Drones

Multicopter drones have many uses, but they're still held back by short flight times and limited lifting capacities. The Firefly quadcopter is designed to address those shortcomings, with the ability to fly for about two hours and carry up to 100 lb.

Much as we may like pigeons, they can make quite a mess of buildings and other structures, potentially posing a health hazard. According to new research, autonomous drones may be ideal for harmlessly chasing the birds away.

Back in 2016, we told you about the iBubble, an underwater drone that autonomously follows and films scuba divers. Well, it now has a more capable industrial-use big brother, known as the Seasam.

Quadcopters may be versatile drones, but those four spread-out arms do keep them from performing certain tasks. An experimental new drone addresses that shortcoming, with arms that passively fold down as needed.

Although fixed-wing drones can fly farther and faster than multicopters, they typically require runways to take off and land. The Vetal flying-wing drone addresses that compromise, with a rather striking "tail-sitter" design.

Although underwater drones are capable of performing a variety of tasks, getting them to the "dive site" can still sometimes be challenging. A new system is designed to help, by using an aerial drone to transport and deploy an underwater drone.

Kawasaki has shoehorned the supercharged 1,000cc engine from its wild H2R hyperbike into a heavy-lift autonomous cargo helicopter, and has now demonstrated a robotic system for loading and unloading it without exposing humans to those big blades.

If you hear gunshots in an urban setting, it's important to get the police to their source as quickly as possible. A new system is being developed to help, by combining autonomous drones with an existing shot-locating technology.

A pair of autonomous FlyingBasket FB3 heavy-lift drones have made their first urban cargo deliveries in Europe. Approved by the Italian authorities, each carried a 26 kg (57 lb) payload on a 3.9 km (2.4 mile) route in Torino before returning home.

Solar panels continuously accumulate dust, plus they're often located atop tall buildings or in remote areas – this means that they need to be cleaned, but doing so is difficult. That's why a drone-based setup is now being developed to do the job.

Nature is an endless source of inspiration for robot design. Engineers at Stanford have now developed robotic claws inspired by the talons of a falcon, letting drones perch on many different surfaces, as well as grabbing or catching objects.

While there are numerous questions about the logistics of drone delivery technology, here's one that not everyone thinks of: What if no one is home when the drone shows up? Well, the DroneDek system is designed with that scenario in mind.