Drones

Engineers have built a drone that vanishes without camouflage or transparent panels. Its trick is spinning so fast that your eyes simply give up trying to focus, a stealth edge that could turn surveillance into something almost invisible.

French firm Celeste Ecoflyers’ inflatable dAS10 aims to inspect energy grids, pipelines, and maritime security. As a new class of flat-storage deflatable, long-range aircraft, the vehicle will support logistics at a fraction of legacy aircraft costs.

Researchers from Australia and the UK have built a robotic kestrel to decode how birds handle turbulence. Their findings reveal a suite of wing-and-tail tricks that could reshape the next generation of small drones.

“Man overboard!” The dreaded call that starts a race against time and the often treacherous sea. Sadly, the sea often wins, mainly due to reaction times. Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) are now developing an onboard drone that aids rescues without human intervention.

It was nine years ago that we told you about the intriguing Pioneer mini-ROV (underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle), made by Norway's Blueye Robotics. Well, it's now got not one but two more capable siblings, in the forms of the ocean-exploring X3 Ultra and X7.

Honeybees travel up to 2 miles from home to forage and seamlessly return. That’s equivalent to a human walking 226 miles without any equipment. Scientists have replicated this ability in a navigation system for drones that uses just 42 KB of memory.

DJI is one of the leading manufacturers of drones for aerial photography and videography. As social media continues to grow, beginners and content creators are seeking lightweight, easy-to-use devices for short-form video. DJI’s latest releases are designed to meet that demand.

Luke and Mike Bell have modified their solar-powered drone so that it can now stay aloft for more than 5 hours, unofficially breaking the world endurance record for this type of electric drone.

The Skyrover S1 is reported to be the first a sub-249-g camera drone with forward obstacle avoidance. It also features 4K/60 video, a 3-axis gimbal, one-tap takeoff/landing, a 12-km transmission range, and a 40-minute flight time on a single charge.

DJI wasn't first to the 360° FPV party, but it showed up with better sensors, double the range and AI tools that'll make even rookie aerial photographers look like pros. The mighty Avata 360 has launched globally, but the US will miss out.

Most drone engineers pick a lane. You build for speed, or you build for range. Luke and Mike Bell, the father-and-son team from South Africa already famous for pushing electric quadcopters to velocities that seemed positively absurd, appear to be building for both.

Australian aerospace engineer Benjamin Biggs has just clocked 411 mph with a battery-powered, remote-controlled drone. No official Guinness stamp yet, but it's faster than the current record held by South African father-son team Mike and Luke Bell.

The next frontier in unmanned aerial vehicle tech is all about keeping these aircraft fueled indefinitely. If we can crack it, drones could stay in the air longer, avoid landing to recharge, and carry on with their missions without interruption.

A YouTuber has upgraded his drone-powered flying umbrella with autonomous “follow me” capabilities, turning a striking novelty into something approaching practical hands-free rain protection.

Firefighters could soon have a formidable ally in their daunting task of entering buildings set ablaze: specialized drones that can handle the heat from live flames and relay visuals to help them assess the situation.