Lifeboat Foundation

GAME OF DRONES

WORLD superpowers are engaged in a feverish “arms race” to develop the first killer robots completely removed from human control, the Sun Online can reveal.

These machines will mark a dramatic escalation in computer AI from the drones and robots currently in use, all of which still require a human to press the “kill button”.

Continue reading “Inside the killer robot ‘arms race’ where the world’s five leading superpowers are secretly preparing for an all-out futuristic war” »

Ever wanted to down a neighborhood nuisance drone and couldn’t? Or maybe you have some frustration that has built over time and want to release it. Well, here is your chance. DARPA wants you to down a rogue drone.

The Pentagon’s futuristic think tank is thinking about how to stop errant drones and it wants the public’s help. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office this week announced a request for information to help create “novel, flexible, mobile layered” anti-drone soluti…

Anyone, planning to attend this November? It looks like the who’s who in Drones and Robotics.

The post is also available in: Hebrew :הכתבה זמינה גם ב

The Unmanned Systems and Robotics AUS&R 2016 international convention has been attracting the attention of world’s leading states and defense industries, including the US, India, Germany, DARPA governmental agency and many others, which had already registered to participate.

Continue reading “Prepare to Takeoff – 2016’s AUS&R Unmanned Systems and Robotics Convention” »

When the Holiday season kicks off next fall (2017); I have a feeling that I may end up buying a Penny Robot or a BMI controlled drone for my niece & nephews.

The post is also available in: Hebrew :הכתבה זמינה גם ב

A new research out of Arizona State University with DARPA funding.

Continue reading “Farewell Remote Controllers, Hello Brain Controlled UAV’s” »

Want to be the next Captain Kirk or Spock; we’re getting more close of being a Star Trek & Star Wars world with drones and fighter jets with death lasers, cyborgs with BMI technology, sabers being developed, and now the Star Trek phaser is being developed.

Every year Star Trek’s futuristic sci-fi technology comes closer to just being “technology.” We live in a world where video chats, communicators, and real-time translators are normal, where androids are becoming more and more realistic and food replicators are almost here thanks to 3D printing. The next step? Phasers!

Continue reading “Scientists are working on a real-life Star Trek phaser” »

DARPA and MIT are leading an effort to take what are now bulky expensive Light Imaging, Detection, And Ranging (LIDAR) systems and make them small enough to fit on a microchip.

LIDAR is one of the key parts of Google’s self driving car.

MIT’s Photonic Microsystems Group is developing a lidar-on-a-chip system that is smaller than a dime, has no moving parts, and could be mass-produced at a very low cost for use in self-driving cars, drones, and robots.

Continue reading “LIDAR on a chip should be 1000 times cheaper and scan 1000 times faster to revolutionize self-driving cars, drones, and robots” »

I truly hope these never malfunction while flying in areas near civilian areas.

The agency adds to a contract with Northrop to develop a small system that can be mounted on manned and unmanned aircraft.

If a self-flying taxi scheme didn’t come from the world’s second largest aeronautical company, we might think it was a prank. However, Airbus appears to be serious about its “Vahana” project, aimed at creating an autonomous passenger drone network, and thinks testing can begin as early as 2017. That sounds ambitious, to say the least, but “many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most the way there,” according to Airbus engineer Rodin Lyasoff.

Users arriving at, say, an airport would book a seat on a so-called zenHop “CityAirbus” drone, then proceed to a “zenHub” helipad, according to the concept. They’d be flown to their destination for about the same cost as a taxi, since the ride would be shared by several passengers. Luggage would be delivered by another service (zenLuggage, of course), and the whole thing would be safeguarded from hackers by (wait for it) zenCyber.

Continue reading “Airbus reveals ambitious plan for autonomous flying taxis” »

DARPA’s answer to terrorists and bad guy drones.

Lasers might be the best bet.