Drones

German company Wingcopter has signed a deal to roll out 12,000 of its long-range, triple-drop delivery drones across Africa over the next five years, in what promises to be the largest commercial drone deployment ever attempted.

Aerial drones are much more useful if they can grasp and carry objects, plus they use much less power if they can perch on stationary objects instead of hovering. A new attachment allows drones to do both, without using any electricity.

Although aerial drones can travel much faster than their underwater counterparts, they certainly aren't as good at gathering water-related data. The MEDUSA multi-rotor drone addresses this conundrum, by landing on the water and deploying an underwater pod.

Amazon has been planning to deliver packages by drone for almost a decade, with the company reckoning that the service was just months away in 2019. But now it actually looks like it's happening – at least for Prime members in Lockeford, California.

Zipline has developed and patented an AI-driven safety system it says allows autonomous drones to detect and avoid other aircraft and drones up to 2 km away in all directions, using a light, cheap and robust microphone array. Will it satisfy the FAA?

When remotely controlling an underwater drone in flowing water, it can be difficult to keep the vehicle's camera trained on a specific target. A new AI-based vision platform, however, allows Qysea's existing FiFish drones to do so automatically.

Most drones need to tilt to move and correct against gusts of wind. Pitch Aero's Astria, however, can keep itself preternaturally level and stable, thanks to a novel use of cyclorotors that opens up a range of use cases other drones can't handle.

It's a sad fact that mass shootings have become a common occurrence in the US. Defense tech company Axon has announced what it says will be a new means of resolving such incidents quickly and relatively safely, using a drone equipped with a Taser.

Consumer drone technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, yet we mostly just hear about aerial drones. Underwater drones "are a thing" too, and I recently had a chance to try out one of the best – Chasing Innovation's Gladius Mini S.

Puerto Rico-based Red Cat Holdings has announced what it believes is the first and only commercially available multi-drone swarm system, allowing several DoD-approved drones to perform co-ordinated tasks under the control of a single pilot.

Birds regularly eat large quantities of crops, and often become accustomed to stationary devices designed to scare them away. That's why scientists are now looking at using autonomous drones to do the job.

Walmart is pressing ahead with its ambitions in aerial cargo transport, announcing plans to offer a same-day drone delivery service in six US states where goods will be dropped off in as little as 30 minutes.

Mapping the inside of cramped, difficult-to-reach areas can be helpful to people such as plant operators, but drones flown in such places could easily crash. The LiDAR- and cage-equipped Elios 3 quadcopter was designed with that challenge in mind.

While we have heard of a few aerial drones that are also able to operate underwater, a new one takes that concept considerably further. Using a fish-inspired suction disc, it can hitch rides underwater – possibly even on submarines – to save power.

Over the past couple of years, the UK's Royal Mail service has been exploring the potential of drones to service remote corners of the nation, and is now pressing ahead with its plans for automated aerial delivery.