Drones

It was just a year ago that DJI announced its compact-but-capable Mavic Air 2 quadcopter. Now, the company has shortened the name and doubled the image sensor size, with the 5.4K/30fps-capable Air 2S.

The liquid-carrying tanks on tanker ships have to regularly be inspected for cracks – a task which is typically performed by humans. A new drone, however, is claimed to do the job much quicker and more thoroughly.

While aerial drones do show promise as a means of urban parcel delivery, their small size will limit them to carrying relatively light packages. An experimental new system, however, lets multiple drones team up to hoist heftier items.

California-based drone manufacturer Skyfront is claiming a new endurance world record for its Perimeter 8 gas-electric hybrid multirotor, which stayed airborne for 13 hours, 3 minutes and 57 seconds, covering 205 miles in the process.

Early in March the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine drone deliveries began in the African nation of Ghana. The drone dropped 250 vaccine doses by parachute to a rural health center, one of 36 deliveries completed on the first day.

Although wing-flapping micro-drones do already exist, the things tend to be quite fragile – and thus not ideally suited to real-world use. An experimental new one, however, utilizes a softer mechanism for greatly enhanced durability.

DJI has kicked off its 15th anniversary celebrations with a new flyer that puts the pilot in the virtual cockpit of a racing drone, while capturing the adventures in ultra high definition courtesy of the gimbaled cinema camera.

Although it's getting more common to see swarms of illuminated drones being used for aerial light shows, simultaneously charging and launching all of those drones can still be tricky. That's where the Flying Drone Blanket is intended to come in.

If one of the motors conks out on a quadcopter drone, the aircraft usually just crashes. Thanks to new research, however, such disabled drones could soon not only remain airborne, but even complete their trip.

Flying drones are already used to patrol outdoor areas, but indoors where GPS doesn't work? Not so much. That could be about to change, though, with the launch of the Tando system.

There are now a lot of fixed-wing drones on the market, and most of them look pretty similar. FLY-R's aircraft are different, though, in that they incorporate a rhomboidal wing design – it's claimed to offer some distinct advantages.

Sony's mirrorless Alpha series cameras have become hugely popular filmmaking tools, thanks in large part to the company's excellent sensors. At this year's CES, Sony announced it's starting up a drone business specifically to work with Alpha cameras.