Drones
Keep up to date with the latest commercial and civilian applications of unmanned aircraft – from autonomous sky-faring taxis to swarms of battlefield-ready flying robots.
Top News
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Battery life wouldn't be an issue for drones if they could just recharge on power lines as needed. That's exactly what an experimental new quadcopter can now do, allowing it to stay aloft pretty much indefinitely.
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Last year, a mechanical engineer set a Guinness World Record for the fastest battery-powered RC quadcopter, which was clocked at 224 mph. Now that record has been smashed by a custom-made drone that clocked nearly 300 mph.
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Connecticut-based WaveAerospace has announced "the world's fastest multirotor UAS," a "new class of aircraft" that's effectively a quadcopter drone with a raging jet turbine in the middle, capable of insane speeds and all-weather operation.
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Latest News
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September 30, 2024October 1 is China's National Day – and the high-tech metropolis of Shenzhen celebrated with an eye-popping spectacle: a record-smashing swarm display of 10,197 drones in concert, showing just how far this next-gen entertainment technology has come.
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September 05, 2024If you're looking to enter the drone market without needing a pilot license or even knowing how to actually fly a drone, DJI now has a palm-sized, inexpensive, simple, yet incredibly capable drone for you that doesn't even require a controller.
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August 26, 2024ZeroZero Robotics' HOVERAir X1 Pro and X1 ProMax are set to become the standard in prosumer camera drones. Both models pack a truly impressive list of features into a small package that starts at less than $500.
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August 08, 2024Following successful trials last year at a UK wind farm, Denmark's Ørsted has now put heavy lift drones to work at a 94-turbine offshore wind farm in the North Sea – completing resupply missions up to 15 times faster while also reducing costs.
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August 06, 2024Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) have unveiled a new type of amphibious vehicle that can hover like a drone, take winged flight like a plane, then dive at high speed underwater like nothing else – called the Nezha-SeaDart.
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August 01, 2024In a completely different kind of germ warfare, researchers have tested out a way to drop mosquitoes infected with disease-fighting bacteria over populations prone to outbreaks of dengue fever. It's an ingenious way to scale up a proven solution.
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July 19, 2024Scientists have engineered a micro-aerial vehicle that has the potential to fly indefinitely in sunlight, using an electrostatic motor to power its ultra-lightweight unit. Until now, these tiny drones have been limited to around 30 minutes of airtime.
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July 18, 2024Tiny aerial drones have many potential uses, but their ability to navigate is severely limited by their minuscule amount of onboard processing power. Scientists have now set about addressing that limitation, taking a cue from foraging insects such as ants.
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July 16, 2024Taking cues from geckos, EPFL researchers have developed an unmanned aerial vehicle with an upturned nose that crashes into vertical poles, and then wraps its wings around to perch. The PercHug could find use in inspection and surveillance tasks.
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June 25, 2024Quadcopters may be agile but they're also relatively wide and delicate, limiting their potential uses. The Morphy drone addresses these drawbacks with flexible propeller arms which allow it to basically just "squish" its way through narrow spaces.
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June 07, 2024Multirotor drones may get all the glory, but fully rotating "monocopters" are much more energy-efficient. A new one distinguishes itself further, as it can squeeze through narrow spaces or drop like a falcon by reducing its wingspan while in flight.
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May 27, 2024Wouldn't it be neat to see a drone using flashing lights and a siren to chase down crooks? Well, the Responder quadcopter comes equipped with both, along with other gear designed to help quicken response times when crimes or other emergencies occur.
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April 29, 2024Could you throw a lifebuoy all the way out to a distressed swimmer located one kilometer away? Nope, you couldn't … but you could fly one out to them, in the form of the TY-3R Flying Lifebuoy drone.
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April 19, 2024Multirotor drones may one day be able recharge their batteries while out and about, instead of having to return to a charging station. They could do so via onboard ultra-thin solar cells, which have already been tested on a small quadcopter.
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April 12, 2024It might look hilarious in motion, but this remarkable aerial drone extends its battery life from a few minutes up to a full hour by bouncing around on a springy pogo tail. That incredible efficiency makes it attractive for a wide range of missions.
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