it to serve and protect. Here's the first look at these flying UAVs in uniform. More »
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Comment by Nocturnus, the Online Bard: Awww, it's so cute with it's little, "Police," sticker, it's just like a big, mean helicopter. /sarcasm Actually doesn't look that imposing. 3 Responses | Other threads
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military
Pilot-less Drone Makes First Kill Ever
Scratch another one on the checklist for Humanity's ultimate self-destruction. A Warrior-Alpha drone from the US Army's Odin Task Force fired against enemy forces with no pilot. The Predator variant was controlled by plain soldiers: More »
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By Jesus DiazComment by keerock: Do you mean this PARTICULAR drone made it's first kill ever? Or this model? This ain't news so I'm confused. 24 Responses | Other threads
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aircraft
Insane Unmanned 'Mule' Drone Can Fly at 289MPH
This Mule unmanned aerial vehicle is huge, fast and crazy. It's just going through its first wind tunnel testing, but it might someday be hauling injured troops back to base with no pilot involved. More »
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By Adam FrucciComment by Aqualero: How is this thing even aerodynamic? Is it just supposed to rely on pure down-thrust to keep it aloft?... 3 Responses | Other threads
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uavs
Air Force Wants Bat-Senses In Micro Spy Drones For "Urban Combat"
We've seen bat-like drones, and even heard of genuine bat weaponry, but now the Pentagon is after micro UAVs with genuine echolocation bat-senses, for real. The Air Force has just awarded a new contract to develop swarms of micro drones that use bat-inspired echolocation for navigation through the complex airspace in urban environments cluttered with trees, wires, buildings and poles. Test flights are due by 2010 apparently. And if the idea of hordes of tiny, flapping military spy drones fluttering though the air doesn't creep you out, you're clearly not in the Halloween spirit yet. [AviationWeek via Danger Room]
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By Kit EatonComment by Curves: I had a bat in my office just a few weeks ago and judging from the screams that were heard... 6 Responses | Other threads
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china
Chinese UFO Looks Like Emergency Life Raft, Spies on You
Chinese company Harbin Smart Special Aerocraft has spent 12 years and over $4 million developing its unmanned flying saucers. Somewhat reminiscent of the Honeywell Micro Air Vehicle, the unmanned drone has propellers that run on methanol, a top speed of around 50mph, and can stay at an altitude of around 1,000 yards up for 40 minutes or so. Expect to see it being used for aerial photography, geological surveys and in people's LSD-fueled weird-outs. [DVICE]
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By AddyDugdaleComment by Griffehpoo: Call it what you will, but in my heart...It is, and always will be, a flying sombrero. Just imagine it flying,... more » | Other threads
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iphone
Berkeley Group Uses iPhone to Control UAV Squadron
The Center for Collaborative Control of Unmanned Vehicles (C3UV—the "3" makes it hip) at the University of California, Berkeley has developed a system that uses the iPhone to develop tasks, set coordinates and send orders to a fleet of UAVs. Naturally, this development is interesting because it allows a single person to control a large number of small, unmanned aircraft at one time using a cellphone. But, as Wired points out, the clause in the SDK agreement clearly states that "autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other mechanical devices" is a big no-no. So the future of this type of technology is unclear.[C3UV via Wired] -
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drones
Morphing Micro-Drone Is Half Bat, Half Cockroach, Creeps Us Out
I don't know what's more creepy about this 11-inch remote controlled drone developed by the USAF for reconnaissance missions. Maybe it's the flexible wings, which close and open like a bat when landing. Perhaps it's the crawling on the floor, modeled after cockroaches, to reach hidden places to spy. Or most probably is the fact that they are planning to develop a large drone that will carry 50 of these little beasts, ready to burst out of its belly at any time. Whatever it is, I want one. [Flight]
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By Jesus DiazComment by anti-hello-kitty: Reminds me of the Zanti Misfits Outer Limits episode: [upload.wikimedia.org] more » | Other threads
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le tired
Predator Pilots Are Most Fatigued Military Flight Crews
According to a just-released Navy research paper, pilots of the MQ-1 Predator unmanned air vehicles are the most fatigued crews in the military, which seriously affects job performance, operational safety and family relationships. The most worrying thing is the reasons why and the lack of a clear solution: More »
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By Jesus DiazComment by Evil J: Old post here, but the issue has been determined (in large part) as being from the "yo-yo" effect of going... more » | Other threads
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imperial eyes
Spy Drones Coming Soon to the US, AT-ST Walkers to Follow Next
Reuters is reporting that the Miami-Dade police department will "soon" start deployment of the infamous Honeywell Micro Air Vehicles, the spy drones that will keep all you criminals and Gizmodo editors in check with forward and downward looking cameras, flying over a 100 waypoint flight plan at 57MPH, and from 10,500-foot altitude. Seeing them hovering over the skies is kind of menacing. Actually, with the right music, it's downright scary. More »
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By Jesus DiazComment by MadCrazy: Okay...I think its about time to form a resistance movement. Who's with me? more » | Other threads
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big brother
Miami Cops to Use Spy Drones for SWAT Team Ops
Drones like the one you see in the video above might soon be used by the Miami Police Department, serving as an unmanned eye-in-the-sky that can go places where it's too dangerous for human beings to tread. Expected to be rolled out next year first in SWAT team operations, the 14 lb. vehicle is unarmed but can fly just about anywhere, and even goes up to altitudes of 10,500 feet. These particular craft were first tested by Honeywell early last year, and now the FAA has given Miami and Houston permission to use them in their busy airspaces. Cops say they're not going to be using these drones to spy on people. Yet. [WPLG, via CrunchGear] -
military
Router Drones to Deliver Wifi From the Sky
Military personnel already use unmanned drones for spying on areas from above, but Wired's Danger Room reports that soon they'll also be using them for a less exciting but just as important task: wireless networking. AeroVironment, a company that makes unmanned aerial vehicles, has been working on making router drones, planes that can fly around acting as hubs, allowing for signals to be sent from previously inaccessible locations. It's a pretty neat idea, but I'd be totally pissed if one of them ran into a building or something right when my It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia torrent was about to complete. [Danger Room]
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By Adam FrucciComment by ChromeBro: Uhmm, Bill Gates had this idea like 15 years ago with Teledesic, only with low-earth-orbit satellites to give everyone on... more » | Other threads
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gadgets
Attack of the Hunter-Killer Grim Reaper Robots
What's not to like about the sneaky and efficient drone, a robotic aircraft controlled from afar that can put the hurt on enemies while assuring that none of us good guys die in the process? The radio-controlled warplanes have come a long way since those first Predator surveillance drones, and now the more-powerful Reaper hunter-killer is six times heavier and holds as many missiles and bombs as the mighty F-16 fighter. More »
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Comment by aec007: Brock, Back in the days... using MS Netmeeting with a direct IP communication (bypassing MS servers) I was able to have... more » | Other threads
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robots
Star Wars Drone Inspired Satellites
These little Star Wars-inspired orbs are being tested on the International Space Station to see whether their technology is suitable to be used in a new generation of "smart" satellites. The nine pound spheres use carbon dioxide expelled from their thrusters to maneuver around the ISS. These satellites will be cheap and can fly in formation, so they can be thrown up into space by the shuttle-load. More »
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By Jason ChenComment by jrghoull: yeah...there are a couple of factors to take in here. for one thing, when scientist go looking for ideas that... more » | Other threads
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cellphones
Swiss Planning Unmanned Marketing Drones
In the hard-edged world of international marketing, you do not want to put your boys at risk when trying to beam your message to millions via Bluetooth. Swisscom, a Swiss telecomm (hence the name), is working on remote controlled planes that will fly over concerts, malls, and battlefields, beaming down advertising messages to the surging crowd. And we are here as on a darkling plain/ Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight," is right, friends. The war against our anti-marketing instincts just got kicked up a notch.
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gadgets
Unmanned Drones Over LA
The LA County Sheriff's department is taking a page from the military and sending unmanned drones over the streets of LA. These drones are much lighter and cost a lot less than military ones, and is only going to be used for looking for lost kids and hikers along with scouting for break-ins. Each drone will be $20,000 to $30,000, compared to a police helicopter, which goes up into the millions when you account for fuel, training, and maintenance. More »
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By Jason ChenComment by Destardi: "..only to be used for finding lost kids.." YEA RIGHT!! Big Brother, 1984. Whatever. more » | Other threads
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robots
Air Force Drones Come to Light
Following the Global Hawk into battle, the Air Force's latest drones, the Penetrating High Altitude Endurance system, is designed for stealthy flying behind enemy lines. These drones are thought to be covered with radar absorbing material and are thought to be based on the Compass Arrow design created back in the 1970s. Strangely enough, it's pretty hard to get much good information on the Air Force's top secret robotic drone projects. More » -
gadgets
Son of Son of Killer Drone
The X-45C looks like it means business. This is a bigger killer drone—over 18,000 pounds—that offers a remote viewer a point-click-and-eviscerate user-interface for destroying the enemy. More »
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By johnbComment by Calaverius: The guy in the picture is so sure he's getting laid tonight. more » | Other threads
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robots
Border Drones Protecting theBorders
In a speech earlier this week, good ole' Dubya called for better technology to protect our precious US borders. This would include more employees and possibly the addition of drones to monitor the borders. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently purchased a Predator B drone to assist in the monitoring. The Predator B, an unmanned and remotely-controlled aircraft, is currently being used in the Tucson, AZ area and the CBP has received the go-ahead to purchase another one. More » -
smartphones
Gizmodo Ink
- If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Paranormal investigators equipped with electromagnetic-field meters, radiation and motion detectors, barometric pressure monitors, and thermometers, of course. [San Francisco Chronicle] More »
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robots
Drones Watching Rita
NOAA has been sending an unmanned Aerosonde drone airplane over this last wave of monster hurricanes to amass unprecedented weather data, a kind of sweet use of a technology developed for military intelligence. Also recently flipping their switches from Evil to Good have been the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's spy satellites, as they've mapped the path of destruction of Katrina and are now monitoring Rita with their incredibly powerful cameras, taking a much-needed break from tracking your movements from space via your license plate. One of the chief mandates of The Agency this week is monitoring the oil fields along the Gulf Coast for some before and after images. Which is all reassuring or creepy, depending on how you look at it. More »
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